Team & Jury

Fim Olympiad focuses in having a multinational & multiprofesional jury.

Our team includes esteemed academics, actors, directors, filmmakers, journalists, photographers, producers, and writers.

Film Olympiad Founder & Chairman

Ioannis Makro, Greece

Ioannis Makro is the founder of Film Olympiad, a theatre director, and an actor with over 20 stage productions in Greece, and an awarded filmmaker, writer, and video producer with four short films and more than 120 commercial videos. His projects span over a dozen countries across all continents.

He a BA in Political Science & History and a Masters in Communications & Media Rhetorics from Panteion University. For seven years he served as assistant director for the multi-art festivals Petit Paris d’Athènes and Chessnale, and in 2017 volunteered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In 2018, he directed the creative material for the World Chess Championship in London, reaching an estimated 1 billion viewers online and on TV. He also worked as consulting/associate producer on the broadcasts, featuring guests such as Woody Harrelson, Bennett Miller, and Jimmy Wales.

In 2020, he created and coordinated Checkmate Coronavirus for the World Chess Federation — a global online chess marathon with 2,762 tournaments and 517,661 participations. It remains the largest sports event ever organized by an international federation in terms of participation.

He has also trained in the “Actors Studio Method and Stanislavski System” participating in the seminars of Andreas Manolikakis, former Chair of Directing at the Actors Studio Drama School, whom he regards as his mentor.

Our multinational VIP Jury, provides high-level consultation and perspective.

To ensure freedom of expression and impartiality, some jury members may participate anonymously. This is to safeguard transparency —since every film’s ratings and results are published, jurors are protected from outside influence, lobbying, or backlash, so they can judge with complete independence.

Our organising crew, ambassadors & volunteers, acts under the same principles.

Head of VIP Jury

Henry Biggs, USA

Henry Biggs (PhD) is an academic, writer, and performer. He has held important positions in international entities, such as CEO of Eusabian Technologies (2015 – present), Vice – Chairman at the International Boxing Association Ethics Commission (2020 – present), and Member of the Board of Directors at the Harvard Alumni Association (2014 – present).

Henry has been engaged in the arts for over twenty-five years. Most recently, he was featured in the documentary “Swimming to Ferguson” (Amazon), but he has also been prolific as a musician. His first album was produced by Mylene Farmer and featured even then his signature “Trompe l’oeil” acrostic lyrics.

With a vast academic background, Henry has a BA in Classics, Latin from Harvard University, PhD in Romance Linguistics and Literature from the University of California, J.D. on International Law from Saint Luis University, and more. In his teaching career, he worked first at Houghton University, then at Washington University St. Louis as an Associate Dean at the College of Arts & Sciences (1999 – 2011), and as an Adjunct Professor (2011 – present) at the School of Law and School of Arts & Sciences.

Programming Director - VIP Jury

Irini Stamatopoulou, Greece

Irini Stamatopoulou (PhD) is a university professor, film critic and writer. For the last 22 years she has been teaching Film Theory and History at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Film Studies Department, at the Panteion University Communication and Media Department and others.

Her main research subject is Film Narratology, along with her interest in Gender Studies. Her PhD was on “Cinematic and literary discourse: a comparative study of cinematic narration”. She has published two books on cinema, “The Romantic Hero in Cinema” and “Theology and Mysticism in Modern American Cinema” and has taken part in several other collective books on cinema.

Irini has also participated, with an advisory or evaluating role, in committees and institutions having to do with film creation and production, and she has published dozens academic essays.

VIP Jury

Anastasia Karlovich, Ukraine

Anastasiya Karlovich is an awarded photographer and journalist. She has covered massive international sports and cultural events from India, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia to Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Greece, USA and many more countries.

She is a Woman Grand Master in chess and as a journalist she has taken literally thousands of interviews from top chess players in the world, including all world champions of the last 15 years. Her photographies in these events have been also published by several major news outlets.

One of her most recent projects, was the Saudi Comic Con where she worked as a press officer. The event had hundreds of Hollywood stars as guests and was a breakthrough success in Saudi Arabia.

VIP Jury

Takis Papamatthaiou, Greece

Takis Papamatthaiou is an actor and director. He has been working for 45 consecutive years in theatre, participating frequently in some of the most successful theatre productions in Greece.

Takis has been the lead actor in performances of Ancient Greek Drama and Aristophanes, participating countless times at the Athens & Epidaurus Festival and in the Ancient Epidaurus theatre, which has been described by Dame Helen Mirren as “Acting in Epidaurus is equivalent to winning an Oscar”. With these performances he has also participated in the International Theatre Festivals of Florence, Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich, Sofia and Budapest. Moreover he has interpreted roles in plays of emblematic playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Eduardo de Filippo and others.

In Greek television he has participated with various roles since 1988 and in cinema since 1995, receiving two international awards in the USA. He has been considered as one of the most talented character actors in Greece and working with many important directors and actors, including Donald Petrie, Karolos Koun, Giannis Smaragdis, Nia Vardalos and Richard Dreyfuss.

VIP Jury

Ali Nihat Yazici, Turkey

Ali Nihat Yazici is an entrepreneur, a communications engineer and an international sports organiser. He was Vice President of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), from 1991 – 2001.

With an academic background in Broadcasting Administration and Radio-TV-Cinema, Ali Nihat has worked for 27 years in TRT, which he also represented in EBU European Broadcasting Union. He is also owner and CEO of Zumbul R&D since 2014.

He was president of the Turkish Chess Federation (2000-2014), serving also as Vice President to the World Chess Federation (2007-2014) and during his tenure he organised more than 100 events, including 12 European and 14 World Championships for Clubs, Men, Women or Youth. In 2012, he organised the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. Ali Nihat has also been a member of the Turkish National Olympic Committee, which declared him sport manager of the year in 2006.

Film Olympiad Animation Films Ambassador & VIP Jury

Thodoris Sarafis, Greece

Thodoris Sarafis is an award-winning animator, director, producer, and voice actor.

He studied Visual Communication at the University of Central England in Birmingham, UK (now Birmingham City University) and pursued Illustration and 2D Animation at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA.

He has contributed to television series, commercials, documentaries, and films, undertaking roles such as art director, graphic and prop designer, storyboard artist, compositor, animator, special effects designer, and voice actor.

As an independent filmmaker, he has written, produced, directed, and animated fifteen short films, many of which have been recognized and awarded at international film festivals.

He is a veteran Film Olympiad multiple-medalist filmmaker, joining the Film Olympiad team to contribute under the festival's initiative to incorporate the talents and abilities of participating filmmakers.

Film Olympiad Volunteers Ambassador

Konstantina Panopoulou, Greece

Konstantina Panopoulou is an English language philologist & educator.

She graduated from the Department of English and Greek Language and Literature in 2014. She has attended the two-year program at the Porta Theatre Workshop, focusing on drama games and educational drama, and continues to attend the educational drama masterclasses by Chris Cooper at the same workshop.

In 2023, she completed a two-year training at Improvibe School of Improvisation and has been exploring improvisational theatre ever since. Since 2017, she has been bringing the magic of improv, literature, and theatre into EFL classrooms in Athens and abroad.

Film Olympiad Events &
Local Communities Ambassador

Dimitris Kefalas, Greece

Dimitris Kefalas is an organizer of cultural and sports events, an education professional, and an active member of the local government.

Since 2007, he has been an active member of the Korydallos Film Club, focusing on film analysis and writing articles for the online magazine "MONTAZ" and co-organizing cultural events at the "CINE Paradeisos" cinema, such as speeches, director presentations, and film classes.

He is also the director of the "Alypios" Music School since 2005, with dozens of concerts organised in cultural venues and public squares.

Dimitris has vast experience in managing and coordinating large-scale sports events, having successfully carried out world and national chess championships, as well as hundreds of local events. Having completed studies as an art conservation technician with additional attendance of museology seminars, he maintains an inextricable connection with the fine arts. Furthermore, he is a certified chess coach and international arbiter, having created one of the largest school learning programs nationwide.

His social and political activity is extremely extensive, having served as a board member in cultural and sports organizations of the local government, contributing decisively to dozens of events. He writes regularly for the print and electronic press and participates in associations with intense social, cultural, and island-related contributions.

Film Olympiad Special Projects
& Online Roundtables Ambassador

Evelyne Morariu, Greece

Evelyne Morariu is a Telecommunications Engineer, currently working at Nokia and a polyglot, native in Romanian and French, also speaking English, German, Hebrew, Greek, and Russian.

In 2022 she graduated from Politehnica University of Bucharest (Electronics and Telecommunications) with a thesis titled "Denoising audio/video signals using the wavelet method", which also made her passionate about audio/video processing. In Greece, she pursued two master's degrees in EKPA, in Southeast European studies (political science) and in University of Piraeus in Energy: Strategy, Law and Economics. During the masters, she worked as an AI trainer for Meta and in technical sales in British Petroleum Luxembourg (remote), using French and German.

At the age of 18, she published Cotard, a 70-poem collection and has contributed prose and poetry to international anthologies. She is an actress at the Thalia Diaspora Theater Studio, having her stage debut in February 2026 with the play "The Emigrants".

Film Olympiad Legal Councel &
Live Roundtables Ambassador

Yiota Arvaniti, Greece

Yiota Arvaniti is a law graduate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

She is an actress, from the ''Traga Drama School'' in Athens. She has starred in short films and video clips, collaborated with the ''Stavrakos Film & TV School'' and has also experience in TV series. She has performed in two theater productions and one live concert.

She has been involved in ballet and contemporary dance for over 10 years and has been an amateur singer for the last two years.

Film Olympiad Events & Locations Ambassador

Marianna Chatzipavli, Greece

Marianna Chatzipavli (Ermioni Pavlou) is an Architect Engineer (National Technical University of Athens) and works as a Design/BIM Manager with extensive experience in large-scale architectural projects. She has held leading roles in major architectural works in Greece and abroad and has published articles on architecture and cultural discourse.

She is an actress, from the Drama School “Praxi Epta” and she has attended seminars on the Actors Studio Method and the Stanislavski System with Andreas Manolikakis and Konstantinos Bibis. Alongside her theatrical practice, she engages in poetry, short stories writing, dance and painting — primarily the human figure and nude — encountering the artistic forms as essential tools of expression, freedom, human transformation & personal truth.

Film Olympiad Events & Locations Ambassador

Alexandros Floros, Greece

Alexandros Floros is an IT Service Manager with over twelve years of experience, having been a key member of asGlobal since 2012, where he now leads the service team and supports the company’s major projects. He studied Computer Science and Technology at the University of Lamia and has built a career defined by consistency, responsibility, and a strong client‑focused approach.

From a young age he has been involved in sports — especially swimming — and from 2001 to 2004 he was a member of the Greek National Team in Modern Pentathlon. One of his distinctions in sports is achieving 3rd place in the 2003 Panhellenic Fencing Championship. He is also active in community life as Chairman of the Cultural Association of Kriatsi, Dorida–Fokida, and his interests include theatre, cinema, kung fu, and travelling.

Film Olympiad Special Events Ambassador

George Satilmis, Greece

George Satilmis is a professional actor & contemporary music DJ.

He is a graduate of “Vasilis Diamantopoulos Drama School” in Thessaloniki and has attended seminars with Hera Papakonstantinou, Dimitris Sporidis, Yannis Paraskevopoulos, Stefania Goulioti, Yannis Varkas and Charis Pechlivanidis.

He has participated in over 10 plays including a part in Aeschylus the Persians by Dimitris Karatzas. He has starred in the video clip “Broken Paradise” by Litha Foster and has also experience in TV series.

Film Olympiad Special Events Ambassador

Nikolaos Zisou, Greece

Nikolaos Zisou is an actor & accomplished DJ, graduated of “Drama School – Vassilis Diamantopoulos (IASMOS)” in Thessaloniki.

He is also a graduate “Music Technology – IEK DELTA” and ” Marketing – Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki”.

He has participated in plays at The National Theater of Northen Greece, Greek National Opera, and the theatres Avlaia, Apo Koinou, Prova, Thalia Diaspora, Archelaou. He has also worked as director & scenographer in theatre and has taken part in three short movies, as an actor.

He has attended seminars about “Actors Studio Method and Stanislavsky System” by Andreas Manolikakis, Master Class for Directors by Nikos Karathanos and was a member of Theatrical Group “Technourgeio” (2020-2023).

Film Olympiad Communications Ambassador

Efi Kiouki, Greece

Efi Kiouki is a theatrologist, a culture manager and an awarded actress.

She has performed in 20 theatre performances in Athens, mainly in leading roles. Moreover, she has dozens of appearances in TV series, commercials and films.

Efi is a graduate of the historic “Greek Art Theatre of Karolos Koun”, and has focused on the “Actors Studio Method and the Stanislavsky System” in seminars with Andreas Manolikakis and the “Ivana Chubbuck Technique” at her studio in Los Angeles. In 2015, she participated in Disney’s (UK) Star Wars promo event. In 2021 she was awarded in the USA for the performance in the short film “For Electra’s Love” by Ioannis Makro, for which she was also a nominee in Philippines in 2016.

She has a BA in Theatre Studies from the University of Patras and she is currently completing her MA on Art & Culture Management, at the Rome Business School (Double degree-Universidad Internacional de Valencia). Her academic focus is on Ancient and Modern Theatre Festivals, Cultural Heritage and Cultural Events Management.

Film Olympiad Data & Archive Ambassador

Eleonora Atsi, Greece

Eleonora Atsi is an actress, dancer & educator.

She is a graduate of “Vassilis Diamantopoulos Drama School” in Thessaloniki and of “Primary Education of University of West Macedonia” in Florina.

She has participated in 12 plays during her studies in drama school and University and she has attended seminars on the Actors Studio Method and Stanislavsky System by Andreas Manolikakis & Konstantinos Bibis and on Meisner Technique by Dimitris Sporidis & Hera Papakonstantinou. She is also a dancer in ballet and contemporary dance since 2005.

Film Olympiad Art Exposition Curator

Maria Xypolopoulou, Greece

Maria Xypolopoulou is an independent curator and art critic. She graduated from the Department of French Language and Literature at the University of Athens (2009–2016) and holds a Master’s degree in French Civilization. She is currently a PhD candidate in History at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Since 2013, she has developed an art criticism practice in collaboration with online and print magazines in Greece and abroad (France, Romania). Her articles have been published in academic journals, conference proceedings, and collective volumes. She has presented her curatorial and artistic projects in Greece and France, collaborating with galleries (Kappatos Gallery, Athens Art Gallery, Cheapart Gallery, Chilly Art Gallery, The Art Wall Project Space), institutions (Aponia Contemporary Art Center, Contemporary Greek Art Institute – I.S.E.T., Thessaloniki Biennale, Le Petit Paris d’Athènes Festival, Festiv’art Festival, Back to Athens Festival), and fellow curators.

As an independent curator, she has organized three exhibitions in Paris since 2016. She is also a member of AICA France and International and was part of the jury of the Parisian fair DDessin in 2023, as an emerging international art critic.