Directing
Costas Vrettakos
Athens, Greece
Kostas Vrettakos (Greek: Κώστας Βρεττάκος, 1938–2018), son of Nikiforos Vrettakos, was born in Athens and studied cinema in Greece and Italy. In addition to cinema, he earned a living as a publishing editor, producer of commercials and, occasionally, a journalist. During the Dictatorship, he worked as a translator of popular novels and as a photographer for encyclopedias. Early literary collaborations with the Art Review were followed by two poetry collections in 1971 and 1977 under the title Anaritma. In parallel with his photographic activity, he began to write scripts and direct his own films, of which the documentary The Layer of Destruction (1980) and the only feature film of his career, The Children of the Swallow (1987) stood out. At the same time, he founded the publishing house Tria Fylla. In 1989, he began to deal with the political management of Greek cinema, initially as Special Advisor for Cinematography of the Ministry of Culture (1989), then as president of the Greek Film Center (1991–1998) and finally as representative of Greece at Eurimages, the Council of Europe (1991–2006). In 2009 he published the novel Passerby from Reykjavik (Potamos Publications) and in 2016 the prose collection Exercises of Curiosity (Potamos Publications), which was awarded the Petros Haris Foundation Prize of the Academy of Athens. In 2018 he published a poetry collection of his youthful poems entitled Added Value (Polis Publications). He died in Athens on 6 November 2018, at the age of 80.
Acting credits
5.7A man alone is walking down the road. The first film (short) by Tonia Marketaki is based on a short story by Menelaos Loudemis. A poem of his “tonight” is heard in the filmm.
Giannis and the Road
1967
4.4A writer, locked in his house, writes about a young man who wanders in Athens and tries its fruits.
The fruit carriers of Athens
2010
6.1A Greek strongman seduces a young tourist and spend the day with her. "Jimmis the Tiger" is a family sportsman, who makes a living by showing off his skills in impromptu "shows" on the streets of Athens. One day a young German woman approaches him and asks his permission to take a series of photographs for a report. A tenderness will develop between them and they will spend a night together in a hotel room. The next morning, Tzimis will find himself accused of seducing the young foreigner to rob her...
Jimmy the Tiger
1966
Behind the camera
6.0A journalist (Alekos Alexandrakis), working together with a young director (Peris Michailidis), tries to gather information about a family that was separated due to political turmoil. They locate some of its members, who tell their dramatic stories that began with the Civil War. The two men’s search is interrupted when a key person refuses to speak
The Children of the Swallow
1987
6.0A journalist (Alekos Alexandrakis), working together with a young director (Peris Michailidis), tries to gather information about a family that was separated due to political turmoil. They locate some of its members, who tell their dramatic stories that began with the Civil War. The two men’s search is interrupted when a key person refuses to speak
The Children of the Swallow
1987
6.0A journalist (Alekos Alexandrakis), working together with a young director (Peris Michailidis), tries to gather information about a family that was separated due to political turmoil. They locate some of its members, who tell their dramatic stories that began with the Civil War. The two men’s search is interrupted when a key person refuses to speak
The Children of the Swallow
1987
9.0In 1972, to provide Athens with water, a bold project began, involving the creation of an artificial lake from the water of Mornos River, leading, however, to the destruction of the Velouchovo village, and the ancient town of Kallipolis.
Layer of Destruction
1980
9.0In 1972, to provide Athens with water, a bold project began, involving the creation of an artificial lake from the water of Mornos River, leading, however, to the destruction of the Velouchovo village, and the ancient town of Kallipolis.
Layer of Destruction
1980
9.0In 1972, to provide Athens with water, a bold project began, involving the creation of an artificial lake from the water of Mornos River, leading, however, to the destruction of the Velouchovo village, and the ancient town of Kallipolis.
Layer of Destruction
1980
9.0In the face of an irreversible disaster, Costas Vrettakos chronicles the fears, the responsibility, and the hopes of both the scientific team and the technicians during the restoration of Acropolis, from 1973 to 1986.
The Rescue of a Monument
1987
9.0In the face of an irreversible disaster, Costas Vrettakos chronicles the fears, the responsibility, and the hopes of both the scientific team and the technicians during the restoration of Acropolis, from 1973 to 1986.
The Rescue of a Monument
1987