Christos Vakalopoulos

Writing

Christos Vakalopoulos

Born 1956-01-17 · Athens, Greece

Christos Vakalopoulos (Athens, 17 January 1956 - 29 January 1993) was a Greek writer, director and radio producer. He was born in Athens and was the son of Georgios Vakalopoulos, general director of IKA. He grew up in the Kypseli district, which he mentions extensively in his works, and completed his general studies at Leonteio Patision. In 1973 he was admitted to the Higher School of Economics and Commercial Sciences (ASOEE), while at the same time he wrote articles for the magazine Synkhronos Kinematografos and - after the fall of the junta - for the newspaper I Avgi. In 1980 he published his first book, A Best-Selling Case, and left for Paris for the next two years, where he studied film with his teacher Eric Rohmer. In 1982 he returned to Greece and collaborated for consecutive years with the political magazine Anti and the radio station of the Second Program of ERT. In 1984 he wrote and directed the short film Verantes, while publishing his second book, The Graduates. Then, in 1986, he directed the short film Theatre, while collaborating on the scripts of the films About Vasilis by Stavros Tsiolis and The Woman Who Saw Dreams by Nikos Panagiotopoulos. In 1989, he published the short story collection New Athenian Stories and directed his first feature film, Olga Robards, which won the Cinematography Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. In 1990, he collected many of his unpublished essays on cinema in a volume, entitled Second Screening, and a year later he published perhaps his best-known book, The Horizon Line. In 1992, he wrote and directed, together with Stavros Tsiolis, the film Please, Women, Don't Cry, which won the Screenplay and Direction Awards at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, as well as the Best Film Award from the Film Critics Association. On January 29, 1993, at the age of 37, he died of lung cancer and was buried at the Zografou Cemetery. In the same year, his friend Kostis Papagiorgis wrote the book Hello, Asimakis in his memory, while in 2005, under the editorship of Kostis Livieratos, the collection of articles and essays by Christos Vakalopoulos entitled The Dreamy Texture of Reality was published by Estia Publications. As part of the 46th Thessaloniki Film Festival, a special screening of the film Olga Robards was held in his honor.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Woman Who Dreamed poster
7.3

Something changes in the relationship of Achilleas and Anna when she starts to dream vividly and insists on relating her dreams to her husband. He is a barrister in the middle of an important murder trial and his temper becomes frayed with Anna's seeming indifference and involvement and preoccupation with her dream world.

The Woman Who Dreamed

1988

About Vassilis poster
5.3

A sociology professor going through a mid-life crisis resigns from his job, abandons his family and lives isolated in his country house. His only incentive for living is the faded face of an unknown girl in a photograph he had taken in the past and whom he now starts looking for.

About Vassilis

1986

Please, Ladies, Don't Cry poster
6.6

A village in Arcadia invites a "famous" icon painter and his assistant to restore the worn-out murals in a historic church. One is an amateur astronomer, and the other is involved in various scams.

Please, Ladies, Don't Cry

1992

Olga Robards poster
6.0

In this highly stylized and enigmatic story, Olga uses her cello case as a weapons cache. When she isn’t using her sharpshooting skills to knock off eminent Arab visitors to Athens, she vamps around lightly clad on the terrace of her penthouse, entertaining one man after another.

Olga Robards

1989

Olga Robards poster
6.0

In this highly stylized and enigmatic story, Olga uses her cello case as a weapons cache. When she isn’t using her sharpshooting skills to knock off eminent Arab visitors to Athens, she vamps around lightly clad on the terrace of her penthouse, entertaining one man after another.

Olga Robards

1989

No artwork available
NR

Short Greek movie.

Skian skias periegrapsa

1991

No artwork available
NR

A Short Film by Christos Vakalopoulos

Threatre

1986

The Lost Treasure of Hursit Pasha poster
3.6

On 29 January 1993 eighty prisoners escaped from an Athens prison. Well, in actual fact one convict escaped, a guy named Vassilis, for his beloved in Amalliada, but in his hurry he forgot the prison door open and little by little another seventy-nine got out... The film follows the eleven who made it down to the Peloponnese... with them an old musician who has a map he bought from a Greek in America for $2500 with the lost treasure of General Hursit Pasha.

The Lost Treasure of Hursit Pasha

1996

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Verandas

1984

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Verandas

1984

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Verandas

1984