Team – 14th BBB Short Festival

Vasiliki Maltasoglou

Vasiliki Maltasoglou (she/her), (Greece, 1983), is Festival Director of the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival and co-founder of the organization Balkans Beyond Borders. She studied International and European Relations at Panteion University in Athens and she completed her Masters in International Politics at the City University of London. She has had many years of experience in international relations research, but the realization of the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival has been for her the most important implementation of cultural diplomacy, through promoting regional cooperation among nations and focusing on young people.

She specializes in Digital Communication and Storytelling, and she undertakes storytelling and short film inspired workshops for adults and teenagers. She curates all Festival screenings and BBB screening events. She has been a Jury member in several short film festivals, such as BUZAU and Aegean Film Festival, Newborn Short Film Festival and others. All her actions are linked to her passion for creativity and communication.

Dimitris Maragkos

Dimitris Maragkos (Greece, 1982) holds a BA in Communication, Media and Culture from Panteion University of Athens and a Msc in International and European Studies from the University of Piraeus. For the last 12 years, he has worked as a communication specialist in Organizations that coordinate European and National programs for Education, Training and Research. Since May 2015 he has been an Independent EU expert speaker in the Team Europe Network, coordinated by the Representation of the European Commission in Greece. Within this network, he encourages dialogue between European institutions, young people and civil society. Currently, he works in the National Documentation Center, coordinating the “Knowledge and partnership bridges” project, an initiative that brings the high-quality human capital of Greece together and creates collaboration links between them.

In BBB he is responsible for elaborating and submitting applications for European Funded Programmes and Networking with National and European Organizations.

Konstantina Karydi

Born in Athens, Greece, Konstantina Karydi is an impact oriented professional with a track record in government, policy and the international philanthropy and civil society sectors. She is holder of the Global Executive Masters from EPFL, Switzerland on Innovative Governance of Large Urban Systems and the MSc on European Public Policy from UCL, UK and currently serves as Senior Advisor for multilateral entities such as UNDRR – Making Cities Resilient Campaign 2030, the European Urban Initiative and other relevant European Commission agencies and organisations.

Konstantina’s motivation is to help expand the cultural and socio-political reality of the Balkans beyond the region’s borders, to support European integration and to assist artists and young leaders to express and make an impact. She has extensive experience in the region as researcher and civil society lead on issues of democracy, governance and resilience building.

She is co-founder and currently serving as Non Executive VP of Balkans Beyond Borders.

Veroniki Krikoni

Veroniki Krikoni was born on 30th June of 1983 in Athens where she currently lives. Her studies in International and European Studies (Panteion University) and European Cultural Studies (Erasmus Mundus Euroculture Programme, Joint Master of Arts) offered her a cosmopolitan mindset and way of living. She has lived in Italy, Poland and the Netherlands, while she is familiar with the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.

She is actively involved in civil society and has established several cooperations with NGOs (Caravan Project, Hellenic History Foundation, Inter Alia etc) that wish to use art and creativity in order to make people re-imagine their own lived experience. Her expertise is in the field of arts & education, culture & audiovisual, visual analysis, Youth, related mostly with the project design and management of that kind of intercultural activities. From 2012 she is also actively involved in the field of composing, editing and submitting calls for proposals for EU Funded Programmes (Youth in Action Programmes, Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens, European Cultural Foundation, European Fund for the Balkans).

She has a growing interest in audiovisual productions, a curiosity about people’s stories and a strong feeling of making people’s voices to be heard through the power of moving images. The cinema has been the vehicle of her inspiration and the main tool of her research on the Europeanisation process in relation to the construction of cultural identities and their visual representation.

As a co-founder of the Balkans Beyond Borders (BBB), she is the organizer of its Short Film Festival, while she has also been responsible for the project design and management of several intercultural activities through non-typical ways of learning in the field of arts and education both in Greece and abroad. Through BBB she aspires to enhance youth mobility in the Balkans, to promote short film productions by young film-makers from the region and contribute to the reimagination of the Balkan identity vis-à-vis the European one.

Niki Soumpassis

Niki Soumpassis (she/her) is a project manager and coordinator in the cultural field, an independent researcher, and filmmaker. She studied German Language and Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and holds an MA in Gender Studies, from the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. She is interested in research practices which intersect anthropology, gender and film. She lives in Athens, Greece and is the Project Manager and Festival Coordinator at Balkans Beyond Borders.

Christos Angelidis

Chris Angelidis (he/him) is a senior undergraduate student majoring in International Relations. Currently, he holds the position of Festival Developer at Balkans Beyond Borders specializing in the management of digital content, and works as a Web Developer at the IT company, Diadrasis, which specializes in the digitalization of cultural sites. His passion lies in cultural heritage and cross-cultural interactions, that’s why he actively participates in international mobility projects. He believes in the limitless potential of soft power and seeks to promote it through festivals, technology, and personal connections.

Dmitar Janjušević

Dmitar Janjušević, οriginally from Podgorica, Montenegro, is currently studying in the Master’s Program of Film Editing at the Film & TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He previously attended the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje. His primary focus is Editing, both fiction and documentary, but is also interested in technical work in the film industry.

Miljan Vučelić

Miljan Vučelić graduated from Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, Department of Film Production, where he’s currently studying for an M.A. degree. His shorts have been screened and awarded at numerous international film festivals (including Sarajevo Film Festival, Drama International Short Film Festival, Fribourg lFF, Kustendorf, etc.). Participant of the Industry Youth Pitching Forum of the Zagreb Film Festival. Winner of the Film Center of Montenegro scholarship Radomir Pule Milovic for talented film production students. He is currently developing the feature films “No Reverse” directed by Branislav Milatović, “Nothing Will Be Named After me” directed by Đorđe Vojvodić, and “ROOMS” directed by Pavle Simonović. With these projects, he is a participant in the programs MIDPOINT Feature Launch  and FIRST FILMS FIRST. At the FEST Forward market in Belgrade, with the project “Nothing Will Be Named After me” he won the award of the Slovenian Film Center for project development. He participated in the CineLink Producers Lab program at the Sarajevo Film Festival as well as at the CEE Animation workshop as a career-oriented producer

Nemanja Popović

Nemanja Popović (born in 1997 in Nikšić) graduated from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Cetinje with a specialization in production. He is the author of the “Uloga i Scena Podcast” project, supported by the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro in 2020. He has worked on approximately twenty short fiction, documentary, and animated films in various roles, including executive producer, organizer, cinematographer, sound designer, composer, and runner. From February 2022 to September 2023, he was employed as a producer at Television Nikšić. During this time, he produced the documentary series “Zlo Proljeće ’92,” his own show “Vox Populi,” the documentary film “Radio otvorenog srca” as well as a program showcasing Montenegrin short films. He served as the producer for two live television broadcasts of Lake Fest in 2022 and 2023. He is credited as the producer of the documentary film “Burna Brežina” and worked as a production assistant on the feature film “Planeta 7693” directed by Gojko Berkuljan.

Konstantinos Giatras

Konstantinos Giatras, born in Thessaloniki (1999), is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies at the University of Macedonia. His academic journey has been marked by a profound passion for social and visual anthropology. 

Outside of academia, he has gained valuable experience working as a salesperson for four years, where he gained his interpersonal and communication skills. Currently, he is in the process of crafting his thesis, which involves the creation of a short documentary. Additionally, he has contributed to the production of two short ethnographic documentaries.

His interests in filmmaking practices and the field of his studies have been the motivation for his involvement in Balkans Beyond Borders. He currently works in the field of Communication, as a program and hosting management team member.

Vasilina Deligianni

Vasilina, born in Athens, is an undergraduate student of Sociology, at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. Her passion for the arts, coupled with a keen interest in travel and a strong desire to engage with diverse cultures, led her to join Balkans Beyond Borders.

In Balkans Beyond Borders she works in the field of social media, creating content for the organization’s social media channels.

Giannis Ilkos

Giannis Ilkos (he/him) is a recent graduate of International and European Studies from Panteion University in Athens, Greece. Last year he was a research trainee about Democracy and Human Rights in Southeastern Europe, an activity for which he received a scholarship from Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. He has participated, facilitated, and designed more than 20 international youth projects in 17 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas about active citizenship, youth participation and politics. He has been involved with the PeaceLine project, run by Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge first in 2021 as a participant and then as a facilitator for two consecutive years, where he was facilitating workshops and discussions about European history and politics of the 20th century.

Ektoras Alexandros

Ektoras Alexandros is an artist working with diverse media, specialising in the realms of writing and digital arts. He is currently pursuing a BA in Digital Arts, while actively engaging in, and experimenting with, graphic design and the nuances of digital culture. He is an assistant designer for the BBB team, enhancing the visual aesthetics of the organisations’ social media and the digital sphere.