Yannis Smaragdis

Iannis Smaragdis was born in Crete in 1946. He studied Film in Greece and France. He made his first appearance in 1972 with the short film Two Three Things..., which received the first prize at the Athens Film Festival, as well as a Special Mention at the Montreal Film Festival. Iannis Smaragdis' career has been full of creativity and counts many successes. His most significant features are Cavafy (1996) and El Greco (2007). They were both very successful and award-winning films that participated in many international festivals, the most significant being the Toronto International Film Festival. On television, he touched the hearts of audiences with his Good night to you, Kyr Alexandre in 1980. In 1988 he directed the 13-episode series Hush... Our Country is Sleeping..., which is considered the best TV series since the beginning of television broadcasting in Greece. Iannis Smaragdis has directed many more TV series, such as Hadjimanuel (1984) and Les Enfants Gates (2001). He has also directed documentaries and essays: Spyros Louis (2004), I've brought to art (1998), Thus spake the city (1990-1993), to name a few. In 2007 he directed Opera of Shadows at the Athens Concert Hall. In 2012, he completed his new film God Loves Caviar, which officially participated at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in Greek theatres in October 2012 and was a box office hit for three consecutive weeks. Until 31 December 2012 it reached 350.000 admissions. He is currently working on his new project titled Nikos Kazantzakis, a film about the great Greek author and based on the latter's autobiography Report to Greco. On the internet he was also voted the most popular artist for the year 2012. Earlier this year he was appointed by the Istituto di Studi Giuridici Economici e Sociali Internazionali I.S.G.E.S.I. in Rome to the position of Manager of Cinema and Theatre and head of all scientific studies of the same department. He is a member of the Giuseppe Sciacca International Awards Committee.

Works

Ta haidemena paidia

Four men and one woman, possessed by a "natural need" for the law, create the NSPR (Special Body to Fight Poverty) and intervene whenever circumstances call for them. However, the driving force behind everything is the old hacker named Nikephoros A', who not only watches, protects and sometimes subtly guides his son's scandalous group, but also paves the way for the Greece of the future...

Release Date2001-10-18

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

God Loves Caviar

The true-life, stranger-than-fiction tale of eighteenth-century Greek pirate turned merchant Ioannis Varvakis, who rose from humble beginnings to become the head of one of the largest mercantile empires in Europe.

Release Date2012-08-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count34

The Travelling Players

This expansive Greek drama follows a troupe of theater actors as they perform around their country during World War II. While the production that they put on is entitled "Golfo the Shepherdess," the thespians end up echoing scenes from classic Greek tales in their own lives, as Elektra plots revenge on her mother for the death of her father, and seeks help from her brother, Orestes, a young anti-fascist rebel.

Release Date1975-07-01

DepartmentCrew

JobScript

Vote Count81

El Greco

The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".

Release Date2007-10-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count38

What a Mess

Three short stories satirizing the Greece of “Change” in early 80's. A take-off on the police dramas of Giannis Maris; a satire of the films of the New Greek Cinema; and a satire of the “fustanella (Greek kilt)” films as well.

Release Date1982-10-26

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count13

Kazantzakis

The true story of the greatest Greek writer of the 20th century, Nikos Kazantzakis, based on his work, Report to Greco, which is, essentially, his autobiography.

Release Date2017-11-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count16

The Song Of Return

Release Date1983-10-07

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Bleeding Statues

A group of minors escape from a reformatory and lock themselves in a museum on an island, threatening to destroy the statues if their demands are not met.

Release Date1982-10-07

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Report to Kapodistrias

The movie is about Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, one of the most important diplomats of the 18th century, who became the first governor of the independent Greek state (1827).

Release Date2021-10-13

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Καλή σου Νύχτα Κυρ-Αλέξανδρε

Release Date2015-12-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Cavafy

An ailing, elderly poet reminisces about his life of unrest and homosexual urges.

Release Date1996-06-18

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count12