Athena Xenidou
Athena is currently the president of the Director’s Guild of Cyprus and serves as a member of WIFT Greece and the Jury of the International Emmy Awards. She is a core member of Declaration of Filmmakers, a lobby for Authors Rights and the Regulation of AI in the industry which launched at festivals at Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Athens and EP, Brussels.
Athena studied English Literature and Music in Switzerland, holds a BA in Film from University of California, Santa Barbara, an MA in Politics and Media from University of Nicosia and trained as a producer at AFI in Los Angeles.
Her film writer/director/producer credits include awarded shorts Dead End, The Made Guy, Tripwire, Saving Joy and Insidious Invisible and a feature Unwitnessed Memories, which had theatrical distribution and won Best Documentary at the Cyprus International Documentary Film Festival 2002 and Gold Jury Award at Worldfest Houston.
Among her Greek TV director credits are Survivor 1 and 2 and The Farm 1 and 2 and 48 episodes of three drama series, starring Nikos Poursanidis, Giannis Vouros, Petros Lagoutis and Katerina Didaskalou. Athena has directed numerous productions for the theater including Nachtland by Marius Von Mayenburg, a 2024 sold-out run at the Cyprus National Theatre.
Passionate for teaching, she founded The Film and Stage Studio, preparing young adults for entry in international acting conservatories and film schools. Athena is a Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire, teaching Producing and Directing for Television and Film.
In 2023, with her partner Ronan Le Du, she founded Ray Talent Agency in Athens representing global talent and creatives and Ray Films which completed an international co-production of The Invincibles, opening at theatres in Czech Republic this November. Laskarina, a series she wrote with Leah Kayaleh was selected for The Owl 2023 by Athens Film Office and is now in the financing stage. Athena is also currently attached as writer and producer in two series with Italian and British producing partners.
