The podcasts selected for the Podcast Competition section have their eyes set on the Best Podcast Award, accompanied by a cash prize of €2,000. During the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the audience is given the chance to listen to all podcasts in the specially configured venue of the Podcast Room, situated inside the premises of the Thessaloniki Cinema Museum (Warehouse Α, Port of Thessaloniki). In addition, all podcasts taking part in the 26th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, both from the Competition section and the Out of Competition section, are eligible for the ENS Louis Lumière — French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator, which will be announces in the closing ceremony of the 26th TiDF. The recipient of the award will have the chance to attend the 6-week Sound Documentary International Summer Programme hosted by ENS Louis Lumière, in France, addressed to young professionals of the audio-visual field (authors of blogs, podcasts or any other audio project). The members of the Podcast Jury of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival are: Marianna Kakaounaki, journalist, documentarian; Dimitris Kanellopoulos, filmmaker; and Theodosis Michos, journalist, radio producer, podcaster, writer.
Marianna Kakaounaki
Marianna Kakaounaki has studied Psychology and works as a journalist. She is a columnist at Kathimerini daily newspaper, also providing articles for the American network CBS. She recently directed her first full-length titled Invisibles.
Dimitris Kanellopoulos
Dimitris Kanellopoulos was born and raised in Arkadia. He studied at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos. Since the mid-90s he has been working in the cinema and TV industry, in the field of fiction. He is a screenwriter and has directed five short films and one full-length film based on his own screenplays. His full-length film, Pack of Sheep (2021), premiered at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s International Competition section, winning the Audience Award. It was selected to take part in many international festivals and received ten nominations at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards, recording a notable performance both in the movie theaters and the streaming platform where it was screened.
Theodosis Michos
Theodosis Michos was born in Volos and currently lives and works in Athens. Since 2004 he has been working as a journalist in print and digital media, whereas since 2016 he has been a radio producer at Best 92.6 radio station (daily, 8-10am). He is a regular contributor at NEWS 24/7 and OneMan, as well as the host of the podcast One Thousand and One Nights. His latest book, the short story collection Ena gia ton dromo (One for the Road), will be released on April 23rd by Metaichmio Publications.
In the 26th TiDF’s closing ceremony, the ENS Louis Lumière – French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator, in collaboration with the ENS Louis Lumière and the French Institute of Greece, will be bestowed. All podcasters aged 25-35 years old, who took part in the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival are eligible for the award. The winner will have the chance to attend the six-week Sound Documentary International Summer Programme hosted by ENS Louis Lumière, addressed to young and upcoming professionals of the audiovisual field (creators of blogs, podcasts or any other audio project). The ENS Louis Lumière – French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator Jury is composed of:
Yorgos Archimandritis
Yorgos Archimandritis is an author and creator-host of radio and TV shows, documentaries and podcasts on art and culture, as well as a Doctor of Comparative Literature of the Sorbonne. He has serves as the Ambassador of Culture of Greece, within the framework of the Greek presidency in Europe (2008) and has been honored by the French Democracy with the titles of the Knight of the Order of Letters and Arts (2010) and the Dignitary of the Order of Letters and Arts (2019) for his contribution in the field of culture both in France and the rest of the world. He is the designated representative of the Greek Foundation of Culture in France, having been bestowed with the title of Ambassador of Culture.
Frédérique Pressmann
Frédérique Pressmann is a documentary filmmaker and sound artist, was born in Paris in 1966. She started her career in New York in the late '80s as a written press journalist, writing most notably for The Village Voice. Back in Paris in the '90s, she worked as a radio producer, copy-edited in various newspapers and translated books from English into French, and soon moved on to documentary filmmaking. In the meantime, she also produced numerous soundscapes and radio documentaries, working mainly for French public radio. Since 2009, she has also been teaching documentary practice in high schools and colleges in France, among them the prestigious ENS Louis-Lumière. In 2021, she created and led its new Sound Documentary International Summer Program.
