Armenian Panorama

Journalist, writer, filmmaker and film and TV industry expert in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. He is the Eastern Europe bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter, a former Moscow correspondent for the (London) Sunday Telegraph, the (London) Times Higher Education Supplement and Variety. As a film industry expert, he has hosted and moderated discussions on film and television at a range of international events, including the Cannes IFF (Russian Pavilion, 2012) New Horizons IFF (Wroclaw, 2012-14), the Berlin IFF (Cinema Total 6th edition - 2012, focus on coproducing films with Russia). Nick has also written and directed five documentary short films. His current project is drama-documentary work in progress Napoleon's Lost Imperial Gold.

Born and raised in Belgrade, Irena Bilić studied Philosophy and Anthropology at the Sorbonne and Film Directing under the guidance of Jean Rouch and Eric Rohmer. Since University she worked as a film critic and translator. Auteur of more than 20 documentaries and short features (including Maison Folle, Mystic Ships, Dervishes, Officer and It's Much Later than You Think) that have appeared at festivals in Creteil, Clermont-Ferrand, Stockholm, Belgrade, Kolašin, Moscow and Montpellier as well as at the Cinémathèque française, the Musée de l’homme, Documenta of Kassel, UNESCO, Film Museum in Oslo and at the Galerie of American Fine Art in New York. She is founder, producer and artistic director of "l'Europe autour de l'Europe","Europe by Europe" a month-long festival of art and auteur films from countries throughout greater Europe, which has been held in Paris and Normandy since 2006.

Filmmaker, scriptwriter, actress. An Alumni of the Film Institute of India, Pune with Diploma in Film Acting and a celebrated actress from Orissa and winner of the State Award for Best Actress. Has acted in feature films, TV Serials. Hakim Babu received the National award for the Best Oriya Film. Was on the Governing Council of the Film & TV Institute of India from 1992-95. Has been a jury member and received numerous awards in different festivals. Bijaya has also practiced herself in filmmaking. Is the producer, scriptwriter, director and actress of the award winner films Tara and Abhaas. The films received several awards.

Writer, film programmer. Film Programmer/film selector at Seattle IFF since 1998, Maryna Ajaja focuses on Eastern/Central European, Russian, Baltic, and Central Asian films. She has collaborated on juries at Trieste FF, Warsaw IFF, and at Listapad, in Belarus. Ajaja was born in Hollywood in 1950, raised in L.A., and has lived in Washington State, since 1969. She has a BA in Literature from Evergreen State College (1989), Washington. Ajaja lived in the Russian Federation in 1991-97, and attended Director’s Course at Saint Petersburg Television and Cinema Institute, (1993-94, master, Semyon Aranovich). She was one of the producers of the first American traveling film festival in Russia: “History through the Eyes of Hollywood”. Ajaja is a graduate of University of Washington Script Writing Program, 1988, and TheFilmSchool – focus on writing (master of both programs, Stewart Stern), 2005.

Born in Yerevan, in 1951. Ara Yernjakyan is an honored Worker of Art, the founder and director of Yerevan State Chamber Theatre and a playwright. He finished his initial degree in Cybernetics and in 1983, completed a Masters in Directing. During his student years he founded The Club of the Funny and Inventive and also lead a successful career in theatre. In parallel, he started directing films in 1990 and to date has directed four films.