Nikola I

Niko is a freelance film maker based in London. A trained diplomat and a filmmaker by vocation, he holds a Masters degree from SOAS - University of London and a Masters degree from the prestigious National Film and Television School in documentary directing.

Niko has extensive international experience filming, specialising in hostile environments, war zones and emergency situations for broadcast and the humanitarian sector.

He has been deployed on assignments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, eastern Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Guatemala, Nicaragua, DR Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Somalia, Egypt and many others, to film children and adults suffering from malnutrition, conflict, blindness, victims of earthquakes, victims of gender based violence as well as sex workers, migrants, refugees and IDPs, celebrities, slum dwellers, activists, freedom fighters, military and mujahideen among others.

Before going freelance, Niko worked in-house for some of the biggest INGOs such as Save the Children, Comic Relief, Cafod, UNICEF, Amnesty International and UNHCR. Since freelancing he has worked for Smile Train, UNHCR, ChildFund New Zealand, Concern International, VSO, CBM and Sightsavers. Prior to that he worked for the BBC as a broadcast journalist, a lecturer in economics and documentary photography at university and a picture editor at a photojournalist agency.

Niko speaks 5 languages fluently (German, English, Czech, Macedonian, Serbian....and half decent Italian and Spanish), is a skilled DoP, director, photographer and video editor (Avid, Premiere, Resolve). Drop him anywhere in the world and he would come back with compelling visual content and stories.

He has experience and is equally comfortable filming with A-list celebrities (having filmed with Ben Stiller, Cate Blanchett, Kristen Davis, Helena Christensen, Peter Capaldi, Alan Cumming, David Morrisey) as well as with sex workers and drug addicts on the streets of Swansea (for a documentary for Channel 5).

Niko has also directed two documentary films about refugees that saved a village in Sicily from oblivion and these films premiered at film festivals around the world. Currently he is working on a documentary about a British filmmaker who was killed in Syria by ISIS and his family's journey to come to terms with this death.