8th Naoussa International Film Festival - The judging Comittees

Judging Comittee of Fiction Films

President

                 LUCILE HADJIHALILOVIC-Director, Screenwriter France She studied art history and cinema at IDHEC, in Paris. In 1990 she created the company Les Cinemas de la Zone with Gaspar Noé. She made two short films, a medium one “La bouche de Jean-Pierre” (The mouth of Jean- Pierre) and in 2004 she made her first full-length film “Innocence” which has been awarded in many festivals. Best first film at San Sebastian, best film at Stockholm Festival, at Neuchâtel and more. At the same time she wrote full- length scripts such as “Enter the void” by Gaspar Noé,  “Crystal” by Jean-Michel Roux and more. Currently, she works on her second full- length film “Evolution”.

Members                      ARIS BAFALOUKAS - Director, Producer, Scenarist Greece He was born in Athens. For eight successive years, he was a Greek swimming champion. In 1995 he graduated from Athens University and the L. Stavrakis Film and TV School. He subsequently studied in the UK on a Greek Film centre scholarship, receiving an MA in Film & TV Direction from the Northern Media School. Having worked as an assistant director beside a number of well-know film makers, he began directing documentaries and fiction films. He has written a play, scripts for short films and episodes for TV series. His last fiction film “Apnea” won the Fipresci and the audience Award in Thessaloniki Film Festival in 2010 and the audience award at SEE FEST in Los Angeles in 2011.

                       JOYCE NASHAWATI-Director and Screenwriter Lebanon Was born in Beirut, grew up in Athens and lives in Paris. Joyce A. Nashawati studied film and philosophy in the UK and France. An obsessive cinephile who loves genre films and atypical cinema. She occupied various positions on film sets, as well as being a script reader for distribution companies, before writing, directing and producing her two short films "the umbrella" & "the bite”. Both films travelled around festivals, from Dubai, to Edinburgh, to Spain...  "The bite" won the best short film award at Gerardmer film festival in France. She's currently writing her first feature film 'Heatwave', after having created an art video for Hermès International stores.

                   JULIETTE GRANDMONT-Producer France From 2000 to 2005 she worked as a producer in the production company Artcam international. She worked in co-productions with Central Asia and Eastern Europe on films such as “Platform” by Jia Zhang Ke, “La route » by Darezhan Omirbaev,  “l’Ange de l’épaule droite” by Djameshed Usmonov  and “Le Chignon d’Olga” by Jérôme Bonnell. She has produced 25 short films and today manages Clandestine productions and produces full-length films by young directors. Her last film is “Shangai-Belleville” by LEE Show-Chun. She also teaches film production at universities.

                    THOMAS SIEBEN – Director Germany Thomas Sieben (born in Cologne in 1976) studied Politics at the University in Münster and Film and Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, USA. He worked as a producer with multiple production companies in Munich from 1999 until 2001. He works as a freelance journalist, writer and director in Berlin. In 2009 he does his first feature film “Distanz” and was selected in many festivals: Karlovy Vary, Edinburg, Brooklyn, Montreal, and at the Berlinale 2009 opening film. He is currently working on his second movie.

Judging Comittee of Experimental Films

President

                        IOANNIS KOLAXIZIS- Fine Artist and Cinematographer Greece Giannis Kolaxizis is a fine artist and cinematographer. He studied graphic design, pedagogy, painting, graphic arts-multimedia and image and sound technology. He participated in several exhibitions in Greece and abroad receiving many distinctions. He is a professor at the Cinema department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at the past he worked at the plastic arts department and several art schools.

 







Members                   MARIA PAPADOPOULOU-Fine Artist Greece Maria Papadopoulou has studied at the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Universidad de

Barcelona. Her field of expertise is new technology and video art. She participated in over 40 exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

                JULIAN PARKINSON-Sound Engineer, Director, Producer, Editor and 3d Animator United Kingdom Julian Parkinson has graduated from the School of Fine Arts of the UCLAN University. He has 23 years of working experience in cinema and television sectors. He has worked in Greece and abroad as sound engineer, director, producer, editor and 3d animator. He has taught 3d animation and film direction at several Greek colleges and private schools.

                              George Melidonis-Cinema critic, Art Producer, Graphics Designer Greece He works with experimental cinema and animation. He teaches animation, motion graphics and applications for digital means in private schools.

Judging Comittee of Animation Films

                 KOOK EWO -Title Sequence designer & Director France Kook Ewo, 31, made his first classes with photography. In 2000, he directed his first short film “7” and learned the editing process. First, as a trainer, then as a journalist for MAC press, he spent few years to improve his knowledge on motion design. He worked in Paris and in London and slowly switched to movies through opening credits. In 2005, he worked in Canada with Christophe Gans on the movie “Silent Hill”. He created the opening credits and the first official teaser. Back in France, he directed “Black Night is Falling” and several commercials. He is currently working on his first fiction movie.





Members

                            Stefanos Potamidis-Graphics Designer Greece He was born in Thessaloniki in 1967. Having completed the Thessaloniki Graphic Design School in 1989, he studied illustration under the guidance of Maria Tereza Marrel. During the first years of his career, he founded his own company. In 1995, a partnership was formed with another graphic designer until 1999, when he decided to join the Colibri creative team, where he still works. He has been awarded for his work, in Greece and Europe. Engaged in photography and illustration, watches cartoons as every child, but in recent years, a bit more.

                            GEORGIOS SOUMELIDIS - Music Composer, Fx & Animation Artist, Director Greece He studied information technology at Aberdeen Dundee University and he received Master in Information Systems from Sheffield University. From his youth he devoted in music composing and worked in cinema. He has composed soundtracks for short films, documentaries and theatrical plays. Simultaneously he is researching human psychology and cinema and with the assistance of technology he tries to ideally combine images, sound and music. He writes and directs his films. At the moment he works at the Foundation of the Hellenic World as a designer of interactive applications.