Ninos Fenek Mikelidis

Ninos Fenek Mikelides was born in Nicosia in 1936. He studied Greek and English Philology at the University of Athens and Film in London and Paris. He directed the award-winning short film "Kypron ou m' ethespisen..." (1962-63), which was honored at various festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Leipzig, and Thessaloniki. The film is based on the poems "Helen" and "Salamis of Cyprus" by George Seferis. Mikelides published several poetry collections, including "First Flutterings" (1955), "Serenade to the Mediterranean" (1959), "Erotic May: Poems 1963-2000" (a comprehensive edition), Kedros, 2002, and "Eclipse and Other Poems," Metaichmio, 2008. He has written studies on Greek and international cinema and published "Prison Diary," which he kept during his arrest (1955-56) by the British authorities in Cyprus. He is one of the founding members of the Panhellenic Union of Film Critics (PEKK) and served as vice president of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for a long period. Since 1975, he has been a film and theater critic for the newspaper "Eleftherotypia." In 1999, he became a member of the European Film Academy. In 1988, he founded and has since directed the "Panorama of European Cinema" festival, held every October in Athens.