31st ΑTHENS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JURIES

International Competition Jury

Stephen Woolley (President)

Producer of BAFTA and Oscar nominated and winning films such as THE CRYING GAME, CAROL and LIVING. In 2002 he co-founded Number 9 Films, and in 2019 he was awarded the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.

Jessica Kiang

Jessica Kiang is a film critic, programmer and essayist with bylines in Variety, Sight & Sound, Criterion, The New York Times, Film Comment and Rolling Stone among other outlets. She was twice a mentor with the Melbourne Film Festival Critics' Campus and has served on numerous juries, including at the Toronto, London, San Sebastian, Gent, IDFA, Karlovy Vary and CPH:DOX film festivals. She was previously the International Programmer of the Belfast Film Festival and is now a member of the Selection Committee of the Berlinale.

Ioanna Spiliopoulou

Ioanna Spiliopoulou is a film editor. She has edited 40 feature films, numerous feature-length documentaries, and many short films. Several of these films have been recognized at Greek and international film festivals. She has won editing awards for the films: "Apeili," "Vasilikos Kavala," "Iagouaros," "End of an Era," "Mi Mou Aptou," "Pantrologima - karydi me tsofli," "Ap' ta kokala vgalmena" and "Kofto." She has also directed the video art: "Cavafis... avevaies mnimes" (2013), "Synikones" (2015), "Astrolabos, Fotis Kontoglou" (2015), "Mesologgi, to telefteo minima" (2017), and "To gramma tis Annas" (2020).

Milja Mikkola

Since 2005 Milja Mikkola has been part of Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finnish Lapland. Also a member of Cinema Orion's programming collective as well as the founder of Helsinki's Viva Erotica Film Festival.

International Documentary Jury

Eva Stefani (President)

Director of documentaries and experimental films. Her films have been screened at international festivals and exhibitions such as Documenta 14 and Biennale 19. European museums and festivals, such as the Oberhausen Film Festival, have organized tributes to her work. In her documentaries, she explores the paradoxes of everyday life, while her experimental films are inspired by "manipulated" archival material. Among others, she has made the films "Letters from Albatross," "Athens," "Acropolis," "Visits to E.C. Gonatas," "The Box," "Bathers," "Days and Nights with Dimitra K," and "Bull’s Heart."

Alexander Nanau

Academy Award® and BAFTA® nominated, European Film Award-winning director, producer, cinematographer and editor. Born in Romania in 1979 he grew up in Germany, where he studied directing at the prestigious German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB).

Nanau gained international recognition with his first Romanian documentary The World According to Ion B. (2009), which premiered at Visions du Réel in Nyon and won an International Emmy Award. This was followed by Toto and His Sisters (2014), which premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and was nominated for a European Film Award. In 2017, he served as Director of Photography for Nothingwood (dir. Sonia Kronlund), which he shot in Afghanistan and that premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

His most acclaimed work to date, Collective (2019), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and screened at TIFF and Sundance. The film was named on all major Top 10 lists of 2020 worldwide, and ranked #2 on TIME Magazine’s "10 Best Movies of 2020" — the only documentary on the list. It became in 2021 the first Romanian film ever nominated for an Oscar®, receiving nominations for both Best International Feature and Best Documentary. Collective also won the European Film Award for Best Documentary and the LUX Audience Award of the European Parliament. Nanau is a frequent guest lecturer and mentor at international film schools and labs, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the European Film Academy.

Fabienne Moris

Working in the field of cinema/ visual arts, Fabienne Moris has participated in its creation (production manager), its distribution (programming coordinator of FIDMarseille) and its international development (founder and director of FIDLab). Now as independent, she participates in international coproduction funds, works as programmer and for film development, do some interventions in art and cinema school. In 2025, she joined the Geneva International Film Festival programming team as well as the Luxembourg City Film Festival.

Maria Katsounaki

Maria Katsounaki is a journalist. She was born in Athens and studied Public Law and Political Science at the Law School of the University of Athens. She has been working as a journalist since 1984, initially at the newspaper Ethnos and, since 1987, at Kathimerini. She specialized in cultural reporting, taking on the position of editor-in-chief and head of the daily cultural section from 1992 to 2007. She was mainly involved in film criticism and writing articles. From 2000 to early 2012, she presented a program on Greek cinema on ET1, screening films and interviews with almost all Greek directors (from Cacoyannis, Koundouros, Angelopoulos to Lanthimos). To this day, she writes regularly for the newspaper Kathimerini, maintaining her connection with cultural issues. She has been awarded by the Botsis Foundation for the promotion of culture through the media.

Greek Short Stories Jury

Yannis Sakaridis (President)

Yannis Sakaridis is a filmmaker with a career spanning over thirty years. His debut feature Wild Duck premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013, while his second feature Amerika Square premiered at Busan in 2016, screened at Palm Springs and numerous international festivals, and was Greece’s official submission for the 2018 Academy Awards. The film was released in the USA, Australia, China, Spain, the UK and Greece, and broadcast on major platforms including HBO Europe. He studied Film at the University of Westminster and lived in London for 18 years, directing and editing feature films, documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC, as well as trailers for Warner Bros. International. From 2020 to 2024, Yannis served as Artistic Director of the Drama International Short Film Festival (DISFF).

Myrto Alikaki

Myrto Alikaki was born in Paris in 1972. After finishing school, she studied French literature and attended the Karolos Koun Art Theater Drama School, graduating in 1993. Since then, she has worked continuously in theater, film, and television. In theater, she has collaborated with important directors such as Mimis Kougioumtzis, Thomas Moschopoulos, Yannis Houvardas, Nikita Milivojevic, Kostas Filippoglou, Pascal Rambert, and Eleni Skoti, in plays from the classical and contemporary repertoire. She has starred in several feature films and short films and was awarded the First Prize for Best Actress at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 1998 for her performance in "Black Out" by M. Karamagiolis and at the Cyprus International Film Festival for the film "The Tree and the Cradle" by M. Douza. She has appeared in numerous television series. In recent years, she has been teaching acting at drama schools and also works as a voice-over artist for commercials. She speaks fluent English and French.

Katia Gkoulioni

Graduated from the Athens Drama School of G. Theodosiadis. She was a member of the "Studio ypo to miden" and participated in Nikos Karageorgos’s "Play-back" performances. In the theatre she has participated in performances such as "Kazimir and Karolina" by G. Houvardas, "Symposium" and "Podworko" by K. Garbaczewski, "Kalliopi, o dromos ton teraton" by H. Ellinikioti, and "Sotiria is my name" by G. Papageorgiou. She has directed three performances, "House," "Baby," and "Happy Days in the Ash Gardens." In cinema, she has starred in, among others, the short films "Fireworks" by G. Abruzzesse, "Lost Girl" by N. Pastras, “Arundel” by K. Kotzamani, "Patch of Blue" by M. Koupa, and the feature films "Murphy's Law," "In the Woods," "Symptom," and "Still River." For her performance in D. Masklavanou's "Polyxeni", she was awarded the Best Actress Award from the Hellenic Film Academy and the acting award at the Los Angeles and New York film festivals and for "Eftychia" by A. Frantzis she won the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Hellenic Film Academy and the acting award at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Eva Goulakou

Born in Athens. She studied Theater Studies at the Kapodistrian University of Athens and Set Design/Costume Design at the Motley Theatre Design Course in London. In cinema, she has been responsible for the Art Direction and/or Costumes in over 30 films (including: "Our Wildest Days" by V. Kekatos, "Moon, 66 Questions" by Z. Lentzou, "Dodo" by P. H. Koutras, "Holy Emy" by A. Laimos, "Brutalia, Days of Labor" by M. Mavris, "Interruption" by G. Zois), most of which have been screened at major film festivals. She has also designed the costumes for the series "Milky Way" by V. Kekatos. In theater, she has done the set design and/or costume design for several productions (including: "Merde" by G. Koutlis and V. Magouliotis, "Hippolytus" by K. Evangelatou, "Spirtokouto, the musical" by G. Niarros, "The Dog, the Night and the Knife" by G. Koutlis). She has been awarded for her artistic direction of the film "Kiddo," for the costumes of "Brutalia, days of labour," and for the set design of "Spirtokouto, the musical."

Antonis Vavagiannis

Antonis Vavagiannis was born in Athens, without his permission, in 1981. He graduated from the Department of Primary Education of the University of Athens while also studying piano and music theory at the Athens Conservatory. He has worked as a teacher, was a founding member of the band Empty Frame, participating in their first five official releases, and at the same time began his career as the designer of the comic Kourafelkithra. In their 17 years of continuous publication, Kourafelkithra have released more than 10 editions, including three volumes of Kourafelkithra Omnibus I, II & III (published by Jemma Press). Today, Antonis works as the main cartoonist for News24/7, as a radio producer at Nostos 100.6, as the host of the Den Einai Kan Quiz Podcast, and in his spare time he likes to write his own biographies in the third person.

Greek Society of Cinematographers (GSC) Jury

Christina Moumouri

Award winning cinematographer Christina Moumouri is based in Athens, Greece but is a nomadic soul. From Los Angeles to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Rome to Hong Kong, Christina has traversed the globe working with acclaimed directors. She has worked over the past 25 years in numerous audiovisual projects e.g. commercials, short and feature films, tv series and documentaries. Her work on the film Zizotek (2020) was praised by critics, winning the Best Cinematography Award by the Hellenic Film Academy and the Best Cinematography Award by the Greek Society of Cinematographers. Her strongest skills are working under pressure, using every light condition to create beautiful ambients and diving deep into the needs of each project. She loves team spirit work and adapts fast in new challenging conditions. She is one of the most established Greek cinematographers. As a member of the Greek Society of Cinematographers, she has been recently elected as the Vice President of GSC. 

Simos Sarketzis

Simos Sarketzis is a cinematographer whose career spans over 25 years across feature films, television, documentaries, short films, commercials, and theatre. Born in Cologne, he studied filmmaking at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens before continuing his education in Paris. Sarketzis has collaborated with some of the most respected directors in contemporary Greek cinema. He served as director of photography on Pantelis Voulgaris’ Little England, a film that earned him the Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Cinematography. His work was also central to Voulgaris' The Last Note and Psyhi vathia. Beyond his collaborations with Voulgaris, Sarketzis has been trusted by other major Greek filmmakers. He was the cinematographer for Xenia, directed by Panos H. Koutras. He also worked with Tassos Boulmetis on Mythopathy. In 2023, Sarketzis's work on Asimina Proedrou's Behind the Haystacks further cemented his reputation.

Thimios Bakatakis

Thymios Bakatakis was born in Athens. He graduated from the Stavrakos Greek Film and Television School. He works as a cinematographer in Greece and abroad. He has shot several award-winning films, such as Kinetta (2005), Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), each with a distinct visual style. His work extends to films such as Attenberg (2010), L (2011), Porfirio (2011), Keep The Lights On (2012), Blind (2014), The Lodge (2018), as well as music videos and commercials. He also works as a theater lighting designer. Bakatakis was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for the film The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017).