Finnish producer and director Iikka Vehkalahti has become Flahertiana 2014 International Jury President.

Currently Iikka Vehkalahti is an Executive Producer for the Finnish Broadcasting Company / YLE, TV2 Documentaries. He was supposed to be Flahertiana Jury President in 2012 but then he got taken to a hospital with acute appendicitis right after landing in Perm. This year at Flahertiana Iikka hopes to make up for the lost time.

Former Jury President Leonard Retel Helmrich cannot attend the festival due to the lectures he is giving in China, which he will not be able to finish in time for the beginning of the festival. The Dutch director offered his apologies and wished to show his legendary documentary trilogy at Flahertiana. For the first time in Russia the audience will be able to see all three films Helmrich made in Indonesia: The Eye of the Day (2001), The Shape of the Moon (2004) and Position Among Stars (2010). The ticket for all three films can be purchased at a special price.

The Jury will be also joined by the President of the International Documentary Film Festival Millenium, director Lubomir Gueorguiev. He will present the program from the Belgian festival, which includes Life Sentences – the winner of Millenium 2014. The films of other members of Jury will be shown in Jury Members’ Films program.

Thus, Flahertiana 2014 International Jury will consist of director Iikka Vehkalahti (Finland), producer Lubomir Gueorguiev (Belgium), director Don Edkins (South Africa), professor Galina Yankovskaya (Russia) and director Valeriy Solomin (Russia).