Greece and the whole world of the film-making industry mourns today the loss of the famous and multi-award winning film-maker and director Theodore Angelopoulos.
The celebrated director, aged 76, was shooting his new film "The Other Sea" when he was hit by a motorcycle last night, sustaining serious head injuries that led to his death.
Described as mild-mannered but uncompromising, Angelopoulos' often sad and slow-moving films mostly dealt with issues from Greece's turbulent recent history: war, exile, immigration and political division.
Angelopoulos began his career in 1968 and he enjoyed success as a director, producer and screenwriter for more than four decades.
He became known for his work on political Greek films like "The Hunters" and "The Travelling Players", which landed him a string of European awards including Best Film of the Year by the British Film Institute.
His other works include "Voyage to Cythera", "Ulysses' Gaze" and "Landscape in the Mist", which scored him the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at 1988's Venice Film Festival in Italy.
In 1995, he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for "Ulysses' Gaze," starring American actor Harvey Keitel.
Three years later, he won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film festival for "Eternity and a Day," starring Swiss actor Bruno Ganz.
He was awarded 49 times in his lifetime receiving every important award there is in the film industry.
Angelopoulos mostly attracted art-house audiences, using established actors such as Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau in two of his most widely acclaimed films, "The Bee Keeper" and "The Suspended Stride of the Stalk."
His distinctive trademarks were:
*Extremely long, elaborately staged takes
*Shots in his films often drift back and forth in time
*Often shoots with rainy, wintry and moody weather in
provincial Greece
*Uses long, static takes combined with complex tracking
shots and beautiful landscape photography
Theodore Angelopoulos is a great loss for Greece and not only!!! R.I.P.
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