Athena Xenidou is a Cypriot producer, writer and director. She is the co-founder of XMAS Productions, a company aiming at producing entertainment for local and international distribution. Xenidou is now in development of ''Socrates & Soc'', a feature-length animated film. She has co-written the screenplay with Barry Cook (director of Walt Disney's ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

''), and she is to co-direct the film once in production.

Education

After receiving a Diploma in Music from the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

, London, Xenidou went on to study English Literature, Music and Theatre for two years at the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (; ) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg ...

in Switzerland. Xenidou then moved to Los Angeles and in 1996 she received her BA in Film Studies at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. During her studies at the University of California, she co-produced ''Dead End'', her first short film, which received 'Best Project in Humanities and Arts at the University of California' award. She then wrote and directed her own short film, ''The Made Guy'', which received Best Cinematography award at the UCSB Short Film Festival. After graduation, she produced another short film, ''Tripwire'', with the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in Los Angeles.

Work

She worked as Art Director in feature films starring Maurizzio Migheli and '' Bad City Blues'', starring Dennis Hopper. In 2001, she produced and directed her first feature film, ''Unwitnessed Memories'' which won the Special Jury Remi Award at WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the USA. ''Unwitnessed Memories'' was an Official Selection and received Special Mentions at festivals around the world, such as the Int'l Human rights film festival in Prague, the Int'l Festival of Visual Arts in Hungary, the

Thessaloniki International Film Festival The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is a film festival held every November in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. It features internationa ...

, Greece, Viewpoint Int'l Documentary Film Festival in Belgium and the

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Description IDFA is an independent, international meeting place for audiences ...

. It won Best Documentary at the Film Festival in Cyprus and was also an International Emmy Awards semi-finalist. In 2003, she accepted an offer from Fremantle SA, to direct reality TV series in Athens, Greece. She directed two seasons of ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

'' and two seasons of '' The Farm'', two of the most popular shows in Greek television history.

General

Xenidou was a member of the jury for the

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

s from 2001 to 2006. In 2004 she was invited by the European Union as a film professional at the Cannes Film Festival. Since 2007, Xenidou has been working mostly in theatre. Her collaboration with the Cyprus National Theatre –directing ''The Shadow Box'' – resulted in receiving Best Male Actor Award at the National Theatre Awards. She then went on to direct ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run at the Westside Theatre. The play explores ...

''. She is now to direct ''Art''.

Filmography

* ''DEAD END'' – producer * ''THE MADE GUY'' – producer/writer/director * ''TRIPWIRE'' – producer * ''UNWITNESSED MEMORIES'' – producer/writer/director

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xenidou, Athena Living people University of Fribourg alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Cypriot film directors Cypriot women film directors Cypriot film producers Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)