FERRIS COSTAS
(1935) DirectorCostas Ferris was born in Cairo in 1935. He received a broad education based on his Greek roots. He studied drama in Cairo and filmmaking in Athens and Paris. In 1957 he settled in Greece, where he has been living ever since (except for 1967-1972, when he was an exile in Paris due to the Colonels' Regime). In 1958 he worked as an assistant director of the film “The River” by Nikos Koundouros.
He was one of the New Greek Cinema group leaders and provided the group with a concrete theoretical framework. He worked as assistant director for more than 60 fiction films, close to some of the most important figures of the film industry, such as Michael Kakoyannis, Nikos Koundouros, Andrew Marton, James Neilson, Édouard Molinaro, Richard Caspar Sarafian, Richard Wilson, Pierre Kast, Jean-Daniel Pollet. He joined a research group focused on the rembetiko song culture. His first short film was censored and banned as it was considered anti-touristic.
In 1965, he directed his first feature-length film, “Some Girls Like It In Khaki”, and in his next movie, “Crazy Blood”, he admitted that he tried to apply the ideas of the New Greek Cinema group.
Before and during his stay in Paris, he worked with the French director and friend Jean-Daniel Pollet and together, they participated in the events of May 1968. At that time, he met Volker Schloendorf, Werner Hertzog, Barbet Schroeder, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller, Ruy Guerra, Anatole, Pascale Dauman, and other significant figures. During his Paris years, he wrote the screenplay for “Le Sang”, an opera (L' Opéra des oiseaux) and the lyrics for the third and final studio and only double album of the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child (666 Apocalypse).
In 1973 he returned to Greece, and he has been active in film, theatre, writing, music, and journalism ever since. In 1986, he met his partner in life and creation, Thesia Panagiotou.
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Selected Works
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Honourable moments and distinctions
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Links
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