61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival || 5 - 15/11/2020
Meet the Future presents eight up-and-coming cinematographers from Greece
The 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s initiative Meet the Future focuses on eight up-and-coming cinematographers from Greece.
Meet the Future is an initiative that embraces the future of film by focusing on up-and-coming professionals of different capacities across the film universe. This year’s Meet the Future presents eight cinematographers from Greece, that have already worked on short films and/or up to one feature film, who either have received cinematography awards at a Greek festival, or their short or feature film has participated in large international festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian, London, Rotterdam, New York, Tribeca, Toronto, Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand). Among them is Giorgos Valsamis, the first Greek cinematographer to receive two Palme D' Or for short films (last year with The Distance Between Us and The Sky, this year with I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face).
Each cinematographer has created a one-minute promo video, which will be presented to film professionals from all over the world. They were all inspired by phrases from well-known science fiction books, taking a cue from this year's 61st TIFF core tribute: “The Space Between Us: From sci-fi to cli-fi".
You can find the videos on our website until November 14 and on our YouTube channel.
Watch the videos
The program is a collaboration with GSC – Greek Society of Cinematographers, with the support of Canon, ARRI and Authorwave.
Tutors: Dionysis Efthimiopoulos - GSC (cinematographer) and Alexis Alexiou (director)
More about the participants:
Asimina-Lydia Dionysopoulou
Asimina-Lydia Dionysopoulou started from the School of Film at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specializing in Direction of Photography. She has worked in the technical department, in the Photography Department of Film and TV productions, and in video clips. In the summer of 2018, she was selected for the Talents Sarajevo, which is organized by the Sarajevo Film Festival in collaboration with Berlin International Film Festival. She has collaborated with Lida Vartzioti and Dimitris Tsakaleas in various short films, and most recently in “Yawth” and “Sad Girl Weekend”, and the music video “The Children of Glam”, as Director of Photography.
Selected Filmography
Sad Girl Weekend, short film, 2019
Yawth, short film, 2018
Yannis Kanakis
Yannis Kanakis was born in 1982. He lives in Athens and works as a Director of Photography. He has worked in documentaries, short and feature films and commercials. His first short film, “Casus Belli”, directed by Yorgos Zois, world premiered in Venice Film Festival in 2010 and it was selected in more than 50 international film festivals (Rotterdam, Clermont Ferrand, Tokyo Short Shorts, Palm Springs, LA Short Fest, Era New Horizons, Melbourne IFF et.al.), winning several awards. In 2012, he worked as a Director of Photography for the short film “Out of Frame”, which won the EFA Award in the 69th Venice Film Festival, as the best European short film of the year. His work includes the film “Washingtonia” by Konstantina Kotzamani, which was selected for the Competition section of Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Shorts Competition) and won the Award of the Hellenic Film Academy and the EFA Award. Also, his first feature film as a DoP, “Interruption” by Yorgos Zois, world premiered in Venice Film Festival in 2015, while the film “Third Kind”, the short film by the same director, was selected for this year’s Semaine De La Critique in Cannes Film Festival.
Selected Filmography
Premier amour, short film, 2020
Third Kind, short film, 2018
Interruption, feature film, 2015
Washingtonia, short film, 2014
Casus Belli, short film, 2010
Yannis Karabatsos
He was born and lives in Athens. He graduated from the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos and participated in Sarajevo Talents in 2018. He was awarded by the Greek Society of Cinematographers and the Athens International Film Festival for the ψinematography in “Mare Nostrum” by Dimitris Anagnostou (Vienna Shorts 2020, Festival du film court de Villeurbanne 2020).
Selected Filmography
Touch me, short film, 2020
Mare Nostrum, short film, 2019
Shall we Dance?, short film, 2018
The Beast Asleep, short film, 2017
The Eye and the Brow, short film, 2016
Fili Olsefski
Fili Olsefski was born in Łódź, Poland and grew up in Athens. She studied in the Painting Faculty of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is an alumna of Talents Sarajevo. She received the Award for Visual Storytelling from the Greek Society of Cinematographers (GSC) for the film “Mila” in 2019. She works as a photographer in Athens.
Selected Filmography
Express Scopelitis, feature documentary, 2020
Yama, short film, 2020
The End of the Trip, short film, 2020
Deathcar, short film, 2018
Mila, short film, 2019
Stelios Pissas
Stelios Pissas was born in Athens in 1975. He studied Electronics for Radio and Television at the Open University in Heraklion, Crete and then pursued Cinematography studies at Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos. Since then, he has participated in numerous conferences and workshops and is working as a cinematographer in fiction and documentary films.
Selected Filmography
8th Continent, short film, 2017
Raccoon, short film, 2016
Chekhov’s Gun, short film, 2014
Life in the Borderlands, documentary, 2014
Roots Run Deep, short film, 2008
Yannis Simos
He studied at the Film Studies Department in Thessaloniki and graduated with a major in Cinematography. In 2017 he was selected to attend Sarajevo Talents. In 2018 he received the Award for Visual Storytelling for his work in the short film “Torpor”, granted by the GSC. He has also shot the short film “Pashka” by Oltjon Lipe (Best Short in Tirana Film Festival, Albania). His first feature, “Amercement”, directed by Fokion Bogris, premieres at the 61st Thessaloniki Film Festival.
Selected Filmography
Amercement, feature film, 2020
Pashka, short film, 2020
Torpor, short film, 2018
Meeting, short film, 2017
Hills Like White Elephants, short film, 2014
Manu Tilinski
Manu Tilinski was born in Berlin, Germany in 1983 and grew up in Athens, Greece. Immediately after studies he worked as an assistant editor for a production company and then moved to lab work before joining the camera department for good. Manu made over 33 international feature films as a focus puller and a large number of commercials. He lensed his first feature film, “Wasted Youth”, which opened the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2012. After 2016 he turned entirely to Cinematography and has been awarded by GSC (Greek Society of Cinematographers) for his work on “Maneki Neko”, as well as a Best Cinematography award at Berlin’s Interfilm Festival 2018, followed by a Best Cinematography award at Saint-Petersburg IFF, adding to a total of five in 2019. The year 2020 started with the Best Cinematography and Golden Dionysos award in Drama International SFF and the e-FLUX award at the Oberhausen Film Festival for the time piece short film “Bella” and a special mention in Visions du Réel. He has photographed numerous commercial spots, shorts and fashion films, documentaries and also theatrical plays as light designer along with two personal still photography exhibitions.
Selected Filmography
Bella, short film, 2020
Maneki Neko, short film, 2017
Expiration Date, short film, 2012
Wasted Youth, feature film, 2011
End of Story, short film, 2010
Giorgos Valsamis
Born in Kefalonia, Greece in 1991, Giorgos Valsamis studied Finance and Accounting at the Athens University of Economics and Business and Cinematography at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos. His body of work includes feature films, short films, documentaries and music videos. His shorts have been screened and won awards in several film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Locarno, Tirana, Zinebi, Sarajevo, Palm Springs, Sundance and Villeurbanne. In 2019, “The Distance Between Us and The Sky” by Vasilis Kekatos won the Palme d’Or and the Queer Palm at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Short Films Competition. He lives and works in Athens. His latest two short films, “I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face” (2020) and “The Last Ferry From Grass Island” (2020) were selected to premiere at the 73rd Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Short Films Competition and won the Palme d’Or and the Cinéfondation sections, respectively. He is currently working on the feature film “American Girl”, directed by Feng-i Fiona Roan, shot in Taipei, Taiwan.
Selected Filmography
The Last Ferry from Grass Island, short film, 2020
I Am Afraid to Forget your Face, short film, 2020
The Distance between us and the Sky, short film, 2019
Cedar Wolf, short film, 2019
The Silence of the Dying Fish, short film, 2018
The Meet the Future program takes place in collaboration with:
With the support of:
