Jury

Every year, Imagine has four prizes to give away.

The Sea Devil Award for the best Fantastic feature; the Méliès d’Argent for the best European Fantastic film and short; and the Imagine Immersive Award for the best Fantastic VR or immersive production. A group of passionate jury members from the genre field will be checking out all the nominees and awarding the winners during the closing ceremony. Here are this year’s juries.

(Want to know more about the awards and the nominees?  Read this page!)

The 2026 Sea Devil jury

Jons Klaessens

MA Film Studies. Freelance film- and series critic for a.o. FilmTotaal, SerieTotaal and Schokkend Nieuws.

Samya Hafsaoui

Presenter, script writer, author and online creator. Her work includes NPO-programmes, fiction, podcasts and sketches about the world of film.

Kamiel van der Ster

Dutch film distributor at De Filmfreak, showcasing a catalog filled with both arthouse and genre gems.

The 2026 Méliès d’Argent feature jury

Theodoor Steen

Film critic and programmer. Writes for ScreenAnarchy and Schokkend Nieuws, and is part of the Camera Japan Film Festival team.

Laura Gommans

Freelance film journalist, moderator and interviewer. Hosts the LAB111 podcast, Celebrating Cinema, with deep dives on arthouse and blockbusters.

Eron Sheean

Australian director/writer/things-maker working from the Nederlands, with a background in puppetry, stop-motion, SFX make-up and cinematography.

The 2026 Méliès d’Argent short film jury

Phil van Tongeren

Film journalist, writer and former artistic director at Imagine. Part of the Imagine team since 1985; now contributes to the articles and newsletters during the festival.

Carmen Maria

Dutch director working with live-action and animation, combining tragicomedy, dark humour and relatable, emotionally imperfect characters.

Paul de Vrijer

Writer/director, known for his genre work in film, tv and games, including De Sterfshow and Vakkenvullers.

The 2026 Immersive Award jury

Victorine van Alphen

Audiovisual artist, philosopher and curator. Creates trans-media works that (mis)use and extrapolate current techno-cultural trends into futuristic experiences.

Kees Duyves

Artist, Inventor & Creative Technologist. His inventions, including the Luma2solator (used for over 500,000 light paintings worldwide), Scoretrack and AnywaysVR, act as the glue between disciplines.

Ecegül Bayram

Immersive media professional working at the intersection of digital performance and XR, with experience in producing, creative research, and filmmaking across location-based VR, interactive installations, and documentary.

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