Quick Facts
Biography
Dimitris Koutsiabasakos is a Greek film director, writer, and independent producer, known for his documentaries, series, short and feature films. He was born in 1967 and studied movie and television direction at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, in Moscow, Russia (V.G.I.K.). Since 2000, he teaches film acting at several Drama Schools, among which the National Theatre of Northern Greece. He has been a lecturer both in the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication at the University of the Aegean and the Faculty of Fine Arts, School of Film Studies, at the Aristostle University of Thessaloniki. His work has been critically acclaimed and has received many national and international awards.
Selected filmography
Becoming an Actor (2014)
A documentary on the experience of the actor’s training Athens 2010. A group of young people are auditioning to enter a drama school and start taking their first steps in acting. The documentary not only captures their dreams and concerns throughout this three-year study, but also displays their development as artists and human beings as well.
Awards:
- Audience Award - 16th Thessaloniki International Film Festival
- Honorary Screenplay Distinction – Halkida Greek Documentary Festival
- Special Jury Award – Ierapetra International Documentary Festival
The Grocher (2013)
A "road-movie" documentary about Pindus Mountains and their people. Nikos Anastasiou, a Greek travelling grocer has been making the same itinerary with his wife Sophia, since 1980. Once a week, all year long, starting from Trikala city they visit the abandoned villages of the southwestern Pindus mountains, a 75 kilometers drive. In the past few years, their two sons, Kostas and Thimios follow them to this moving and exceptional journey, that reveals so many aspects of Pindus and its people. The documentary follows their trip during the four seasons of the year.
Awards:
- Audience Award - 15th Thessaloniki International Film Festival
- Best movie award – Halkida Greek Documentary Festival
- Direction award - Halkida Greek Documentary Festival
- Canditate for the ‘Best Documentary’ award - Hellenic Film Academy
- Special Award 'Solidarity' - 57th Trento International Film Festival (Italy)
- Special Mention - 20th Film Festival De La Lessinia
- Special Mention - 2nd AegeanDocs International Documentary Film Festival
Video Dance ‘FRIDA’ (2001)
‘Frida’ draws inspiration from the life and work of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), presenting a modern choreographic approach to her experiences. A woman of explosive temperament, Frida Kahlo leads an eventful life, despite the grave physical and psychological wounds she sustained after a traffic accident at the age of 16. Recurring surgery, mind numbing pain and great stretches of time with her left confined in hospitals or wheelchairs do not exterminate her passion for life and art, but only deepen the need to express herself.
Awards:
- Best Experimental Short Film - International Festival of Independent Filmmakers
The Guardian's Son (2006)
Markos, an ambitious young journalist on a provincial television channel, is trying to retrieve a gun stolen from his Candid Camera-type show. His search leads him in the dead of winter to his mother’s neck of the woods, one of the abandoned villages on the southwestern slopes of Mount Pindos. In his attempt to get the gun back, he comes up against Elias, a strange young man who is the Guardian’s son of the village. Their clash will have unforeseen results both for the two young men and for the few inhabitants of the village.
Awards:
- State Cinematography Award for Excellence 2006
- State Best Debut Award 2006
- 2nd State Award for Best Fiction Film 2006
- Audience Award 2006 Thessaloniki International Film Festival
- Special Jury Award, Los Angeles International Film Festival
Hill 33 (1998)
A small army outpost on an offshore island of the Aegean. Its mission: area surveillance and collecting information about the enemy.
Awards:
- Main Post Award - International Film Festival of Wurzburg
- First Prize for a Short Film, State Cinematography Award for Excellence 1998
- Best Fiction Film Award - International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Award from the Greek Film Centre
- The 2nd Conference of YOUNG ARTISTS AWARD
- Best Music Award - International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Best Film of the year – ‘CINEMA’ magazine
Heracles, Acheloos and my Granny (1997)
Dimitra Koutsiabasakos lives alone in the village of Armatoliko, in the mountain range of Pindus. Next to her house flows the ancient river Acheloos, which is the physical border between Armatoliko and Mesochora villages. Near this place a great dam is being built, a key-work for the diversion of the Acheloos river. Dimitra’s house lies exactly in the middle of the area destined to become a lake after the construction of the dam. Two of her grandchildren, Dimitris and Costas, decide to pay a visit to their grandmother and make a documentary.
Awards:
- Documentary Film Award at the Nuremberg International Film Festival
- Audience Award - Uppsala International Short Film Festival
- Best Short Film Award - International Film Festival of Ancient Olympia
- First Prize for a Short Film, State Cinematography Award for Excellence 1997
- Best Documentary Award - International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Best Sound Award - International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Award from the Greek Film Centre
- Press Award - Larissa International Film Festival
- The Film Industry TECHNICIANS AWARD
- The ‘TASSOS KOLLIOPOULOS’ Award
- The 1st Conference of YOUNG ARTISTS AWARD
The Bridge (1995)
A sixteen years old teenager falls in love with Elena, a beautiful conjurer he sees on television. The film begins at the point that he takes the decision to go and meet her.
Awards:
- First Prize for a Short Film, State Cinematography Award for Excellence 1995
- Best Script Award - International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Award from the Greek Film Centre
My Beloved Ones (1992)
Beginning of the previous century, in a neoclassical house in Athens a writer lays out his new novel. That morning, things take an unexpected turn as his novel’s characters pay him a visit.
Candidate for the following awards:
- Best movie, Best photography and Best Actor in a Leading Role – International Short Film Festival in Drama
- Contest Section – Festival Premiers Plans Film d’Angers