our team

Chris Belloni

Founding Director

Is the director and initiator of Stichting Art. 1 and the International Queer & Migrant Film Festival. He studied European Studies and in 2011 he founded the Stichting art.1, aiming to create films and documentaries about taboo subjects. His films have been screened at more than 140 international film festivals, in secondary schools and at Dutch embassies worldwide. As a filmmaker he directed several films, including the award-winning documentary I Am Gay and Muslim and the Turkish Boat. He has set up film / LGBT projects in various countries such as Japan, Pakistan, Argentina, Suriname, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey, often with financial support from Dutch Embassies. His current projects focus on training and workshops for human rights activists, journalists and LGBT / gender equality activists and strengthening artivism in various countries in and around the EU. Chris Belloni was further nominated as Amsterdammer of the year 2020. In 2022 he launched Supernova Cinema, the alternative cinema space in the center of Amsterdam. He did his jury duty in several film festivals among them Berlinale’s Teddy Award (2020), PriFest (2021), St Petersburg Side by Side LGBT Film Festival (2021), Humans of Film Festival (2022) and Seoul International Pride Film Festival (2024). In September 2025, Chris has been invited by DMZ Doc festival for the industry program.

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Antonij Karadzoski

Project Manager & Trainer

Antonij holds a degree in Architecture and Engineering, but after fleeing his native country, North Macedonia, due to homophobia; he is now dedicated to human rights/LGBTIQ+ rights, becoming an artivist and artivism trainer, using the method of art to break down stereotypes and discrimination. His first artivism campaign, “Culture of Humiliation”, aimed to raise awareness on bullying and cyber-bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity. After having a successful exhibition in Slovenia, Antonij was invited to present his work for the International Queer & Migrant Film Festival in Amsterdam, where in 2018 he was awarded with the Human Rights Award of IQMF for his inspiring work and story. Since then he has been the producer of the festival and has assisted with curation and production of queer films for multiple Queer Film Festivals. He continues to do so alongside Queer Festival Haarlem where he is the main producer of the film festival program.

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Elena Decossaux

F, project worker and community worker

Elena was born in Amsterdam in 2002. She completed her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), with a minor in visual anthropology. Afterward, she was involved in the organisational team of the leaving human rights film festival Movies that Matter in which she took part in Team International. In her position as co-worker Elena was partly responsible for organising workshops and panel talks with filmmakers and international guests on activism, human rights and LGBTi rights.
From September 2o25 onwards Elena will start a pre-master’s program in Film Studies besides her position as project worker and community worker for Stichting art.1. At Stichting art.1 Elena will set up a bi-weekly community gathering for youth in which DIY zine making and filmmaking skills are key. Also, Elena will be part of a team of young filmmakers documenting (queer) refugees and newcomers who fled their home countries due to their sexual orientation and who recently came to Amsterdam.

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Lauren Hooft

F, project worker and community worker

After a post-high school gap-year filled with traveling, Lauren majored in Sociology at the University of Amsterdam. In addition, she completed a minor in Anthropology (Universidad de Salamanca) and is currently enrolled in the Political Psychology minor-programme at the University of Amsterdam. In her academic research and writing, Lauren aims to investigate various topics relating to social inequality through an anti-capitalist, postcolonial and feminist lense, as for example in her bachelor research project which focuses on sexual racism as experienced by women of colour. She believes that the (moving) image is one of the most powerful means to call for action, echoing the claim that art – and films in particular – should be used to amplify underrepresented and silenced perspectives.

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Djescho Mananga

WEB DESIGNER

Djescho Mananga (he/they) is the new web designer behind ART1. They are an activist for queer rights and, outside of ART1, work as a freelance web and UX designer, marketer, communicator, and event host and organizer. Djescho is also a musician, an aviation enthusiast, and someone who deeply values making memories with the people closest to them. In every project, they focus on the end customer or user, always striving to make their experience and tasks as seamless as possible.

 

As a queer person of color, Djescho believes that queerness brings a unique sense of freedom and creativity, fueled by diverse stories, emotions, experiences, and personalities. To them, it is the queer community and their allies who bring true color and vibrancy to the world.

 

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Shayne McCreadie

TRAINER

Shayne McCreadie was born and raised in Amsterdam and currently works as a cultural programmer and organisational coach. She has founded De Cultuurshifters, which focuses on supporting companies to incorporate diversity and inclusion into their workplace. She enjoys working with teams and team leaders, teaching them the foundations of Deep Democracy. She also teaches creative workshops and curates special programs for the International Queer & Migrant Film festival.

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Kim Tawjoeram

Trainer

Kim works as a freelancer for Stichting Art. 1 as a marketeer, dancer, coach and a programmer for IQMF. Kim is working on several training modules on diversity and inclusion on the work space.

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Galo de la Huerta

Head of International Partnerships & Cooperation

Galo is a writer, editor and storyteller. He studied Business and Marketing in Chile (2015), Storytelling in Cuba (2017), Storytelling Facilitation in Palestine (2018), and holds a dual Masters in Heritage and Memory from the University of Amsterdam (2019). In 2022 he completed a diploma in EU Project Design and Management. Galo’s academic and work paths have been shaped by the intangibility of words, stories and how they affect reality. His interests are social narratives and belonging, identity and diversity, and the use of storytelling to infiltrate and influence mainstream narratives and collective identities. Galo joined Stichting art 1. as an intern in 2018 and has since stayed on as writer, editor, storytelling trainer and currently Head of International Partnerships and cooperation.

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MADDI DETHLEFSEN

CONTENT WRITER & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Maddi is an aspiring writer, podcaster and spoken word artist who joined Stichting art.1 in 2023. Born & raised in northern Germany, she moved to The Netherlands to study Media Management in Breda (2018) and Film Studies in Amsterdam (2021) to pursue her passion for creative self-expression through audiovisual media and spoken word. She has taken on projects as an Artivist, Community Manager and Content Writer both for personal projects as well as for Stichting Art.1 ever since. Her core passions include intersectional feminism, navigating young adulthood, slam poetry and independent cinema.

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Saleem Salameh

Trainer

Saleem is a filmmaker, writer and photographer. His work engages with moments in everyday life while exploring questions around gender, social restrictions and interpersonal relationships. His short film “12 Centimeters” won the jury prize in the Franco-Arab Film Festival in Jordan in 2015. His experimental film “Button” was screened at The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and during Ephemeral Spaces exhibition in Vienna in 2017. In 2018, his experimental film “Postcards” was screened at ROFFA Film Club in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Saleem is one of Stichting art.1’s soft skill methodology trainers, specifically in filmmaking for the “Youth Artivists for Change” project and “Artivists for Social Change – Suriname” project (2019-2021) and Artivist Stafete (2021-2023).

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STICHTING ART.1

Artivism: Activism through the Arts