Documentary Filmmaker
Vania Turner is an award-winning Greek - British documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor. Her debut-feature documentary, Tack, where Turner also worked as cinematographer and editor, delves into Greece’s #MeToo movement through the stories of Olympic medalist Sofia Bekatorou and younger sailing champion Amalia Provelengiou. Inspired by Bekatorou, Provelengiou, decides to seek justice for herself –she was systematically abused by her coach between the ages of 11 and 13. As Bekatorou champions legal reforms to empower abuse victims, Provelengiou takes her abuser to court in what becomes Greece’s first #MeToo trial.
Tack premiered at the 2024 Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, winning five awards, including the FIPRESCI prize for Best Greek Film. It has since screened at over 20 international film festivals, winning 16 film awards.
Reviewers and juries have praised Turner’s sensitive handling of her subjects, calling Tack one of the most important Greek films in recent years. One critic described it as "a courtroom thriller" that remains "deeply human," with moments that are profoundly difficult, yet captured with "sensitivity, respect, and, above all, a quiet courage.”
As a video journalist Turner covered humanitarian crises across the Middle East, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, collaborating with leading media outlets like The Guardian, BBC, and TIME Magazine and major entities like the United Nations Refugee Agency.
She has reported on the refugee crisis in Europe, the torture of Iraqi civilians at the hands of ISIS in Mosul, ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the aftermath of Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, migrant crossings in the Central Mediterranean Sea during Covid, wildfires in the Mediterranean and more.
Vania produces, shoots, directs, scripts and edits her stories, but also often works as a producer, director, editor or camera person in bigger productions. In 2024, she worked as one of the cinematographers on a BBC Africa Eye investigation into the trafficking of Malawian women into domestic servitude in Oman, following an extraordinary network of women who, working across three continents, are fighting to bring them home against often impossible odds. The documentary received a Special Mention at the 2025 One World Media Awards. She often also freelances for Reuters.
Turner’s drone footage played a crucial role in a Forensic Architecture investigation into the September 2020 fire at the Moria refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece. Commissioned by the defence team of the 'Moria 6,' the investigation examined key witness testimonies and uncovered significant inconsistencies, casting doubt on the evidence that led to the wrongful convictions.
Turner was a 2024 IDFA Academy Fellow. She holds degrees in English Literature and Political Theory.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Athens Law University
University of Crete
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens
Harokopio University
Film School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
MARSEILLES, FRANCE - 2024
Tack | Teenagers Confronting Abuse | 255 High School Students from Lycée Victor Hugo, Lycée Honoré Daumier, Lycée Pro Frédéric Mistral, Lycée Saint Exupéry, Lycée Périer, Lycée Honoré Daumier, Lycée Marcel Pagnol - Micro Lycée
ATHENS, GREECE, 2024 | TACK TALKS SERIES, DECEMBER 2024
Tack | Justice and the Legal Framework | Theoni Koufounikolakou, Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child, Clio Papapadoleon, Human Rights Lawyer and director Vania Turner
Tack | Abuse in Sports and the Greek Framework | Maria Georgatou, Olympic Champion and Vania Turner
Tack | Safeguarding Children in Sports | Xeni Dimitriou, Honorary Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Dr. Anna Kavoura, Sports Psychologist and Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Ioannina and director Vania Turner
Tack | Sex Education in Greece – Why it still Doesn't Work and Why it Matters | Lina Lykomitrou, School Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Trauma Therapist, Filipi Rouvali, Educator, Actress, and director Vania Turner
Tack | Trauma, Mental Health, and the Responsibility of Filmmakers | Georgía Despoti, Psychologist and Psychotherapist, and director Vania Turner
Tack | Greece child protection services 'disjointed and inadequate' | Olga Themeli, Professor of Criminological Psychology and director Vania Turner
CONFERENCES
ATHENS, GREECE - 2023
Women Filmmakers in Greek Cinema: Achieving 50/50? | WIFT GR
Media and Migration: A complicated reality? | Let The Children Talk Photo Exhibition
ATHENS, GREECE - 2022
How to First Steps in Journalism | iMEdD International Journalism Forum 2022
Moving Forward to Eliminate Abusive Behaviour of Adults Towards Children | 24th International Olympia Children's Film Festival
TUNIS, TUNISIA - 2019
Reporting on Refugees in the sub-Saharan African context | International Conference on Media and Refugees | Arab Institute for Human Rights
For commissions, workshops, or just to say hello, please reach out to me here:
THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!