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Theo Angelopoulos began to study law in Athens but broke up his studies to go to the Sorbonne in Paris in order to study literature. When he had finished his studies, he wanted to attend the School of Cinema at Paris but decided instead to go back to Greece. There he worked as a journalist and critic for the newspaper "Demokratiki Allaghi" until it was banned by the military after a coup d'état. Now unemployed, he decided to make his first movie, Anaparastasi (1970). Internationally successful was his trilogy about the history of Greece from 1930 to 1970 consisting of Days of '36 (1972), The Travelling Players (1975), and Oi kynigoi (1977). After the end of the dictatorship in Greece, Angelopoulos went to Italy, where he worked with RAI (and more money). His movies then became less political.- Director
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Takis Vougiouklakis was born on 6 March 1939 in Athens, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for I theatrina (1977), Nelly, the Spy (1981) and I Love You (1971). He was married to Efi Pikoula. He died on 7 April 2021 in Athens, Greece.- Director
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He studied film direction in Greece and worked in more than 40 films as an assistant director. In 1965 he made his first short film O kleftis (1965) and in 1967 his second short film, Tzimis o Tigris (1966) won many awards in several festivals. In 1972 he made his feature film debut, Anna's Engagement (1972) (Anna's Engagement), which won several wards in the Berlin Film Festival, London Film Festival and more. He spent six months in exile during the Greek junta in 1973. Then he made O megalos erotikos (The Great Love Songs) after Manos Hatzidakis's request about this documentary based on his music work.
In 1977 he directed the controversial political allegory Happy Day . In 1980 he directed _Eleftherios Venizelos: 1910-1927 (1980)_, a film based on the life of the Greek politician. In 1985 he directed Petrina hronia (Stone Years), a strong emotional drama in politically turbulent times based on a true story, which won a best actress award in the Venice Film Festival and was a great commercial success. In 1989 he directed I fanela me to '9' (1988), a film about a soccer player.
In 1992 he directed _Isyhes meres tou Avgoustou_ (Quiet Days in August), which won a special mention in the Berlin Film Festival. In 1996 came _Akropol_ based on the Greek theatre of the 50s and then in 1997 he directed It's a long road.
Father of director/actor Alexander Voulgaris and director Konstantina Voulgari.- Director
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Costa-Gavras was born on 12 February 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Z (1969), Missing (1982) and Amen. (2002). He has been married to Michèle Ray-Gavras since 1968. They have two children.- Director
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- Music Department
Olga Malea was born in 1960. She is a director and writer, known for Proti fora nonos (2007), Rizoto (2000) and Matzourana (2013).- Director
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Maria Plyta (November 26, 1915 - March 4, 2006) was a Greek film director, novelist, playwright, songwriter, and journalist.
She was the first female director in Greece and is known for T' arravoniasmata (1950), The Godson (1952), Jeep Kiosk and Love (1957), The Shoe-Shine Boy (1962), and The Poor Merchant (1967), unforgettable films that enjoyed great critical and commercial success.
Maria Plyta was born on November 26, 1915, in Thessaloniki, and she is considered one of the most influential personalities of the Greek early-post-war cinema, as, along with other directors, she defined the cinematic language of the time.
Maria Plyta worked for several years in newspapers and magazines, and she also wrote various novels and plays for the radio. Shortly after the German Occupation of Greece, she managed to publish two of her novels, Demena Ftera (1944), and Alysides (1946).
However, Maria Plyta decided to pursue a career in the male-dominated world of cinema and filmmaking, and in 1947 she participated as artistic director in Giorgos Tzavellas' adventure movie, Marinos Kontaras (1948).
She made her debut as director with T' arravoniasmata (1950), starring Aimilios Veakis and Dinos Iliopoulos.
In the late 1970s, Maria Plyta was a founding member of the Greek Directors Society, and in 1986, she was named an honorary member in recognition of her achievements and her unique contributions to the film industry.- Writer
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Alekos Sakellarios was a Greek writer and a director. He was born in Athens and grew up in Agios Panteleimonas and began to study journalism and acting at a young age. He wrote his first theatrical play in 1935 called The King of Halva. He entered the film industry and had roles in both screenwriting and directing. He directed mainly with Hristos Giannakopoulos and together they wrote and produced an estimated 140 works. The most popular include: The Germans Strike Again, Thanasakis o politevomenos, I theia ap' to Chicago, Dikoi mas anthropoi, Ena votsalo sti limni, Kalos ilthe to dollario, Ta kitrina gantia, Otan leipei i gata, I soferina, Laterna, ftoheia kai filotimo, Alimono stous neous and more. Many of these theatrical plays were transferred to the cinema with notable success. He also wrote the lyrics of many songs (over 2,000). The significant journalist Freddie Germanos called him the "most clever Greek of the 20th century". He died in 1991 and is buried in the First Cemetery of Athens in a family grave.- Director
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Giannis Dalianidis was born on 31 December 1923 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for Something Hot (1964), Oi erastes tou oneirou (1974) and The Tough Guy with the Tricycle (1972). He died on 16 October 2010 in Piraeus, Greece.- Director
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- Set Decorator
Iannis Smaragdis was born in Crete in 1946. He studied Film in Greece and France. He made his first appearance in 1972 with the short film Two Three Things..., which received the first prize at the Athens Film Festival, as well as a Special Mention at the Montreal Film Festival. Iannis Smaragdis' career has been full of creativity and counts many successes. His most significant features are Cavafy (1996) and El Greco (2007). They were both very successful and award-winning films that participated in many international festivals, the most significant being the Toronto International Film Festival. On television, he touched the hearts of audiences with his Good night to you, Kyr Alexandre in 1980. In 1988 he directed the 13-episode series Hush... Our Country is Sleeping..., which is considered the best TV series since the beginning of television broadcasting in Greece. Iannis Smaragdis has directed many more TV series, such as Hadjimanuel (1984) and Les Enfants Gates (2001). He has also directed documentaries and essays: Spyros Louis (2004), I've brought to art (1998), Thus spake the city (1990-1993), to name a few. In 2007 he directed Opera of Shadows at the Athens Concert Hall. In 2012, he completed his new film God Loves Caviar, which officially participated at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in Greek theatres in October 2012 and was a box office hit for three consecutive weeks. Until 31 December 2012 it reached 350.000 admissions. He is currently working on his new project titled Nikos Kazantzakis, a film about the great Greek author and based on the latter's autobiography Report to Greco. On the internet he was also voted the most popular artist for the year 2012. Earlier this year he was appointed by the Istituto di Studi Giuridici Economici e Sociali Internazionali I.S.G.E.S.I. in Rome to the position of Manager of Cinema and Theatre and head of all scientific studies of the same department. He is a member of the Giuseppe Sciacca International Awards Committee.- Director
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Apostolos Tegopoulos was born in 1936 in Athens, Greece. He was a director and writer. He died on 29 March 2007 in Athens, Greece.- Director
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Michael Cacoyannis was born on 11 June 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus. He was a director and writer, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Electra (1962) and Eroika (1960). He died on 25 July 2011 in Athens, Greece.- Writer
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Giorgos Tzavellaswas a Greek film director, screenwriter, and playwright. His filmmaking was particularly influential, with critic Georges Sadoul considering him "one of the three major postwar Greek directors" (along with Michael Cacoyannis and Nikos Koundouros). Tzavellas wrote at least 26 plays, in addition to writing the scripts for all of his films. Among his notable films are Marinos Kontaras (1948), the drama O methystakas (1950), and Antigone (1961), a cinematic adaptation of the Sophocles tragedy. His adaptation of Antigone reimagined it in the language of realist cinema, omitting stylized elements of Greek stageplay such as the chorus, and attempting to convey the same information via setting and dialogue. In 1964 he was a member of the jury at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival. His masterpiece, however, is the 1955 film The Counterfeit Coin (1955), a film in four parts, linking the stories of several people through their transactions of a single counterfeit gold coin.- Writer
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Nikos Tsiforos was born in 1912 in Alexandria, Egypt. He was a writer and director, known for The Last Mission (1949), Gypsy Blood (1956) and The Money Rich (1958). He died on 6 August 1970 in Athens, Greece.- Director
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Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta, his first feature film, played at Toronto and Berlin film festivals to critical acclaim. His second feature Dogtooth, won the "Un Certain Regard prize" at the 2009 Cannes film festival, followed by numerous awards at festivals worldwide. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 2011. Alps won the "Osella for best screenplay" at the 2011 Venice film festival and Best Film at the Sydney film festival in 2012. His first English language film The Lobster was presented in Competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, "The Lobster" was nominated for the (Oscar about the) Best Original Screenplay by the Academy and won Best Screenplay and Best Costume Design at the European Film Awards of 2015. His fifth project "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" was also presented in Competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for the best Screenplay. Lanthimos's last film "The Favorite" is a historical Drama about the British Queen Anne.- Director
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He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts from which he graduated in 1948.
Because of his left-wing political beliefs, he was exiled in Makronisos Island after the end of World War II
He started his career, as a director, at the age of 28, on 1954, with the film "Maghiki Polis" (Enchanted City) that was influenced by neorealism. With his second film "Dracos" (Dragon) in 1956 came his national and international recognition for his cinematography.
Lately he was hospitalized because of respiratory problems
He passed away around 16:00 on the afternoon of February 22, 2017 at his home in Athens, close to his family, at the age of 91.- Director
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Vassilis Georgiadis was a Greek director, film producer and actor. Two of Georgiadis's films, "The Red Lanterns" and "Blood on the Land", were nominated by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the final five for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Also in 1970 his film "Girls in the Sun" was nominated by the Foreign Correspondents' Association in Los Angeles for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.- Writer
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Nikos Nikolaidis was born on 25 October 1939 in Athens, Greece. He was a writer and director, known for Morning Patrol (1987), Ta kourelia tragoudane akoma... (1979) and O hamenos ta pairnei ola (2002). He died on 5 September 2007 in Athens, Greece.- Actor
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Yannis Economides was born in Cyprus in 1967. In 1987 he moved to Athens, Greece, to pursue studies in law, but almost immediately quit law school to study filmmaking instead.
After making several documentaries and short films, in 2003 he wrote and directed his first feature film, the iconic MATCHBOX. His second feature, SOUL KICKING, premiered at the International Critics' Week at Cannes Film Festival in 2006. His third feature, KNIFER, premiered at Busan International Film Festival in 2010 and went on to win seven Greek Film Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. His fourth feature, STRATOS, had its world premiere in the Official Competition of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014.
In 2016 Yannis Economides wrote and directed his first play, SLEEP, STELLA, SLEEP for the New Stage of the National Theatre in Athens, which became a huge critical and commercial hit.
His latest feature, BALLAD FOR A PIERCED HEART, premiered in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and managed to become a box office hit in Greece. The film received 15 Greek Film Academy nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
All five of his feature films have been honored with the Greek Film Critics Association Award for Best Greek Feature Film of the Year and have screened at several prestigious international film festivals.
In November 2022, MATCHBOX - THE MUSICAL, premiered at the main stage of "Onassis Stegi", in libretto and artistic direction by Yannis Economides.
Currently, he is preparing his next feature, entitled ROCKS IN THE HEAD.- Actor
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Renos Haralambidis was born on 14 October 1970 in Athens, Greece. He is an actor and writer, known for No Budget Story (1997), The Heart of the Beast (2005) and 4 Black Suits (2010).- Director
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Constantine Giannaris is a Greek film director. He studied Finance, History and Philosophy at the Universities of Kiel and Birmingham. His cinema career started in England where he completed independent short films of short budget. His first Greek film, Mia Thesi Ston Helio (1995) was awarded with the Best Greek Film Award at the Short Film Festival of Drama in Greece. Also in 1995 another film was released, "3 Steps To Heaven", and in 1998 the "From the Edge of Town" film which was awarded the second Best Award Film by the Greek Ministry of Culture. In 2001 Giannaris filmed "Dekapedavgustos" (On the 15th of August) and in 2004 his "Omiros" (Homer). His films have been shown in many international film festivals and talked about in various fora. His first long film "3 Steps To Heaven" was financed and set in London. Today he lives and works in Athens, Greece.- Writer
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Ektoras Lygizos is known for Boy Eating the Bird's Food (2012), Interior with Woman Peeling Apples (Details) (2002) and Pure Youth (2004).- Director
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Kostas Manoussakis was born in January 1929 in Greece. He was a director and writer, known for Prodosia (1964), The Fear (1966) and Love in the Sand Dunes (1958). He died on 26 August 2005 in Athens, Greece.- Director
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Grigoris Grigoriou was a Greek director. He was the son of the then well-known lawyer Michalis Grigoriou. He studied law and political science at the University of Athens, as well as foreign languages, took lessons in the theater department of the University Club but eventually became a self-taught director. During the German Occupation, he took part in the Battle of Crete, he was eventually captured by the Germans, escaped and then joined and fought through the lines of the EAM (National Liberation Front). From 1942 to 1949 he worked in the Legal Department of AETE (the predecessor of today's Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation). A film director since 1949 and theater since 1951. In 1948 he wrote the script and directed his first film The Red Cliff. His film Bitter Bread (1951) is considered a landmark for Greek cinema as the first neorealist Greek film in which he combined Italian neorealism with Greek reality criticizing the authorities. He stopped his film activity in 1971 with thirty feature films to his credit. Also, Grigoris Grigoriou directed many plays at the radio theater of the state radio, while from 1949 he was a co-founder of the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film School and from 1957 a professor of the Drama School. His presence in television was also intense with his direction in Immortal Love Stories and Kapodistrias as well as in a series of plays on ERT. The television series of the literary work Loxandra was a great success, as was the show Na i Efkairia, which contributed to the emergence of new artists. From 1984 to 1990 he presented and moderated the weekly show In the Area of Greek Cinema. He was the president of the Society of Greek Directors and, apart from the directing awards, he was also honored with an award from the Ministry of Culture. He spoke French and was a permanent resident of Ilioupoli, Athens. With his first wife Maria Papaleonardou, he had a child, the composer Michalis Grigoriou. He then married the actress Inta Hristinaki without having children and finally Eleni Tsimaratou in 1960 with whom he had two children, the musician Lefteris Grigoriou and the diving instructor-director Stelios Grigoriou.- Director
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Tonia Marketaki was born on 28 July 1942 in Athens, Greece. She was a director and writer, known for John the Violent (1973), Krystallines nyhtes (1992) and The Price of Love (1984). She died on 26 July 1994.- Writer
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Nikos Panayotopoulos was born on November 6, 1941, in Mytilene, Greece. He studied film making in Athens and started his career as an assistant director in Greek and foreign productions.
In 1960-1973 he lived in Paris where he attended film courses at the filmology institute of Sorbonne.
In 1973 he returned to Athens. His first film The Color of Iris (1974) ("The Colours of Iris") was the most unexpected creation of the New Greek Cinema. Since then he lived and worked there, and his beloved wife Marianna Spanoudakis, always by his side, participated faithfully in all of his productions, mainly as a costume designer and also as producer and actress. Since 1974 he wrote and directed films, with a special narrative style in a thematic approach that deals with issues such as erotic delusion and deterioration of human relations.
His films have participated in national and international festivals and have received important distinctions and prizes.
His death came just a few weeks after the release of his film I kori tou Rembrandt (2015) ("Rembrandt's Daughter").- Writer
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Nikos Papatakis was born on 5 July 1918 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was a writer and director, known for The Photograph (1986), The Depths (1963) and Oi voskoi (1967). He was married to Olga Karlatos and Anouk Aimée. He died on 17 December 2010 in Paris, France.- Director
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Nicos Perakis was born on 11 September 1944 in Alexandria, Egypt. He is a director and production designer, known for Loafing and Camouflage (1984), Sirens in the Aegean (2005) and Thilyki etaireia (1999).- Director
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Nikos Grammatikos was born in 1963 in Salamina, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Truants (1996), The King (2002) and Agrypnia (2005).