Film Competition Jury - RoDi - Reflection of Disability in Art

Matjaž Debevc

Dr. Matjaž Debevc, retired Associate Professor work at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, at the Institute for Media Communication. His research interests include human-computer interaction, usability, e-learning, visual communication and accessibility. This expertise is principally at the technical level as well as at contributing to the development of policies and qualification frameworks for such activities. He participated as leader and partner in more than 70 EU and national projects.

Maria Tsakiri

Maria is a Disability Mentor at Glasgow Caledonian University and a passionate scholar of Critical Disability Studies. She collaborates with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as well as the European University of Cyprus. Additionally, she is part of the Cyprus
team for the European Disability Expertise network. Maria’s published work appears in international journals and collective editions. Her current research interests include critical disability studies, disability activism, education, cultural representations, and film festivals. Maria also volunteers as a puppy boarder for Guide Dogs Scotland.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-tsakiri-edudis/

Georgia Fyka

Social worker, MA in Disability Studies at the University of Leeds and Health Services Management. She has been involved for many years in supporting the rights of people with disabilities with a key interest in disability policies and the Movement for Independent Living. She has worked as a General Manager at THE DISABILITY NOW and the www.disabled.gr in a series of programs and studies on disability, such as employment, tourism, independent living, education, etc. She participates in voluntary disability organizations such as the association ALLI OPISI, www.alli-opsi.gr, which is a founding member and former president, the Movement of Disabled Artists and the Movement for the Emancipation of disabled people: ZERO TOLERANCE (https://www.facebook.com/DisArtMove/)

Amol Bhagat

Amol Bhagat is an indian filmmaker who was born in a farmer family at Baramati village in Maharashtra,India. He was an electronic and telecommunication engineer. He is working in an indian film industry at the film marketing department for the past 12 years and he is also the youngest writer director in bollywood. Mr. Bhagat is a jury member at many international film festivals and we should also mention his debut bollywood film "Pune To Goa".

Dimitra Nikolopoulou

Journalist, Head of the Press, Communication, Promotion and Sponsorship Office of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. She studied Communication and New Media Arts at Queen Margaret University of Edinburgh. She has worked as a journalist with newspapers (Alesmeytos Typos, insert Tachydromos of the newspaper Ta Nea), websites (LIFO) and TV stations (ERT), and has been working at the Festival since 2006. From her position, she systematically highlights the issue of equal access to art, while she puts special emphasis on informing the public on fundamental issues concerning human rights, inclusion and acceptance of diversity.