Christina Lazaridi is an Academy Award—Oscar® nominated screenwriter and an expert in dynamic story design and audience response. Projects she has authored, or actively developed, have won awards at Cannes (Caméra d’Or), Berlin (Golden Bear), Sundance and SXSW film festivals, as well as the Ariel Awards in Mexico. She is currently an Associate Professor of Practice at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division, where she headed the Screenwriting and Television concentration for 2021-2023.
Born and raised in Greece in a family of Asia Minor refugees and artists, Christina’s personal written work focuses on high emotional-impact narratives of dislocation and survival and her performance-centered screenplays have consistently attracted major collaborators. Her first film, One Day Crossing, was a Student Academy Award—Oscar® winner and a nominee in the Live Action Short Film category. Her first feature film, Coming Up Roses, starred Broadway icon Bernadette Peters and introduced Rachel Brosnahan, and her historical feature documentary, Varian and Putzi: A 20th Century Tale, was directed by Academy Award—Oscar® winner Richard Kaplan and was released theatrically at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. In 2017, Christina’s first produced screenplay in Greece, Rosa of Smyrna, was a box office sensation surpassing all international sales, and in 2018, Nobody’s Watching, co-written with director Julia Solomonoff, premiered in the International Competition Section of the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the top acting award and went on to be released internationally to wide critical acclaim.
Christina’s current projects include a political sci-fi television series with Grammy Award winning creatives Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro, and two feature films set in the outskirts of Brazil and the tropical forests of Costa Rica. Her Ukrainian activist biopic, Femen, directed by Darya Zhuk, is currently in casting, produced by Pan-Européenne, Zephyr Films and ArtHouse Traffic. In addition to her work with Cine Qua Non Lab, Christina mentors international filmmakers through her private consulting practice, film festivals and labs (Sundance Co//ab, Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival and the Mediterranean Film Institute).
Christina taught for over a decade at Princeton University’s Creative Writing Program, where she built the program’s screenwriting track and conducted pioneer research on storytelling and the brain with Princeton’s Neuroscience Institute. She is a recipient of a Silver Condor Award for Best Original Screenplay for Nobody’s Watching and was nominated for an Academy Award—Oscar® for One Day Crossing. Christina lives in New York City with her husband and young daughter.
Christina is a Co-Founder of Cine Qua Non Lab and a member of its Executive Board.
