Jury
Fiction
Ophelia Harutyunyan
Filmmaker I Armenia
Ophelia Harutyunyan is an Armenian fiction and documentary filmmaker based out of Los Angeles and New York. She co-directed and produced the documentary Totally Under Control (NEON) about the US government's failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She produced Crazy, Not Insane (HBO) which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. She wrote and produced the fiction short film Red Apples which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. Her films have played at other notable film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, Tribeca, Clermont Ferrand, etc. Most recently, she wrote and directed the short fiction film It Takes a Village..., an Armenian-French-Belgian co-production, which premiered at Clermont Ferrand IFF and won the grand prix from France TV. She produced the documentary WISE GUY David Chase and The Sopranos which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2024. She is currently directing a two-part feature documentary for HBO. She's a graduate of Columbia University's Film MFA program and an alumna of the Berlinale Talents and La Biennale College Cinema programs.
Yorgos Karamihos
Actor, Director and Acting Teacher Ι Greece
Yorgos Karamihos is an acclaimed actor, director and acting teacher, born and raised in Northern Greece. He has graduated from the Ionian University with a degree in Philosophy & History, as well as from The Greek National Theatre Academy. In 2012 he received a Fulbright Scholarship as an exceptional artist to attend the full time program at the Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles, where he was immediately offered to teach his own acting technique applied on Ancient Greek drama and A. Chekhov as well as theatre history. His credits as actor include over thirty theatre productions from ancient Greek dramas and Shakespeare to Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams and other classical and modern plays. He has also appeared in more than thirty feature films and numerous TV series such as The Durrells in Corfu, Bulletproof, Genius-Picasso among others. Karamihos has also directed multiple theatre plays in several major venues in Greece and the USA. In 2008 he received the national award as Best Stage Actor of Greece. He has translated plays and books from English, French and Spanish into Greek and has published several theatre plays. He is also known for supporting charitable organizations such as Therapeutic Riding Association of Greece, The Smile Of The Child, Animal Welfare Organizations etc.
Paola Starakis
Translating scripts and dialogues - Head of the Short Film Department at the Greek Film Centre (1999-2012) Ι Greece, France
After starting her career as an archaeologist, Paola Starakis joined the Greek Ministry of Culture in 1984 and worked in Melina Mercouri's office. In 1986, she joined the Greek Film Centre and specialised in translating scripts and dialogues of Greek films (including among others the films by Theo Angelopoulos from “The Beekeeper” to his last, unfortunately unfinished, opus, “The Other Sea”). From 1999, she was head of the Short Film Department at the Greek Film Centre, which she left in 2012, but she remains passionate about the short film format and continues her work as a translator.