Vasilios Papapitsios

Vasilios Papapitsios is an HIV-Positive writer, filmmaker and artist blending genres and blurring boundaries at the intersections of advocacy, education, and entertainment. They've contributed to films and series for companies like MasterClass, OTV - Open Television an Emmy nominated nonprofit platform for intersectional media, AwesomenessTV, Def Jam Recordings, and UCLA & Duke University. As a core driving force, Vasilios' work, whether screenwriting or producing, prioritizes the narratives found in LGBTQIA+, Black and underserved communities, often through levity and a flare for the fantastical while still hitting on harsh realities. Vasilios is here to tell stories and usher in the next era of filmmaking. To bring awareness with integrity and a light heart. To change fear-based rhetorics in style, through empowerment and social equity.

Vasilios worked for MIX NYC Film Festival under the Executive Director, then began creating digital, performance, and installation art as well as short films that primarily focused on confronting the stigma of HIV. After working for years as an editor and cinematographer, Vasilios shifted to producing and writing to fulfill their own creative visions and reach a broader audience.

Vasilios has been putting on shows for their family ever since discovering a love for fantasy as a child. As a creative, they've had a life of curiosity-- from building fantasies in the mud and sticks of North Carolina creeks to higher education at UNC Chapel Hill where they constructed works of art out of that same tired tar heel blue clay-- transgressing conventions in some of the most backwards of backwoods.