The 2024 Onion City Film Festival Jury
Mehrnoosh Fetrat (مهرنوش فطرت) (she/her) was born in Tehran, Iran, and is based in Chicago. She is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker focusing on social justice, war, and immigration. Her passion for cinema made her change her background from Electrical Engineering to Film. She received her MA in Cinema Studies from Tehran University of Art and her MFA in Film Production from Temple University. She received The University Fellowship during her education in Philadelphia. She founded Philadelphia’s Utopia Film Club for cinephiles to watch and discuss avant-garde and alternative cinema. She is currently teaching at Northwestern University. Mehrnoosh has taught at various universities including Temple, Drexel, The College of New Jersey, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, and Saint Joseph's University. Mehrnoosh has written, produced, and directed three short films, namely “War Game,” “America” (available to stream on Comcast’s Streampix), and “Copsi.” Her films have been screened at more than 50 film festivals and galleries in the US, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, India, and the United Kingdom.
Raul Benitez (he/him) has been a film programmer in Chicago for over 15 years. Raul currently serves as the Senior Programmer at the Midwest Film Festival, and the After Dark programmer at the Chicago International Film Festival. Raul also programs at Comfort Station Logan Square, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Full Spectrum Features, and the Nightingale Cinema. Raul has been named a Chicago Film gem by Newcity Chicago for 2015, 17, 19 and in 2023 Raul was inducted to the Film Gem Hall of Fame. Raul was also named an Esteemed Artist by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and received a DCASE grant for his Chicago/Mexico City Filmmaker exchange program.
Selina Trepp (she/her) is an artist researching economy and improvisation. Finding a balance between the intuitive and conceptual is a goal. “If in doubt be radical” is the best advice she ever got. She works across media, combining performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to create intricate setups that result in photos, drawings and animations. In addition to the studio-based work, Selina is active in the music scene. In this context she sings and plays the videolah, her midi controlled video synthesizer, to create projected animations in real-time as visual music. She performs with a varying cast of collaborators and as one half of Spectralina, her long running audiovisual collaboration with Dan Bitney.
