BACKDOOR

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos was born in Athens, he studied economics in Greece and cinema at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, where he spent six years directing documentaries, short films, and theater productions. His first film work, the feature-length documentary Megara, participated in nine European film festivals and won the Best Film Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the International Critics Association Award at the Berlin Forum Festival. His first fiction feature film, Sudden Love (1984), was a commercial success and was awarded the national awards for Production, Cinematography, and Best Actress. This was followed by Take Care (1991), which won national awards for Best Film, Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Supporting Actor, and Backdoor (2000), which won the Supporting Actor Award and competed at the Tokyo International Film Festival. His film The Enemy Within (2013) participated in the Beijing Competition Festival, the BFI London, Tehran, Montreal, Paris, Nashville, Denver, etc., winning two first prizes and the Best Actor. At the 2014 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, the film received three Iris Awards, for Editing, Screenplay, and Direction. He was President of the Hellenic Film Academy from 2019 to 2022. His latest film Stelios (2024), a major commercial success, and a tribute to the legendary Greek singer Stelios Kazantzidis, received two Iris Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Costume Design.