Armenian Panorama

Jesper Andersen is a Master of Arts from The University of Copenhagen and has been with the Danish Film Institute since 1990 – from 1998 as senior curator at the DFI/Cinematheque in Copenhagen. He has also worked as film consultant at the Nordic Council of Ministers on projects in South Africa, Scotland, Ireland, Serbia and Croatia. He has written extensively on Danish, Scandinavian and international cinema and film culture. Jesper Andersen is the director of the festival East by Southeast, which focuses on Central and Eastern European cinema (including Armenia). He has served on juries at a number of international film festivals, the latest being Mumbai IFF, 2016.

Born in 1973 in Hamedan Iran, Majid Barzegar holds a BA in Film Direction and an MA in Dramatic Literature. He has directed several shorts and documentary films. Since 1990, Barzegar has also been involved in the production of numerous shorts and features in both fiction and documentary categories, most of which have had international as well as national success. His first feature, Rainy Seasons (2010), has been in official selection at festivals such as Rotterdam and Montreal. His second, Parviz, has had even greater success and critical acclaim. Barzegar also works as a writer, photographer and painter and has had several exhibitions at some of the most prestigious galleries and cultural centers in Tehran.

Boris Nelepo is a film critic and festival programmer whose interests include French post-Nouvelle Vague cinema, Portuguese cinema, experimental and independent filmmaking. He curated several film festivals, and the retrospectives of Želimir Žilnik (Saint Petersburg, for Doclisboa in Lisbon), Peter von Bagh (Moscow), Marlen Khutsiev (Locarno, Mar del Plata, FICUNAM), Bela Tarr (Moscow), Pierre Léon (Saint Petersburg), Philippe Garrel (Moscow) and Seijun Suzuki (Moscow). Boris is a co-founder of KINOTE online film journal as well as contributing editor to the pivotal film magazine Séance, and a Film Review programme presenter at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty since 2008. He also has written for a number of Russian and international publications such as Trafic (France), MUBI (USA), Cinema Scope (Canada), Libération (France), Lumière (Spain), Moving Image Source (USA), Nobody (Japan), De Filmkrant (Netherlands). He was named Best young critic of 2010 by the Russian Film Critics Guild. He served for official jury of Locarno IFF, Doclisboa, Mar del Plata IFF, Cinéma du Réel and FICUNAM. He teaches the history of cinema in Russian State University for the Humanities. Now he is the Russian film consultant for the Locarno IFF.

Journalist, film critic, video art theoretician, member of FIPRESCI. Born in 1962, Veles, Republic of Macedonia. Employed with Macedonian Radio and Television (MKRTV) since 1991. Actively worked as a journalist, producer and Editor-in-Chief of the Culture and Art Department of Macedonian Television from 1985 to 2003. Since 2006, she got the position as a Head of International Relations and Co-productions within Macedonian Radio and Television (MKRTV). Pioneer in producing video art pieces in Former Yugoslavia countires. Author of numerous documentaries related to important events and people connected with visual culture, film and the arts in general at the national and international levels. Media expert in script writing and producing film portraits and interviews of film makers and artists. Executive producer of the experimental film, The Judge, presented at the Venice IFF 2001 and at 37 other festivals, galleries and museums. Selector at the International Cinematographers’ FF Manaki Brothers, Bitola, since 2008, and selector at the IF of Short film Aster Fest, Strumica since 2011. Member of the International Jury of the video and FFs in Malaga, Dessau, Herceg Novi, Geneva, The Haag, Amsterdam. Defended her M.A. thesis at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, 2015. Since May 2014, she is one of five members of the Film Council of the Macedonian Film Agency.

Natalia Ivanova is a member of the European Film Academy and of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. She is working in the film industry since 1986. She is the head of production center Khorosho Production since 2002. Natalia produced 7 feature films and 20 documentaries, among which was Two Women by Vera Glagoleva with the participation of cinema star Ralph Fiennes.

Born in Moscow in 1958. She took the artistic pseudonym Ales after her childrens’ names - Alexander and Seda. In 1975-79, she studied at the Piano Section of Yerevan Musical School after R. Melikyan. In 1982-87, Marine Ales studied at the Theatre Studies Department of Yerevan Artistic and Theatrical Institute and received Vahram Papazyan scholarship. In 1987, she continued her studies at the Moscow State Institute of Theatrical Art, also simultaneously studying at the Institute of Art of RA NAS. In 1987-98, she worked as lecturer or art theory and history at Yerevan Artistic and Theatrical Institute. She moved to USA in 1993. In 1998-2008, Marine Ales worked in Washington and Moscow as art consultant. She is the author of about 300 songs in Armenian and Russian; 60 of these were released in 5 albums: I’ll Leave You (1999), My Poplars (2001), Thoughts (2003), With and without You (2007), Barefoot in the Sky (2010). Marine Ales also wrote the lyrics of her songs. She has 12 singles - Stone Rain, Mirage Wings, Wait, Gentlemen, Children of the Century etc. The latter received the First Prize of Sayat-Nova Pan-Armenian Festival. In 2008, she moved again to Yerevan. In 2009, Marine Ales was one of the founders of Grant a Life Charitable Foundation. She received a number of other prizes, among which those awarded by Armenia-USA Assembly of Washington, and Armenia Producing Center of Moscow for Lifetime Achievment. In 2010, Marine Ales published the collection of her poetry Shards.

Shaghik Alice Matevossian was born in 1992. She graduated from Sofian State University (BA, International Relations and International Law) in 2015. From 2010 to present, she is a representative of Hrant Matevossian Foundation in Eastern Europe. She was the organizer and coordinator of PanArmenian Games in 2012. From 2013 to present, Shaghik Alice Matevossian is the president of AGBU Sofia AYA. In 2015-2016, she was the Admin Secretary and Manager in the Embassy of RA in Bulgaria. In 2014, she was the Representative of Hrant Matevossian Foundation on Golden Apricot IFF. In 2011-2016, Shaghik Alice Matevossian was the organizer of Armenian Movie Projection events within AGBU Sofia.