VANIA TURNER, MARIA SIDIROPOULOU
Vania Turner is a Greek-British documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. Over the past decade, her work has explored themes of trauma, loss, survival and conflict. As a video journalist she covered humanitarian crises across the Middle East, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, before deciding to shift her focus to observational documentary work. She holds degrees in English Literature and Political Theory. “Girlhood”, a 30-minute deep-dive into the world of teenage girls in the 2020s, which she co-directed, won several awards and accolades, screening at some of the world’s most important film festivals for children, like the 38th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and the 24th Olympia International Children’s Film Festival. “TACK” is her feature-length directorial debut.
Maria Sidiropoulou (b. 1988) is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. She has worked as a reporter and producer on investigative TV shows for almost ten years. Now, she produces documentaries and writes mainly on political and social issues, such as gender-based violence, in several Greek and international media.
Maria co-directed the documentary film “Girlhood,” an Onassis Stegi production, which was awarded at the Docfest/ Chalkida Greek Documentary Film Festival and the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People. She is a fellow of the Thomson Reuters Foundation – where she was trained in reporting on human trafficking and modern-day slavery – and has received a grant to participate in Columbia University’s Video Journalism Workshop, in NYC.
She has studied Documentary Production at the University of the Aegean and is currently working on documentary film projects that explore gender-based violence and abuse of power issues, a femicide case in Corfu in 1958, and human trafficking in the Balkans.
Three teenage girls find refuge in their friendship as they struggle with gender expectations, eating disorders, and an addiction to social media amid a long, emotionally stifling quarantine in Greece.
CREDITS
DIRECTOR: Vania Barbara Turner, Maria Sidiropoulou
SCREENPLAY: Vania Barbara Turner
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vania Barbara Turner
EDITING: Vania Barbara Turner
MUSIC: Miss Trichromi
SOUND: Vania Barbara Turner, Stelios Koupetoris
CAST: Vera, Nefeli, Christina
AWARDS
OLYMPIA INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL
Special Jury Mention
DRAMA INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
Official Selection
CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL
Official Selection
REVIEWS