Greece’s Yannis Economides’ latest film Stratos will make its world premiere after it made the official selection of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, running Feb. 6-16, 2014. Other films selected are by Berlin Golden Bear winner Claudia Llosa, French director Alain Resnais, German helmer Dominik Graf, and Britain’s Yann Demange, who have joined George Clooney’s Monuments Men and The Grand Budapest Hotel from Wes Anderson.
Stratos stars Vangelis Mourikis, Vicky Papadopoulou, and Petros Zervos and is produced by Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, who worked on Miss Violence and Before Midnight.
In 2011, Yannis Economides’ Macherovgaltis/Knifer was the big winner at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards, taking home seven awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design and Best Sound. It was also awarded with the Greek Association of Film Critics Award as the Best Greek Film of the Year 2010. Knifer tells the story of a man who goes to live with his uncle in the outskirts of Athens. Once there, one of his duties is the protection of two purebred dogs.
Economides was born in Limassol, Cyprus, in 1967 and studied film in Athens. He has directed several short films and documentaries. He directed his debut feature film Matchbox back in 2003. Soul Kicking, his second feature, celebrated its world premiere at the renowned official section of the Cannes International Film Festival 2006, ‘The International Critics’ Week’ (Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes) and was selected for competitive screening at various film festivals throughout the world.