Panagiotis Charamis was born in Drama (Νοrthern Greece) in 1978. He studied Film and Filmmaking in England and since then he has been working as a director in documentaries, short films and advertising in Greece, England and Turkey. His first feature documentary «Attention!» which he co-directed with Onur Bakir won the Best Documentary Award at the Film Festival of Istanbul (2016) and his latest short film «Avanos» won the Best Short Film Award at the International Short Film Festival in Drama in 2018. Currently, he is developing his first feature film with the same title «Avanos», based on his latest work.
Araceli Lemos is a Greek writer, director and editor. As an editor, Araceli’s work includes the documentary «They Glow in the Dark» (director Panayotis Evangelidis), winner of the Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Documentary and the FIPRESCI Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Her short film, «Miguel Alvarez Wears a Wig», was screened at festivals worldwide including Tampere, Leeds and Outfest. Araceli’s work as director spans from theatre (Shakespeare’s «Measure for Measure») to commissioned works for clients such as the HFPA, the U.S. Embassy in Greece and the French Institute in Athens. She is now in pre-production of her debut fiction film, titled «Holy Emy». In 2013, Araceli created the International Project Discovery Forum, a development and pitching program for Balkan features, as part of the LA Greek Film Festival. Araceli is a 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus alumnus and holds an MFA in Film Directing from CalArts, as a Fulbright and Onassis Foundation Scholar.
Antigoni Rota was born in Athens in 1984. Starting from documentary production at Anemon non-profit organization, she contributed in various company projects as A Dolphin Man, Doc.2017/The Journey of Food, Documentary series for SKAI television, CineDoc, Production Office. Since 2016, she has been the main producer of Squared Square Films. Her body of work has been acknowledged with international awards and multiple distinctions around the world. Her short films have also been broadcasted on TV channels (ARTE and Cosmote TV) and distributed in several VOD platforms as well as in European cinemas. Her two most recent short films are «Eighth Continent» which premiered in Venice Film Festival in 2017 and «Third Kind» which premiered in Semaine de la Critique Cannes in May 2018. At the moment, she is producing her first feature documentary,«Stray Bodies» by Elina Psykou, and she is developing the short «Third Kind» to a feature retro Balkan sci- fi directed by Yorgos Zois.
Konstantinos Samaras was born and raised in Thessaloniki. He graduated with a Law degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and then studied Film in Paris, where he lived and worked for several years. In addition to directing, he has worked as a film festival programmer and film critic. He has worked as an assistant director in various films, including Nikos Panayotopoulos, Benoît Jacquot, Panos Koutras. He has directed the short films «Gloria», «The Red Raincoat», «The Quiet Nights», «Three Eggholders Almost Four». His first feature film, «Magic Skin», was screened in Berlin Critics Week, while the protagonist Anthi Efstratiadou won the Emerging Actor Award at the Athens International Film Festival «Opening Nights». He is in the process of preparing his second feature film «Epitaph».
Stergios Paschos was born in Velestino in 1985. He has been living in Athens since 2008. He has worked as a screenwriter and director in Film and Television. He has written and directed several short films. With his project «Pigs in the Wind» he participated in TorinoFilmLab’s Script&Pitch 2013 and Framework 2014, also in MFI script 2 film workshop 2013 and Sarajevo’s Cinelink 2013. In 2016 his debut Feature «AFTERLOV» premiered in Locarno Film Festival at the Concourse Cineasti del Presente and won the youth jury prize for Best picture. So far, the film has been screened in many festivals and won numerous awards.
Alkis Papastathopoulos is a filmmaker from Greece who holds an MA degree in film studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is a Sundance Alumnus and has directed five short films. In 2013 his short film «en pojke» won a special mention at Outview Film Festival. In 2014 his experimental short «En pojke» premiered in MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival and went on to participate in many international festivals (Berlin Porn Film Festival, Pink Screens FF, Leeds Queer Film Festival, Queer City Cinema, Outview FF). In 2018 his short film/music video «Gomenaki» won the Best Sound Music Video award at IndieMemphis Film Festival. The same year he won the HBO Europe award for the Best TV Series project at Midpoint TV Launch for the dramedy series in development «Sleepover» he co-wrote with Maria Hatzakou. In 2019 «Sleepover» was selected to be part of Sundance Institute|Youtube New Voices Lab becoming the first European series ever participating in that lab. His latest short film «Hyped» premiered at the official competition program of the International Film Festival of Athens where it won the award for best actress (Artemis Tzortzoglou, Anna Papageorgiou).
Vasilis Kekatos (1991) is a graduate student of Brunel University School of Arts, in London. In 2016, he won Sundance Ignite «What’s Next?» Short Film Challenge and received a mentorship from Sundance Institute, with his short «Zero Star Hotel». With his films «The Silence of the Dying Fish» (2018) and «The Distance Between Us and the Sky» (2019) he has participated in many prestigious film festivals: Locarno, Sundance, Sarajevo, Tallinn Black Nights, Palm Springs and Telluride. Ηe recently www awarded the short film Palme d’Οr and the Queer Palm at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. Vasilis is currently working on his debut feature film.
Born in Volos, Greece, in 1983. Lives and works in Athens. Studied in various artistic fields: ceramics, drawing, sculpture and art history. She obtained her Master’s degree in Cinema and Audiovisual from the University of Paris VIII, with specialization in Film Direction.
Βorn in Athens in 1988. He graduated from the University of Patras [2012] with a Bachelor in Architecture and he completed his Master’s degree [MSc] in Culture and Documentary Production at the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication at Aegean University [2019]. Currently he works as a professional photographer. He has collaborated with UNHCR in Greece, UNICEF’s Hellenic National Committee, websites [lnfo-war.gr, Flix.gr, Mashable.com] and newspapers [ef.syn, Kathimerini].
The documentary «The Canaries» (2019), his first short film, won the FISCHER Audience Award for Best Greek Film Production Under 50′ at the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
Born in Greece, 1986. He studied at the London Film School, LFS and Kingston University, London. He has worked as a writer, director and editor. His short films were screened in more than 200 international film festivals, including Cannes, New Directors/New Films, BFI and AFI Fest, and have received numerous prizes. They have also been acquired by TV channels, VoD and online platforms (Nowness, Vimeo Staff Picks, etc.). In 2016, he was selected for the Filmmakers Academy at the 69th Locarno Film Festival. His latest short film, «Copa-Loca» (2017), won the Greek Academy Award and was nominated for the European Film Award. «Broadway», his debut feature script, was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2018 and L’Atelier Cinéfondation, Cannes Film Festival.
Vangelis Serfas was born and raised in Salamina, Greece. He studied Film and TV Studies in Athens. He made his first short film as a director-writer, «Sunday» on 2014, which won the Best Screenplay Award on 37th Drama International Film Festival. He is a professional Screenwriter and Script Consultant based in Athens, Greece. Many of his screenplays have been awarded. His script «Tzeni and Giannis» was funded by Hellenic Film Academy on the Competition of Film Factory Short Film Fund on 2017. He co-written the short film «37 Days with Nikoleta Leousi» which won the Best Screenplay Award in Shorts Category on 24th Athens International Film Festival on 2018. He just completed his second short film as a writer/director, Basil, funded by the Greek Film Center. Currently he is writing his first feature film screenplay «The Smell of Gasoline».
Lia Tsalta is a film writer and director living and working in Athens, Greece. She studied Film & Television Directing in Athens. In 2012, she was selected to attend the intensive Filmmaking workshops at NewSchool Athens with a scholarship. «The Forest» (2018, 18’) was her first short fiction film; it premiered at the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival and is still being screened in Greece and abroad (Encounters Film Festival, Uppsala International Film Festival, Brussels Short Festival, etc.).
Born in Athens, Greece, in 1980. She studied film in Athens and she got an MA in documentary & society at ESCAC. Since then she has worked in the film, television and advertising industry. She has written and directed four short films and a feature. Her short film, «Dad, Lenin and Freddy» was selected at numerous international film festivals: Clermont-Ferrand, Sao Paolo, Chicago, Edinburgh among others, and wοn several distinctions. Ιn 2012 it was awarded for Best Short Film of the Hellenic Film Academy and three more awards at the Short Film Festival of Drama including the Silver Alexandros. The film was broadcasted by Canal + and SBS in Australia. «Schoolyard», her next short, premiered at the 64th Berlinale and was nominated for the Crystal Bear, was also one of the five nominees for the best short film 2014 at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards. The film was selected in many Internationals Film Festivals (Guanajuato, Edinburgh, Dresden, Brest etc) and win distinctions for it’s experimental means. Her debut film Cosmic Candy, was selected to participate in the Sundance If Istanbul Screenwriter’s Lab and had its World Premiere in Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
Yorgos Zois is a Greek director born on 1982 and based in Athens. He studied applied Math & Nuclear Physics at the NTUA and film direction in UdK Berlin. His work has been selected at A-festivals worldwide (Cannes – Film Critique Week, Venice, Rotterdam, Telluride, Palm Springs, Clermont-Ferrand, EFA nomination among others) and has won numerous awards and distinctions worldwide. His films have been internationally praised for their meta-aesthetics and daring narratives. He was member of the Jury «Lion of the Future» at the 74th Venice IFF.
Christina Koutsospyrou was born in Athens in 1980. She moved to London in 1998 where she studied Graphic Design at the London College of Printing and later on Photography at Fashion Institute of Technology New York. In 2010, after successfully pursuing a career in illustration and textile design, she returned to Greece and filmed her debut feature «To the Wolf», a docu-fictional exploration of the lives of shepherds in the mountains of Nafpaktia where her father grew up. The film premiered at the Berlinale in 2013 and was screened in over 50 film festivals worldwide, including Toronto, Sao Paulo, Viennale, Torino, Thessaloniki. It won awards at Dokufest, Doclisboa and Syros. Christina is currently working on two feature films and a video installation.
Daphné Hérétakis studied Film at the University Paris 8 (Saint-Denis) and at the Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains (Tourcoing, Northern France). Her films, a genre between experimental documentary and fiction, have taken part and been awarded in international festivals: IFF Rotterdam, Visions du réel, Hors Pistes Pompidou, Internationale Kurtzfilmtage Winterthur, Entrevues de Belfort, Festival Européen du film court de Brest, EMAF Osnabrück, Lussas les États généraux du film documentaire. She shares her time between Athens and Paris.
Yiorgos Fourtounis was born in Rhodes in 1984. Ηe grew up in Athens where he studied Philosophy-Pedagogy-Psychology at the University of Athens and Filmmaking at the technical college AKMI. Since 2005 he has worked as a film editor, assistant director and assistant cinematographer in the following films: “Boy is Eating the Bird’s Food” (by Εktoras Lygizos), “The Sentimentalists” (by Nicholas Triantafyllidis), ‘The Sunset” (by Gregoris Rentis). He has directed three short films. His second film ”Pistoma” (On the Belly) was shown in Rio de Janeiro/Curta Cinema, in Thessaloniki and at the festival Short Shorts in Tokyo. It was awarded as Best Fiction at the International Short Film Festival of Drama (Northern Greece) and was nominated for Best Short Film of the Year by the Greek Film Academy. His film ”Icaros” was shown at the 21st Athens International Film Festival and won the award for Best Director.
Born in Athens in 1984. He has studied and made music since his childhood. In 2011, he graduated from the School of Mathematics at the University of Athens and started making and editing music videos. In 2014 He completed Filmmaking Studies at the Metropolitan College and directed his first short film ”Νipenthes”.
Ioanna Petinaraki studied Film Production at the School of Film of the University of Thessaloniki. She has participated as producer in six short films, one feature and one feature-length documentary. In 2012-13 she was part of the executive production of the Greek-British feature ”The Journey”, directed by Lance Nielsen that was screened in international festivals (e.g. Saint-Tropez International Film Festival). Her films have been shown at the Docs Barcelona, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Sarajevo Talents and the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA). She has been sponsored by the Greek Film Center for her documentary “Back to the Top‘’ which won the Audience Award of the Hellenic Television Corporation award at the 20th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Since 2017 she has been working as a freelancer producer for television programs (”Herbs, Fruit of the Earth”: Light Thickens Productions; ”Legends of the Soccer Fields”: Prosenghisi Productions). She was recently an awardee of ARTWORKS and participated in the SNF Artist Fellowship Program. Ιn 2017 she set up the company Moving Rooster Productions in Thessaloniki.
Despina Economopoulou is a Greek filmmaker who works internationally on experimental video, film and video-installation. She tackles social and political problems and offers food for thought on crucial and urgent matters like the proliferation of plastics (”Aurora”) or the limits of reality and illusion (”Loop”). She makes hybrid, interdisciplinary works that have been shown in Greece, London, Barcelona and São Paulo.