Our people

Irini Sarioglou (Dr.) was born in Istanbul in 1972. She is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at Istanbul University (Dept. Modern Greek Studies) and the General Secretary of the Hellenic History Foundation in Athens. She specialises in contemporary Greek and late Ottoman/modern Turkish history (19th -20th century).

Her filmography includes: Zappeion High School for Girls (Script-Research-Narration-Translation), The Ten Day Diary (Concept-Research-Script-Narration-Translation), The Exiled (Concept-Research-Script-Narration-Translation), The Silent School (Co-Directing-Script-Research), Imvros – Tenedos: A tale of memories (Co-Directing-Script-Research), On the edge of the Aegean, Castellorizo (Co-Directing-Script, Research) and The East Has Set (Co-Directing, Research). She is the President of Beyond Borders| Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival. She speaks English, French and Turkish.

Rudy Buttignol, C.M., is an executive producer of documentary features and series; a consultant to broadcasters and producers; and a moderator of financing forums in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

His award-winning documentary series include Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH; Paramedics – Life on the Line; Emmy/Grammy-winner Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach; and Afghanistan; The Wounded Land. Feature documentaries include Oscar-nominated Writing with Fire; Shut Up and Say Something; and The Corporation. From 2007 to 2022, Buttignol served as President & CEO of Knowledge Network, British Columbia’s public broadcaster, and as President of BBC Kids network. From 1993 to 2006, Buttignol was a Commissioning Editor, Executive Producer, and Head of Network Programming at public broadcast network TVOntario. From 1975 to 1993 he worked as an independent writer, director and producer of documentaries and children’s programs. Buttignol is the winner of nine Canadian Academy Awards, an Honorary Doctor of Letters, and is a Member of the Order of Canada. He was born in Pordenone, Italy, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Toronto’s York University, and executive programs at Harvard and Stanford.

Born in Germany, Michel lives in France since more than 40 years. After completing his studies in Economics and Sociology at Cologne University, he became a Producer/Director of television programs. In 1977, he joined TELECIP in Paris, then the leading French independent production company. In 1982, he launched REVCOM TELEVISION, the television arm of French Publishing Group ‘Editions Mondiales’ which quickly became one of the most successful production companies, with subsidiaries in Germany, United Kingdom and Australia. In 1987 he launched his own production house QUARTIER LATIN.

In 1995, he acquired ICTV a documentary distribution company representing small French and international producers. So far, he has directed and/or produced close to 200 films. In recent years, he launched the non-for-profit association ECRANS DES MONDES, organizing and/or supporting several significant documentary festivals across Europe.

He was born in 1995 in Athens. His academic studies have focused on issues of Contemporary European and Greek history, while he has been involved with film studies with an emphasis on documentary genre. He has been jury in documentary festivals and since 2022 he is a member of the organizing committee, film programmer and Programming and Development Manager of Beyond Borders | Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival.

Giorgos Alefantis is a professional film editor based in Athens, with 10 years of experience in cinema and television, and a member of Blink, the Greek Editors Association. His filmography includes the multi-award-winning comedy Too Much Info Clouding Over My Head (2017), the film Polyeleos (2018, Student Film Award at the Drama Short Film Festival), and the film Pencil Knife Baton (2019), for which he received the Best Editing Award at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival.

He edited the documentary series Es Avrion ta Spoudaia (2020–2021) for ERT (the Greek national broadcaster), as well as other television projects. His other works include the film Stin R (2017), the dramedy Guest Star (2023), which premiered in the “Meet the Neighbors” section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival after being presented as a work-in-progress at Cannes, and the documentary Biko and His Orchestra (2024), which also premiered at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

He was born in Athens and studied Physics and Information Systems. His love - initially for photography and later for video production - has led him to the position of Producer - Technical Manager in the Video Services department of the Athens News Agency.

Anna Routsi is a lawyer, a cultural manager and a columnist. She studied Law in Athens and Hannover and has a master degree on Culture and Media Management from Berlin Freie Universitaet. She has worked for the publicity of renowned cultural organisations, such as Athens and Epidaurus Festival. She collaborated for the programme planning and she was the head of the national and international publicity of Athens World Book Capital UNESCO 2018. She is a founding member of UNESCO’s World Book Capital Network and PEN Greece, she writes for cultural magazines, such as monopoli.gr and ecogreennet.gr and she is the chief editor for documentary programmes in cinema and television.

Since 2003 she is a senior investigator in the Children’s Rights Dptm of the Greek Ombudsman. She has been undertaken the press publicity for institutions, such as G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize, Thessaloniki International Book Fair and Beyond Borders Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival. She has been jury member for Kinofest Filmfestival, Animasyros and Olympia International Filmfestival for children and young people.

Graduated from the Department of Theater Studies of the School of Philosophy of Athens and holder of two master's degrees obtained in Great Britain: MA in Cinema and Television Studies (British Film Institute-Birkbeck College, London) and MA in Modern Greek Studies (King's College London). She is a journalist and worked as a film editor in the arts section of the Elefterotipia ("EPTA") for a number of years, intermittently covering most areas of cultural reporting (book, classical music, opera, theater). She writes on cultural issues and cinema.

She works as a press office manager at the Greek Film Archive and at the Weirdwave distribution company while collaborating with the Drama International Short Film Festival and the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People. She speaks three foreign languages and is a member of ESIEA and WIFT.GR (Women in Film and Television)

Tasos Alevras is a documentary filmmaker and video producer with academic background in journalism and performing arts.
In 2015, he released his first documentary, "WHAT POLITICA – A non political Football Story," which was screened at festivals in Greece and abroad.

His work has since been featured by VICE, ERT, and other media platforms. He also collaborates regularly with film festivals in Thessaloniki, Athens, and Kastellorizo.

Maria-Alexandra Iliadis was born in Athens in 1994. She is a graduate of the Pedagogical Department of Elementary Education of the Demokriteio University of Thrace. She holds a M.A in "Public History" of the Open University of Athens. She has attended annual training seminars on "Special Education" and "Intercultural Education". She has worked as a teacher and as an animator of educational programs in museums. She knows English and Turkish.

Thodoris Matsagkos was born in Athens in 1993 and lives in Rafina. He completed his studies in History & Archaeology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, specializing in history. Since then, he has been working as a teacher in the field of secondary education with an emphasis on teaching history. From 2019 onwards, he successfully coordinates and helps with the preparations of Beyond Borders | Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival.

Born in Florence (Italy) she holds a B.A. in German-Italian Studies (Florence/Bonn) and a M.A. in German-French Studies (Bonn/Paris). She is starting a PhD in German Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies (France/Germany). She is a cinephile, polyglot, cultural journalist and writes for the online-magazine TheDotCultura. Since 2022 she has collaborated with Beyond Borders contributing to the pre-selection process of the documentaries, Q&A sessions and in 2025 to the pre-festival organisation. In 2025 she served as jury member for the Prix Cinéma des Étudiants France Culture at Cannes Film Festival and curated the cinema-club at Fondation Hellénique (Paris).

My name is Despina Savoulidi, I am 22 years old, and I was born and raised in Heraklion, Crete. I am currently studying Business Administration at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), and during the spring semester of 2025, I attended the International Management program at Université Toulouse Capitole in France. I’ve had a strong interest in cinema from a young age and in recent years I have worked or volunteered at film festivals such as Athens International Film Festival “Premiere Nights”, Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival | Beyond Borders, Athens Independent Film Festival KINO, as well as at events by TEDxAthens and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). Since 2022, I have been the head of the AUEB Film Club (Cinemaueb), and from September 2024 to January 2025, I was part of the editorial team of the online magazine CineRaporto.

Zampia Kamarianaki grew up in Chania and studied Social Anthropology at Panteion University and at Université Paris Cité through the Erasmus programme. Since 2023 she has been collaborating with the Chania Film Festival, in the catalogue and subtitling department. Her passion for visual storytelling and research led her to Beyond Borders - Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival, a boutique festival of international recognition and acclaim.

My name is George Spanos and I was born in Athens in 1994.

I am a graduate of the Department of Digital Systems of the University of Peiraius. I have been studying audiovisual arts for about 10 years. On a professional level, my specialty, mostly concerns the coverage of artistic events, musical productions and theatrical performances as well as directing - shooting music videos. In 2016, I did the complete photographic coverage of the performance "Όλα σε θυμίζουν" (dedicated to Manolis Rasoulis) at the Odeon Herodes Atticus, as part of the Athens Festival. In the same year, I was responsible for the photographic material of the show "Φιλιώ Χαϊδεμενου". In 2017, I covered the photographic material (advertisement - promotional material) of the performance "The Same Moment" as part of the Athens Festival, which took place at the Odeon Herodes Atticus. In addition, in 2017, in collaboration with Pantelis Thalassinos, I directed the music video "Το Φεγγαράκι Πρωβαλε". In 2018, I was responsible for the photographic coverage of the 1st International Delhpi Festival "to Lalon Idor" , and in 2019, I was assigned the full photographic coverage of the events of the 2nd International Delhpi Festival "to Lalon Idor" . During the years 2016-2019, I did the photographic coverage of performances at the National Theater, the Athens Music Hall and the Thessaloniki Music Hall, such as: "Creta meets Smyrna", “The Haunted", "Erotokritos", "ΤΑΚΙΜ Cafe Aman America " and more. I have collaborated and maintained collaboration with artists such as: Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Pantelis Thalassinos, Miltos Paschalidis, the traditional group ΤΑΚΙΜ and more. as well as with composers such as: Nikos Ksydakis, Christos Nikolopoulos, Mimis Plessas and Stavros Xarchakos. In the period 2016-2019, I participated in various television shows and events. From February 2020, I cooperate with the "Technopolis" City of Athens, taking care of photographic coverage, concerts and events.

Since 2023 I collaborate with "Beyond Borders" Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival.

He studied Graphic Design and completed postgraduate studies in Visual Communication and Interactive Media at Vakalo Art & Design College and the University of Derby. Since 2002, he has been working in the advertising industry in the creative sector as a graphic designer, web designer, and freelancer.

He has extensive experience in a wide range of visual communication projects, including editing, production, publishing, advertising, branding, web design, animation, illustration, television shows, and interactive applications. In 2009, he joined the television and film production company Blacklight Productions. In 2024, he directed his first short documentary film, "The Town Crier", produced by Blacklight Productions with the support of the Greek Film Centre. The film received distinctions and awards at film festivals in Greece and abroad, and was a finalist at the 2025 Iris Awards of the Hellenic Film Academy.