Film Commissioner, Norwegian Film Institute

Klara Nilsson Grunning, was born 1971 in Seoul, South Korea. At eight months old, she was adopted to Lund, Sweden, where she grew up and lived through high school. She moved to Paris, France 1990 to study fine arts and in 1993 she continued at film school in San Francisco where she graduated with distinction, majoring in Motion Picture and Television.

With 25 years of experience in the film and TV industry she has gained an enormous experience and network internationally. Klara is an Emmy Award winning producer, cinematographer and director, and have produced film, documentaries, commercials, music videos and art installations. She has gained unique experience as a decisionmaker for content, co-production and artistic excellence; for nine years at ITVS in San Francisco and as VP of Distribution at Norwegian Kudos Family. 

After twenty years abroad, she returned to take an assignment as Film Commissioner at the Danish Film Institute and the Swedish film Institute for five years each. Presently she works as Film Commissioner at the Norwegian Film Institute, as a decision maker for documentary features, international co-productions, series and digital storytelling.

Operations Manager/Head Of ENG & EFP – STAR Channel Greece Producer/Cinematographer

 – Visual Storytellers Production, Greece.

Born and raised in Athens, Greece. Nikolaos Chatzievangelou-Manalis or Nikos, comes from a family of highly decorated military tradition. In his early years he enlisted himself into the Greek Army – and was designated into the Marine Special Forces, whereby he was trained as a Diver and also mastering the art of underwater photography and videography.

At STAR Channel Greece, Nikos is the Operations Manager- Head of ENG & EFP. He is instrumental of the daily operations at STAR Channel for live, news and on the field production. He has hundredsof tv programs and shows to his credits with over 25 years of services at the tv station, since 2000. In addition to his work at Star Channel, he also works as a Director of Photography and Cameraman for feature films, tv commercials, music videos, documentaries, and corporate videos.

He co-founded Visual Storytellers Productions Greece, in 2023, And his recently produced and shot “Laluda”, won Best Documentary & Best Cinematography at the World Film Festival in Cannes. Some of his underwater cinematography credits are Healthy Seas, Europe/UNESCO – Operation Deep Blue Legacy Documentary Series. In 1996 he won Telly Award in Los Angeles as Lighting Director for short film “Blue Sun Yellow Moon”, directed by Jason Gino (now at The Grammys). He has worked as Gaffer/Electrician along-side his Director of Photography closed-friend, Haris Zambarloukos BSC, GSC (famous for Bettlejuice Bettlejuice, Thor, Mama Mia and many more). From 1998-2000 he was Cinematography & Lighting Design Instructor at Cinema School of Athens, Greece. 

Nikos is an ARRI Camera System Certified & also Certified Steadicam Operator. He studied Motion Picture & Television Production at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco 1997 and Cinematography at Cinema School of Athens, 1988 under Ministry of Culture & Sciences, Greece.