Theo Angelopoulos

Theo Angelopoulos (1935–2012) was born in Athens, in the neighborhood of Agios Panteleimonas, Acharnon. Painter Alekos Fassianos, lyricist Lefteris Papadopoulos, and philosopher Christos Yannaras were among his classmates and childhood friends. In 1953, he enrolled at the Law School, University of Athens, but dropped out just before graduation. In 1961, he moved to Paris, where he attended courses of French literature and film at the Sorbonne University, studying under Georges Santoul. In parallel, he attended ethnology courses with Claude Lévi-Strauss. To financially support his studies, he worked at the reception of Cité Universitaire and at Orly Airport as a carpet cleaner along with his roommate at Cité Universitaire and director, Nicos Panayotopoulos. In 1962, he was accepted at the prestigious French Institute of Cinema (IDHEC), which he abandoned in 1963 following a dispute with the professor of directing. He continued his studies at Musée de l’ Homme alongside the anthropologist and director Jean Rouch, from whom he learnt cinema direct. In 1964, he returned to Athens to see his family, but the beating he received from the police during a demonstration he found himself in by chance, propelled him to change his plans and abandon Paris, settling in Greece instead so as to understand what was happening in his home country, as he himself stated in many of his interviews. Upon the suggestion of director Tonia Marketaki, he began working as a film critic for the newspaper Dimokratiki Allagi. In 1965, Vangelis Papathanasiou asked him to create a film to promote The Forminx’s tour in the U.S. Angelopoulos shot some footage during a gig, but the tour was called off and the film was cancelled. In 1968, he made his directorial debut with the short film Broadcast, winning the Critics Award at the Thessaloniki Greek Film Festival. In 1969, he founded the Synchronos Kinimatografos [Contemporary Cinema] magazine together with Vasilis Rafailidis, while the editorial committee was composed of most of the young directors of the era. In 1970, he unveiled his first feature-length film, Reconstruction, which swept the awards at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and won numerous international awards as well, including the Georges Santoul Award, and the Fipresci Prize, among others. Reconstruction was regarded as a breakthrough film by both Greek and international film critics, and as the dawn of the New Greek Cinema. This was followed by Days of '36 in 1972, which won various awards at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, as well as the Fipresci Prize in Berlin, and the landmark film, The Travelling Players in 1975, which left an indelible mark on global cinema, receiving the Fipresci Prize at Cannes, along with dozens of international and national awards. All of his subsequent films participated in the biggest International Festivals, garnering major awards. In 1985, the Ministry of Culture of the French Republic bestowed upon him the title and the insignia of the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. Voyage to Kythera marked the beginning of his collaboration with international movie stars such as Giulio Brogi, Omero Antonutti, Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau, Harvey Keitel, Gian Maria Volonte, Erland Josephson, Maia Morgenstern, Bruno Ganz, Irène Jacob, Michel Piccoli, Willem Dafoe. In 1992, the French Republic bestowed upon him the title and the insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. His film, Ulysses’ Gaze, won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, while his film, Eternity and a Day, garnered the Palme d’ Or at the same festival in 1998. He was the recipient of dozens of distinctions and honorary titles, and served as the international representative of Greek cinema in the global film industry for more than 30 years. In January 2012, he was fatally injured after being involved in a car crash while shooting his film, The Other Sea, which was left unfinished.