GLORIA MUNDI

He was born in Ethiopia on July 5th 1918 to a Greek father and an Abyssinian mother. He spent the early years of his life in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Greece. In 1939 he moved to Paris where he studied acting at the Solange Sicart drama school and began his career as an actor. Between 1948 and 1955 he managed the literary café “The Red Rose” the hangout of famous existentialists where artists like Juliette Gréco and Boris Vian debuted. In 1950 he produced his close friend Jean Genet only movie, Un Chant d’Amour (A love song). In 1959 he became the co-producer of John Cassavetes’ first movie, Shadows. Occasionally he directed for the theater and he recently published his autobiographical novel Tous les désespoirs sont permis (ed. Hatzinikoli, 2005). The 46th Thessaloniki Film festival and Kastaniotis editions have published a monograph by Yannis Kondaxopoulos, Elegy of subversion, the filmmaking of Nikos Papatakis (2005).