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.

Graduate of Faculty of Philoshopy, Pedagogy and Psychology of the Kapodistrian University of Athens and holder of the M.Sc. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is a member of the organizing committee of Beyond Borders | Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival. She works at the Hellenic History Foundation, while also teaching Greek and English to children. She knows English and French and is involved in theater and dance where she also has a teacher's diploma.

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 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.

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)

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. Student of the postgraduate study program "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.

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.

Eros Kazantzian and his staff are supporting technically the Festival. They live and work in Rhodes island, Greece.

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.

Giorgos Mantas lives in Athens. He graduated from New York College, Department of Film Studies. He has worked in cinema, theatre and television productions. He currently works as a documentary editor. He specializes in history documentaries and has been a member of the organizing committees of several documentary film Festivals.