Newcomers International Competition Award

Melody Gilbert is an Emmy-nominated and Alfred I. duPont award-winning filmmaker and educator. She has directed and produced 20 documentaries that have screened at important film festivals and were distributed internationally on TV and streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. She is also a passionate educator who teaches emerging filmmakers at universities around the world, including four years at the American University in Bulgaria and, most recently, five years at the Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Melody is also a tutor and mentor for pitch training programs in Eastern Europe, including at the Balkan Documentary Center in Sofia and for Moldox in Moldova. She is the creator of “Documentary Boot Camp,” a short-term intensive training program that helps aspiring filmmakers achieve their documentary dreams. As a director, Melody is known for the intimate connections she makes with her subjects while mostly filming solo as a one-woman crew. Her directing work has been granted support from the Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board, and the prestigious McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Filmmakers. Her most recent doc as consulting producer, Queendom (2024), was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, and her other recent film as producer, 40 Below: The Toughest Race in the World (2023), was recently released on Amazon.

Farahnaz Sharifi is an Iranian filmmaker and film editor currently based in Germany. Her films are primarily rooted in archival material, and she is also widely recognized for her work as a film editor. In addition to her career in cinema, she is a writer; her short story collection, Breathing in Open Air, was published in Iran. Her most recent film, My Stolen Planet, premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2024. The film screened at more than 60 international festivals and was nominated for the 2024 European Film Academy Award. It has won over 25 awards, including the Golden Alexander at the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the Second Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Berlinale, and the Creative Use of Archive Award at IDFA 2024.

Chrysa Tzelepi is an independent film producer and director. She studied film at the University of the Arts London and holds a master’s degree in Art and the Public Sphere from the Department of Political Science at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She began her career in creative photography, working as a photographer and exhibition curator. From 2001 to 2009, she was part of the team that organized Greece’s first international experimental film festival, Strange Screen. Since 2006, she has collaborated with the production company anemiCinema, contributing to documentary films, experimental projects, and documentary series for television, many of which have been presented at international festivals. Her work focuses on social awareness, historical memory, and contemporary art. She is a member of the creative team of the Zagoriwood Festival, as well as of the Greek Film Academy and the Greek Documentary Association.