Christina Kallas, a renowned filmmaker, has garnered numerous accolades for her tense ensemble drama, 42 Seconds of Happiness (2016),which has been recognized in regional and international festivals across the US and abroad. Notably, her work earned her a nomination for the Emerging Director Award in St. Louis.
As a US independent filmmaker with a remarkable background as a Berlin-based writer and producer, Kallas has credits such as John Hurt starring political thriller, The Commissioner; BBC Films and Polygram's hooligan drama, I.D.; Toronto and Berlin selection hybrid narrative/doc Mothers; and European TV series hit, Danni Lowinski. Her sophomore feature film as a director, The Rainbow Experiment, was one of five works-in-progress selected for the prestigious US in Progress Paris program in 2017.
Christina Kallas has served as the President of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) from 2005 to 2013, where she was honored for her outstanding contribution to the international writers community, including the European Screenwriters Manifesto and the World Conferences of Screenwriters.
In addition to her work in film, Kallas has written several books on the art of writing for the screen, including Creative Screenwriting: Understanding Emotional Structure (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010) and Inside the Writers Room: Conversations with American TV Writers (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014). She has also written a monthly column for Ted Hope's blog Hope for Film, and has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine and in Directed by Women.
Kallas has served on several festival and European film subsidy juries, and is a member of the European Film Academy, the German Film Academy, the Writers Guild of America East, and the Film Fatales Narrative NY Chapter. She was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and graduated from FU Berlin with a double master's degree in film and music studies and a PhD in film studies.
Kallas has previously taught at the German Film and Television Academy DffB, and is currently teaching at Columbia University's and Barnard College's Film Programs.
