The TIFF Board

Kristin (b. 1973) was born and and raised in a small village in Steigen municipality. She holds a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Transformation from UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. Prevously she has served as the elected Mayor of Tromsø, as the head of Tromsø city council, as a political counselor of the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, as chair of the board of Tromsø Harbor, and several terms as elected member of the Tromsø municipality. Kristin used to work as a therapist and as the leader of Færingen Terapeutiske samfunn (phoenix house), and also as a teacher in school and kindergarden. Currently she serve as a member of the board of Troms and Finnmark county municipality, and as member of the health commitee in Tromsø. She is currently working for the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Departement (NAV).

Åse Kringstad is the head of Virke Produsentforeningen, which organizes the independent production companies within film, series, documentary, advertising, animation, television entertainment and games. Her background is from the public sector, with a long career in film, games and media policy in the Ministry of Culture

Elle Márjá (b. 1983) has distinguished herself as a strong and uncompromising voice in Sápmi for several years across genres and forms of expression as an artist, director, producer and composer. She has directed and produced a number of short films and music videos. Previously worked in NRK Sápmi and in the Sami National Theater Beaivváš. She is an artist partner in Dáiddadállu - Kautokeino artist collective. Elle Márjá is now involved in a band project Snoweye, as well as several film and art projects.

Ismet is a professional game developer with experience from Singapore and Oslo. For the past years, Ismet has been employed as a project manager and game consultant at TviBit in Tromsø, while at the same time he has been creative manager at Plus Point AS. At TviBit, he has led a preliminary study in New Media and Creative Technology where he has tested various new activities throughout Northern Norway, as well as built up a VR and game environment among young people in the region.

John-Kristian (b. 1980) has worked for TIFF since 2012 as a production manager at Verdensteatret. He’s also been involved with production, communications and programming for the festival. He is the program director for the festival’s Films from the North program and from August 2020 until February 2021 he is substituting as the manager at Verdensteatret.