Yannis Smaragdis is a Greek film director, highly popular and award-winning. On October 21, 2024, he was elected as a regular member of the prestigious European Academy of Sciences and Arts. As a result, he became the first Greek director to be voted as an academician.

Biography

He was born in Crete in 1946 and studied film in Greece and Paris, France. He appeared in 1972 with his short film Two Three Things... which received the first prize in the Athens Festival and received recognition at the Montreal Film Festival in Canada. Yannis Smaragdis has taught Mass Media courses at the Panteion University of Athens, as well as film direction and screenwriting at film schools in Greece. He has published 2 books: Poetic Geography (1995) and Cavafy (1997) - a literary form of the script of the film Cavafy. Yannis Smaragdis is an honorary member of the Directors Guild of America.

Films

Two Three Things (1972)

Short film.

Zero Cell (1975)

Feature film.

A Good Night to You, Mr Alexandre (1981)

A tribute to the life and work of Greek author Alexandros Papadiamantis.

Alaloum (1982)

Feature film. Box office record.

Homecoming Song (1983)

Feature film.

Cavafy (1996)

Cavafy, released in 1996, is a biopic of Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy. Originally titled Kavafis, it stars Dimitris Katalifos and its film score was created by Vangelis. It is a feature film 95 minutes in length. Accolades for the film include:

Spyros Louis (2004)

A tribute to the first Greek modern Olympic Winner, Marathon runner Spyros Louis (60 minutes).

El Greco (2007)

Biopic of the artist El Greco. Feature film based on a fictional story, international co-production.

God Loves Caviar (2012)

Biopic of pirate turned business tycoon Ioannis Varvakis. The feature film is known in Greek as O Theos agapaei to haviari. international co-production. The Toronto Globe and Mail called it "laughably bad".

Kazantzakis (2017)

Biopic of writer Nikos Kazantzakis.

The Govenor (2024)

The director is preparing a national film on the life and work of the great Greek politician and visionary, Ioannis Kapodistrias. Even before the filming began, Giannis Smaragdis was awarded the 1st International Ioannis Kapodistrias Award by the Academy of Greek Art Awards.

Other activities

Smaragdis has taught Mass Media courses at the Panteion University of Athens, as well as film direction and screenwriting at various film schools in Greece. He has published 2 books: «Poetic Geography», 1995 and «CAVAFY», 1997 - a literary form of the script of «Cavafy», the film.

Awards

Screenwriter

Television

Documentaries

Opera