by Eric Beteille
AFI FEST Daily News

Festival staffers meet with international jury members in the Audi Pavilion, November 3 at AFI FEST 2006.

Of the awards given annually at AFI FEST presented by Audi, three are decided by audiences, three by juries.

AFI FEST jurors recognize filmmakers who have excelled in international features, international documentaries and international shorts.

Past winners include Terry George, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Kenneth Lonergan, Fernando Meirelles, Stacy Peralta and Jim Sheridan.

(A list of past winners is available at www.AFI.com/AFIFEST through the Baseline StudioSystems 35-year database).

Winners for AFI FEST 2006 audience and jury awards will be announced Sunday, November 12, 11:00 AM, in The LOFT at the AFI FEST Rooftop Village, ArcLight Hollywood.

For AFI FEST 2006, jurors come from a wide range of filmmaking expertise and experience.

International Feature Juror: John Anderson

Anderson writes features and reviews regularly for Newsday, Variety, Screen International and the New York Times.

He is a member and two-time past chair of the New York Film Critics Circle, a member of the National Society of Film Critics and a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

International Feature Juror: Vondie Curtis Hall

Hall is an actor-director-screenwriter who has had success in both film and television, and on both sides of the camera.

His most recent feature film as a writer/director was the summer hit WAIST DEEP, which earned him a Black Film Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Motion Picture.

He is the president of the Board of Directors of Film Independent, home of the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards.

International Feature Juror: Don Roos

Roos is the screenwriter of LOVE FIELD, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, BOYS ON THE SIDE, and the 1996 remake of DIABOLIQUE.

In 1998 Roos made his directorial debut with THE OPPOSITE OF SEX, and won two Independent Spirit Awards for best first feature and best screenplay. In 2000 he directed his script BOUNCE and created the NBC series M.Y.O.B.

Roos recently directed his script, HAPPY ENDINGS and is currently adapting the New York Times bestseller "Marley and Me."

Roos lives in Los Angeles with actor-writer Dan Bucatinsky and their daughter Eliza.

International Documentary Juror: Daryl Hannah

Hannah has appeared in over 40 feature films over the past 20 years.

From her early start as a teenager in Chicago in Brian De Palma's THE FURY, appearances include Hannah's turn as a gymnastic punk android in Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER, to playing the innocent mermaid in Ron Howard's SPLASH.

Some of the directors Hannah has worked with are Woody Allen, Neil Jordan, Oliver Stone, Robert Altman, John Sayles and Quentin Tarantino.

Hannah is a strong supporter and advocate of independent cinema. She wrote, directed and produced a 12-minute short, THE LAST SUPPER, which received the Berlin International Film Festival's Jury Award for Best Short.

Hannah also directed, produced and shot the documentary STRIP NOTES, inspired while researching her role for DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA.

Hannah is an environmental activist who walks the walk by living on solar power, adopting animals and driving a clean-burning vehicle.

International Documentary Juror: Wash Westmoreland

Westmoreland hails from Leeds, England, and earned his college degree in politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

After his first feature, THE FLUFFER (2001), Westmoreland made two documentaries, VH-1's TOTALLY GAY and Trio's GAY REPUBLICANS. The latter, in an expanded version, won the AFI FEST 2004 Audience Award for Best Documentary.

His latest movie QUINCEANERA, co-directed with Richard Glatzer, won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The screenplay also picked up the Humanitas prize.

International Documentary Juror: Jessica Sanders

Sanders is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who works in documentary and dramatic films.

Sanders' film AFTER INNOCENCE, an independent feature documentary she directed, produced, and wrote was an official selection of AFI FEST 2005 and was shortlisted for the 78th Academy Awards.

Sanders is directing and producing SAMBA, a feature documentary film following Rio de Janeiro's top Samba Schools competing in Carnaval and the drug trafficking gangs that govern their communities.

Sanders is an alumna of the Independent Feature Project's Project Involve and the organization's Producer's Lab.

International Shorts Juror: Christine Lahti

In 1995, Lahti won an Academy Award for her direction of the Live Action Short Film LIEBERMAN IN LOVE, in which she also starred.

Lahti has also directed several episodes of Chicago Hope, in which she starred for four years as Doctor Kathryn Austin. For her work on Chicago Hope, Lahti won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.

In 2000, Lahti directed her first feature film, MY FIRST MISTER.

Christine and her husband, filmmaker Thomas Schlamme, reside in Los Angeles with their children.

International Shorts Juror: Susan Petersen

Petersen is an internationally recognized leader in short film distribution with over 15 years of media experience in television research, marketing and new media, including developing the short film distribution division for Hypnotic Films.

Petersen is the Vice President of Global Film Sales & Acquisitions for Shorts International, the largest short film entertainment company with a library of over 3000 films that includes the American Film Institute short film library.

Petersen programs the company's iTunes short film channel SHORTSª and sells films to TV, Broadband, Mobile, VOD, DVD, and new media channels around the world, including HBO, Sundance, Canal+ France, and Comedy Central.

International Shorts Juror: Wilmer Valderrama

Valderrama is best known as Fez on the hit series That 70's Show, but he will be seen on the big screen this year in five upcoming feature films.

Wilmer can be seen in Richard Linklater's film FAST FOOD NATION, as well as UNACCOMPANIED MINORS, THE DARWIN AWARDS, SOMETHING BLUE and the film version of CHiPS.

He also recently completed filming the Wim Wenders produced short film LA TORCEDURA.

Wilmer moved to Los Angeles from Venezuela with his family at the age of 13.