Directors Greek ⸎

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), 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 The Great Love Songs (1973) after Manos Hatzidakis' request about this documentary based on his music work.

In 1977 he directed the controversial political allegory Happy Day (1976). In 1980 he directed Eleftherios Venizelos: 1910-1927 (1980), a film based on the life of the Greek politician. In 1985 he directed Stone Years (1985), 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 Quiet Days in August (1991), which won a special mention in the Berlin Film Festival. In 1996 came Akropol (1996) based on the Greek theatre of the 50s and then in 1997 he directed It's a Long Road (1998).

An awarded Greek film director, born in Athens, with cinema and architecture studies. His debut film Addio Berlin gained Jury's Prize and Critics Mention at Thessaloniki FF for it's innovating style, while No Sympathy for the Devil was nominated for Golden Alexander and gained the Best Actress Award in TIFF. 2000+1 Shots was selected by B.Mousoulis among the 10 best films for 2001 in Senses of Cinema. His last film Three Days Happiness had 4 major nominations at Greek Film Academy Awards, showing in a number of festivals.

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 The Hunters (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.

Argyris Papadimitropoulos was born in Athens, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Monday (2020), Suntan (2016) and Wasted Youth (2011).

Dimos (Aristodimos) Avdeliodis was born in 1952 in Chios, Greece.

He is a Greek film director, screenwriter, actor and producer.

He studied at the School of Philosophy at the University of Athens and attended acting classes at the Athens Drama School of Giorgos Theodosiadis.

Dimos Avdeliodis has directed several films and theatre plays. He has also taught cinema at the Department of Communication and Mass Media of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences from 1993 to 1998.

From 1997 to 2000, and from 2003 to 2010, he served as Artistic Director of the Municipal and Regional Theatre of North Aegean.

Dimos Avdeliodis is known for Mathe paidi mou grammata (1981); The Tree We Hurt (1986); Enas erodios gia ti Germania (1988); Nike of Samothrace (1990); To ainigma (1998), and Fanouropitta (1991).

He has a son, actor Yannis Avdeliodis.

Alexander Avranas, born in Larissa in 1977. He started studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1998-2001) and then he continued at the Universitat der Kunste Berlin. With his first film "Without" he win seven awards at the 49th Film Festival of Thesaloniki and suggested for the Best Director Award at the International Film Festival of Milan.

Alexandros Avranas in all his works, film and visual arts, examines social and political issues. The interest concerns employing modern man either as an independent entity or as a member of society. Alexandros Avranas sneers, triggers, denounces our indifference and passivity.

On September 7th 2013 he won the Silver Lion Director at 70th Venice Film Festival for his film «Miss Violence», proves that times can be tough but there is still hope. The Greek film «Miss Violence» also won other honors since Themis Panou won the Volpi Cup Best Actor for his role in the film of Avranas. These awards were added to the other two Avranas won the last Friday of juries parallel Awards : Prize of critics FEDEORA of the best European -Mediterranean film competition section of the Mostra and prize Arca CinemaGiovanni conferred group of 70 young Italy, France and Tunisia. The film also won several awards in between Best Script at the Stokholm film Festival.

Avranas' film had the first view of the Lido impress audiences and critics, both the subject of (a Greek dysfunctional family driven into terrible situations, comment on the current economic situation in Greece and not only) and with the style - a style strict, austere, which although highly unrealistic not touched any naturalism.

A story centered on the Greek family and the degradation of neat mask, is in the heart of «Miss Violence»: the 11 year-old Angela jumping, smiling, from the balcony on the day of her birthday, and social services are struggling to understand why, as the family insists that he was listless accident while trying to hide guilty secrets.

Note that this is the second Lion of St. Mark winning Greek director at the Mostra film debut was the Gold Lion won the 1980 Theo Angelopoulos for his film "Alexander the Great".

Born in Athens, Greece in 1950, he began his career in films in 1975 working as assistant director on numerous international productions directed by some of the most distinguished names in films such as 'Peter Brook', Jan Troell, Terence Young and Paul Mazursky. Since 1979 he has written several scripts.

Alekos Georgiadis is known for Applause (1944).

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.

Sotiris Goritsas is known for Ap' to hioni (1993), Ap' ta kokala vgalmena (2011) and Valkanizater (1997).

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.

In his childhood he used to climb to the lighthouse of the nowadays ghost-town of Koprena, where he was raised, and daydream he was in a ship, sailing for distant places. His family, though, forbade a sailor's career. As things turned out, he became one of the two or three greatest film makers of the so-called golden era of the Greek cinema, the '60s. Three generations of Greeks laughed and cried with his movies. Those films are still very successful when broadcast on Greek TV. The sea is more than evident in his best known films. He had the reputation of a hard man to work with but he used to say, "making movies is a game, if we all respect its rules, we can enjoy the game, when someone breaks the rules the game is no longer amusing for the rest of the set". He spent many of the last years of his life by the sea, next to a pine forest, writing novels mostly for children.

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.

His new feature film titled "Broken Vein" has been completed (2025)

Dimos Theos was born on 10 March 1935 in Karditsa, Greece. He was an editor and director, known for Kierion (1968), Eleatis Xenos (1996) and Kapetan Meitanos (1987). He died on 28 October 2018 in Athens, Greece.

Adonis Kyrou was born on 18 October 1923 in Athens, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for To bloko (1965), Sial IV (1969) and Un honnête homme (1963). He died on 4 November 1985 in Paris, France.

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.

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.

Takis Kanellopoulos was born on 26 October 1933 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for Parenthesi (1968), Ekdromi (1966) and Ouranos (1962). He died on 21 September 1990.

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.

Andreas Thomopoulos was born on 4 August 1945 in Athens, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Avrio tha xeroume - Dharma Blue Bums (1997), Aldevaran (1975) and O reporter (1982).

Dennis Iliadis was born in Athens, Greece, and also grew up in Paris and Rio de Janeiro. He attended Brown University in Rhode Island, studying film and political economy before enrolling at the Royal College of Art in London. Iliadis is quickly gaining a name in the film industry, having taken on the director role for the remake of The Last House on the Left (2009). It is his first American film, and he believes its story to be a fascinating take on human nature. He previously directed the film Hardcore (2004), which went on to win the German Independence Award - Audience Award. His college graduation film, Ole, and his next short film, Morning Fall, both received awards for excellence.

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.

Frixos Iliadis was a director and writer, known for Dead City (1951), Dating Agency (1956) and Attik's Street Organ (1955). He died on 20 August 2010 in Athens, Greece.

Maria Ilioú is known for Treis epohes (1996), Alexandreia (2001) and The Journey: The Greek American Dream (2007).

Born in Athens. He studied in London at the "London International Film School" and then in Paris at the "Sorbonne". From 1985 until 1995 he lived in Paris and London and made several shorts films which participated in festivals such as "The London Film Festival", "Festival Du Cinema Mediterraneen" where in 1991 the short film "The Fall and Rise of Lydia Von Burer" won the first price. In 1995 he founded in Athens the company "100% Synthetic Films" and started working on his first feature film Attack of the Giant Mousaka, The (2000). His second feature film, Real Life (2004), became a critics' favorite in Greece (won the National Critics Award in 2004), and traveled to the International Toronto Film Festival. He is now working on his third feature film called Strella.