JURIES 27th ATHENS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION JURY

BABIS MAKRIDIS (PRESIDENT) Film Director

Babis Makridis was born in Kastoria, Greece. His short film The Last Fakir (2005) won the Newcomer’s Prize at the Drama short film festival, Greece. His debut feature L (2012) was presented in Competition at Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam Tiger Awards and many other international festivals. It was awarded the first prize (Grand Prix) at the Molodist Film Festival, Kiev, Ukraine, in 2012. Pity (2018), his second feature also premiered in Competition at Sundance Film Festival and Rotterdam Film festival. The film has received various awards and was crowned Best Film at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards in 2019. It also won the Fipresci Award at the Torino  film festival, and Best Film & Best Director at the Odessa International Film Festival. His third feature film “Birds or (How to Be One)” premiered at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2020.

DINA IORDANOVA Film Historian

Dina Iordanova is a film and festival historian, who has written extensively on the cinema of the Balkans. She taught global cinema and film culture at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, as well as at other Universities in the USA, Canada, Asia and Europe. Her involvement with film festivals includes jury service at festivals in South Korea, France, Switzerland, Germany, Morocco, Japan, Romania, and Iran -- as well as at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 2017.

TITUS KREYENBERG Executive Producer

Titus Kreyenberg worked as an executive producer for film and television for many years before he founded his own production company unafilm. The company has produced and co-produced well over 30 films that compete   in A-festivals around the world, Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, Locarno, IDFA among them. Titus Kreyenberg teaches at EAVE, Torino Film Lab and the Biennale Cinema College.

MARIA NAFPLIOTOU Actress

Maria Nafpliotou was born in Athens and is an actress. A     sample  of  her  work  in  the  theatre  are  the  plays “Master Class”, “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Electra”. In cinema, she has appeared in films such as, but not limited to “Soul Kicking”, “Pethainontas stin Athina” and “Tetarti, 04:45”. She collaborates regularly with the National Theatre of Greece and the National Theatre of Northern Greece.

VANGELIS RAPTOPOULOS Writer

Vangelis Raptopoulos was born in Athens in 1959 and has published more than 20 novels, 5 books in the chronicle-autobiography genre, and a collection of translated texts from ancient Greek authors. His books have been translated and adapted for theatre, cinema and television. His personal record is located at the Gennadius Library.

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY JURY

MARCO GASTINE (PRESIDENT) Documentary Filmmaker

Documentary filmmaker, born in Paris and living in Athens, Marco Gastine has directed and/or produced dozens of creative documentaries, mostly with social interest, as “Marseilles, a Greek profile” (Best Greek Documentary Award 2004), “Themis” (Cannes Festival 2009) or “As Far as the Sea” (Best Documentary at LAGFF 2020). He is teaching documentary in various international workshops.

ARIS CHATZISTEFANOU Journalist

Aris Chatzistefanou is a journalist and filmmaker. He has worked for the BBC World Service, the  Guardian,  Al  Jazeera  and  numerous media outlets in Greece and Cyprus. He has directed five feature documentaries and published three books.

THANASIS KAMPAGIANNIS Attorney

Thanasis Kampagiannis is an attorney working in Athens. Born in Trikala in 1978, he studied at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and went on to complete a master’s degree in Political Science at Panteion University. He has served as a consultant at the Executive Board of the Athens Bar  Association and as a prosecution attorney at the Golden Dawn trial.

NOE MENDELLE Director & Producer

Founder of the Scottish Documentary Institute. Noe has worked in film & TV for over thirty years as a Director and a Producer. She set up Scottish Documentary Institute in 2004 and since then has devised several award-winning talent initiatives, including Bridging the Gap, BtG+, This is Scotland, Stories and The Edinburgh Pitch. She is a  research professor at Edinburgh College of Art where she supervises PhD by practice in Documentary Film.

KATRINE KIILGAARD Deputy Director of CPH:DOX

Working with documentaries during the past 20+ years, Katrine Kiilgaard has served as a documentary consultant in addition to growing and building new platforms for independent documentary filmmakers to advance their craft and professional networks. She joined CPH:DOX    in 2015 after several years as the CEO of nordic organisation Filmkontakt Nord, heading the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival and its industry parts. At CPH:DOX, a leading European documentary film festival supporting independent and innovative filmmaking and presenting the best and brightest in contemporary non-fiction film, she is heading the international industry and training activities.

GREEK SHORT STORIES IN COMPETITION JURY

 

SOFIA EXARCHOU (PRESIDENT) Film Director

Sofia works as a screenwriter and director. Her first feature film“Park” was selected by numerous international festivals, such as but not limited to TIFF,  SSIFF, IFFR and BFI, where it won various international prizes such as the New Directors award in San Sebastian and the Best European Movie at EFF Palić. She is currently in the midst of preparing her second feature film, “Animal”, which participated in L’Atelier of the Cannes Film Festival.

NERITAN ZINXHIRIA Film Director

Filmmaker; born in Tirana, raised in the Balkans. Director of the short films Chamomile, The Time of a Young  Man About to Kill, A Country of Two. Having as a center of inspiration the themes of loss and death, he continues exploring how the latter shapes  our memory and culture.

SPYROS KRIBALIS Screenwriter

Spyros Kribalis is a screenwriter, script editor and creative producer. He has cosigned screenplays for the films Zizotek, Still River, A Dog’s Dream και Polaroid, curated dozens of fiction series for television, and written a book as well as numerous short stories and articles.

IOSIFINA GRIVEA Journalist

As  an  entertainment  editor,  film  critic  and  podcast  host, Iosifina follows up closely on the Greek and international film industry and works in printed and   digital media since 2013. She has extensive experience in conducting interviews with filmmakers and actors, values inclusivity and experimentation in film and always emphasises on the elevation of new talents in the field.

PENELOPE TSILIKA Actress

Penelope Tsilika  was born in Athens and has graduated from the National Theatre of Greece’s  Drama School. In cinema, she has worked in both short and feature films with D. Gerardis, S. Markoulakis, F. Bogris, K. Voulgaris, V. Marinakis, P. Portokalakis, J. Rafailidou and Pantelis Voulgaris in the film “Little England”, for which she received the Best Actress Award in the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival, as well as the Best Newcomer Actress Award in the 20th     Athens International Film Festival. She has appeared in the following television series: “The Unspeakable Word”, directed by Theodor Papadoulakis and “Silent Road”, directed by Vardis Marinakis. She is also an Athens Law School Graduate.