FILMOGRAPHY: A reference platform for Greek cinema

Filmography is nearing completion: an invaluable project dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and promotion of Greek cinema, implemented with funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”.

Filmography is a digital database that will bring together valuable information on films of Greek cinema.

Three leading institutions of Greece’s audiovisual sector, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center S.A. (HFAC), bodies supervised by the Ministry of Culture, as well as the Hellenic Film Academy (HFA), have come together for the creation of the platform filmography.gr, which is planned to be made available to the public after Easter 2026. User-friendly, responsive, and contemporary, the platform will be available in two languages, Greek and English, further reinforcing the international visibility of Greek cinema, while meeting accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities (PwD).

On the occasion of the Festival’s major tribute to archives, the public will be introduced to the project for the first time on Friday 13 March, through a one-day event held within the framework of the 28th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. In addition, the Festival’s collectible magazine First Shot will be entirely dedicated to filmography, and audiences are invited to look for it at Festival venues.

Information on more than 2,000 films, covering contributors, festival participations, filming locations, awards, as well as trivia, photographs, posters, flyers, trailers, and rare archival material, brings to light moments and people who have shaped Greek cinema, from its beginnings to the present day. You may not watch films on filmography; instead, you gain access to everything that defines them!

Filmography in numbers

In March 2026, filmography will meet its audience, covering a substantial part of Greek film production. More specifically, it presents:

2,016 short and feature films

1,564 feature films

451 short films

768 directors, with biographies and complete filmographies

416 documentation fields for contributors

7,730 photographs

This is only the beginning. The shared aim of all three institutions is for the platform to be continuously enriched, operating as a dynamic repository that invites visitors to browse, compare, and return again and again, each time discovering new connections.

Filmography is addressed to those who love Greek cinema, in all its forms, as well as to students, researchers, and film professionals.

What one can find on filmography

More than 2,000 films have already been documented on filmography, covering all periods of Greek cinema, across all categories (fiction, documentary, experimental, animation), all durations (short, medium-length, and feature films), and cinematic genres (comedy, drama, musical, etc.).

Each film entry is accompanied by:

• crew list
• production details
• technical specifications
• distribution details
• synopsis
• keywords (tags) in English
• trivia
• research sources and media references
• available formats of the film
• audiovisual material (photographs, posters, flyers, promotional material, trailers)
• participations in Greek and international festivals
• contact information for locating any existing print or copy

The above materials and information were collected and documented following extensive research and are provided wherever available. One of filmography’s core aims is not only to inform the public, but also to preserve this valuable material for future generations.

Each director is featured on a dedicated page on the platform, accompanied by photographic material, a biographical note, and a complete filmography.

Of particular importance is the research and documentation carried out on the films’ shooting locations, which reveal compelling aspects of directors’ working methods as well as their visual choices.

It is worth noting that the fields related to copyright and distribution details provide practical contact information, making it easier, both from Greece and abroad, to trace film copies and related materials. At the same time, they offer a representative picture of the evolution of intellectual property within Greece’s audiovisual sector over the decades.

Also available are materials such as screenplays, dialogue lists, and subtitle files, which are not intended for public use due to copyright restrictions. These materials are, however, catalogued in a way that allows access, upon request, for researchers and programmers of film festivals and screenings.

Interviews

One of the most significant components of the project is a series of 30 original interviews conducted from April 2025 to the present day with emblematic filmmakers and film contributors, including the final interview given by Thanassis Rentzis in May 2025.

The public will have the rare opportunity to engage with beloved filmmakers and film contributors through in-depth interviews/documentaries, in which they share thoughts, moments, relationships, and stories. Taken together, these interviews map the history of Greek cinema.

Interview participants:

Avdeliodis Dimos / Directing

Angelidi Antoinetta / Directing

Vafeas Vasilis / Directing

Voulgaris Pantelis / Directing

Voupouras Christos / Directing

Gavala Maria / Directing

Zacharias Manos / Directing

Thomopoulos Andreas / Directing

Lambrinos Fotos / Directing

Lykouressis Tonis / Directing

Maragos Thodoros / Directing

Rentzis Thanassis / Directing

Smaragdis Yannis / Directing

Spetsiotis Takis / Directing

Stampoulopoulos Giorgos / Directing

Stavrakas Dimitris / Directing

Tsemperopoulos Giorgos / Directing

Psarras Tasos / Directing

Markaris Petros / Screenwriting

Arvanitis Giorgos / Cinematography

Grivas Alexis / Cinematography

Kavoukidis Nikos / Cinematography

Maroulakou Despoina / Editing

Tsitsopoulos Giannis / Editing

Papalios Giorgos / Production

Arseni Anastasia / Production Design & Costume Design

Vartholomaiou Marie Louise / Production Design & Costume Design

Fotopoulos Dionysis / Production Design & Costume Design

Kouroupou Argyro / Make-up

Kyriakidis Achilleas / Film Critic & Directing

In addition, filmography includes four interviews that have already been published with:

Zervos Nikos / Directing

Giorgos Panousopoulos / Directing

Nikos Perakis / Directing & Production Design

Kostas Ferris / Directing

These interviews, based on an idea developed by students of the Audiovisual Lab of the Department of Communication and Media Studies, form an invaluable part of the project. At the same time, the aim is for them to expand in the coming years and become a lasting legacy for Greek cinema.

Filmography credits

The project was carried out by three working groups, involving more than 20 contributors, and required over 100,000 hours of documentation. Specifically, the teams brought together theorists, academics, researchers, film critics, directors, festival programmers and coordinators, journalists, editors, translators, graphic designers, digitisation specialists, programmers, computer technicians, system administrators, IT support staff, editors, and a music composer. The groups worked under shared documentation guidelines and collaborated with specialised technical support teams (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Uni Systems), with the aim of shaping the appropriate working environment and ensuring the platform’s most effective operation in accordance with the standard models of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). Filmography is embedded within a scientific and archival research framework, historically adopted by national film libraries, film archives, and research institutes worldwide.

Each digitised record is accompanied by detailed scientific documentation, including descriptions, metadata, classifications, and rights-of-use information, ensuring that it is searchable, usable, and easily accessible to both the public and researchers. The full body of digital content is organised within an integrated system for indexing, depositing, and collection management, using the TMS Collections platform, while public access is provided through the eMuseum virtual museum system, which operates as the central hub for the management and dissemination of archival material.

Part of the project also includes two new, fully upgraded websites: the website of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the website of the Hellenic Film Academy.

The websites have been redesigned as contemporary, dynamic digital cultural gateways, with the aim of open access to content, high aesthetic quality, and an excellent user experience.

The majority of the material was provided by the three partner institutions of the Filmography platform: the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center S.A. (HFAC), the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and the Hellenic Film Academy.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Drama International Short Film Festival (DISFF), the Greek Film Archive (Tainiothiki Tis Ellados), Finos Film, Karagiannis - Karatzopoulos S.A., the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece | ELIA Performing Arts Archives, and the Laboratory for the Study of Greek Cinema and Television (EMEKT) of the School of Film, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for providing additional material, as well as producers, distributors, directors, and collectors who generously shared items from their collections.

The project was implemented with funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan «Greece 2.0», with the contracting consortium “OTE & Uni Systems”.