Σταύρος Τορνές

1963 Mycenes (doc short, co-direction with Roussos Koundouros)
1964 Cyclades (doc short, co-direction with Roussos Koundouros)
1967 Therian Dawn (doc short, co-direction with Kostas Sfikas)
1973 Students (doc short)
1976 Farewell Anatolia (short)
1977 Coatti
1979 Exopragmatiko (doc short)
1982 Balamos
1982 Nikos Kavvadias (doc short)
1983 Hippodamias Square (doc short)
1984 Karkalou
1986 Danilo Treles: The Famed Andalusian Musician
1987 A Heron for Germany

Stavros Tornes (1932–1988) was born in Galatsi, Athens. He began his film studies at the Ioannidis School in 1957, and simultaneously started working as an assistant director and actor in films of the ’50s.

He collaborated with like-minded filmmakers, including Takis Kanellopoulos, Dimos Theos, Adonis Kyrou, and Kostas Sfikas, and he also worked with Elia Kazan on the casting for America America, and with Michael Cacoyiannis on Zorba the Greek.

In 1967, he directed his first short film, Theraic Dawn, shortly before leaving Greece for Italy to escape the junta. There, with a group of exiles, he carried out anti-dictatorial activities. In 1973, he smuggled himself back into Greece to film a short documentary, titled Foitites, concerning the political activities of students in Greece. Upon returning to Rome, he became involved in acting in films such as Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli, Roberto Rossellini’s City of Women, the Taviani brothers’ Allonsanfàn, and Agnes Varda’s Nausicaa, where he played a lead role.

He wrote scripts, and served as a member of Guida Poetica Italiana and Post-Avant-Garde ΒΕΑΤ 72. His writings were published in Giorgio Manacorda’s Autobus and Poetica Italiana. Before devoting himself entirely to cinema, he also painted. CharIotte van Gelder became his life partner and the scriptwriter of most of his films. After the fall of the dictatorship, he returned to Greece and together they wrote the films Balamos, Karkalou, Danilo Treles, and A Heron for Germany. He passed away in July, 1988, at the age of 56 years old.