Stefanos Sitaras
| Stefanos Sitaras | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Στέφανος Σιταράς |
| Born | December 13, 1989 Athens, Greece |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Greek |
| 💼 Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, film producer |
Stefanos Sitaras (Greek: Στέφανος Σιταράς; born 13 December 1989) is a Greek film director, screenwriter and film producer.
Biography
Stefanos Sitaras is a Greek screenwriter, director and producer. He is known for the films Blue and Orange (2005), The Magical World of Harrison Patrakis (2014) and The Rocket (2020). His father was born in French Congo and his mother is of Italian descent. At the age of eleven he acquired his first camera and for years he filmed improvisational movies with his friends.
At thirteen he attended directing seminars at the renowned La Fémis film school in Paris as part of the New York Film Academy, where he was recognised for his film Through the Eyes of a Child (2003). He subsequently wrote and directed Blue and Orange (2004), a historical epic about the first persecutions of Greeks from Asia Minor in 1914. Based on Aeolian Earth by Ilias Venezis, the film captivated critics and audiences; film critic Thodoris Koutsogiannopoulos wrote that it “conveys memories written in our DNA and translates the Asia Minor Catastrophe with tangible terms and a sense of space and time that is difficult to encounter even in accomplished directors with years of experience.” The film premiered at the 11th Nights of Premiere festival, giving the teenage director nationwide fame in Greek cinema.
At age fifteen he was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst in his left temporal lobe of the brain, a congenital condition that is usually fatal in infancy. He continued his career with the Beggar Trilogy (2005–2007), three black-and-white stories about the adventures of a deaf-mute beggar. Esperando (2005), Hitherto (2006) and Morbido (2007) were distinguished at many festivals around the world, including the Cannes, Sundance, Palm Springs and Berlin film festivals, as well as the Mannheim‑Heidelberg, LA Shorts Fest and Thessaloniki festivals. In parallel he directed the comedy Grigoris and Stamatis (2006), the documentary The Verification (2006) and other works.
In 2007 Sitaras moved to Boston to study film at Emerson College on a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. As part of his studies and independently he made more than ten short films and participated in independent productions in the United States and Europe. In 2008 he wrote a collection of psychoanalytic essays titled The Death of Plato, published by the Iwasaki Library of Emerson College. In 2009 he wrote and directed the telefilm Colors of the West for Greek state broadcaster ERT, starring Yiannis Zouganelis, who described Sitaras as “the most important artist of his generation”. The following year he directed the award‑winning short films Photographia (2009), Niqab (2010), Noise (2010) and Suction (2010), culminating in the experimental The Fritzl Effect (2011), which won distinctions at more than twenty international festivals for its editing.
After graduating in 2011 he worked in Los Angeles and New York, mainly as a photographer and editor. In 2012 he gave a popular talk entitled “I dare you to live forever” at the University of New York about his life and neurological condition, and he sometimes speaks at events, conferences and international platforms such as the NIC and TEDx. Meanwhile he directed advertisements, music videos, corporate videos, reportage and documentaries in both Europe and America. At the age of 22 he returned to Athens, where he worked mainly in advertising and theatre.
Sitaras wrote and directed The Magical World of Harrison Patrakis (2014), a co‑production of Paper Street Films, the Greek America Foundation and Principal Media of the Libra Group. For this multi‑year project he was widely recognised in Greece, mainly for his activity and contribution during the country's economic crisis, culminating in his talk at the International Marketing Summit in Istanbul and a profile in Stavros Theodorakis's television programme Protagonists. He also undertook the advertising campaign for the Ktima Gerovassiliou winery, creating ten films about life with wine. A milestone for Sitaras was his collaboration with Dimitris Papaioannou on the performances Primal Matter and Still Life (2012–2014) for the Athens Festival and the Onassis Cultural Centre. He directed advertisements for companies such as Amstel and Herbalife Nutrition and for the Make a Wish Foundation.
Between 2015 and 2019 Sitaras wrote and directed his first feature film, the coming‑of‑age adventure The Rocket (2020), produced by the Onassis Foundation. Shot entirely with non‑actors over four years in Greece and Italy, The Rocket tells the story of a group of friends as their relationships change over time. The film had its world premiere at the 60th Thessaloniki Festival, receiving an enthusiastic reception from critics and audiences. Critic Nektarios Sakkas wrote that “The Rocket is the definition of guerrilla filmmaking that only groups of friends with plenty of madness, perseverance, boldness and fearlessness can make”. During a press conference at the Thessaloniki Festival he explained that he chose to make films in his own country; he established his own production company, acquired his own Arri Alexa camera and undertook multiple roles – director, producer, cinematographer and editor – to complete the film over four years. He discussed the hardships he faced, including job losses, depression, burnout, the death of his father, time in custody and threats, but said he never stopped working on The Rocket and would do it all again. He encourages young filmmakers not to wait for opportunities but to make films with the resources they already have.
Later life
Sitaras lives and works in Athens. Since 2019 he has hosted a journalism series for the online platform MyDimosio.gr entitled Heroes of the Public Sector. He founded his own production company, Random Party – media development and production house, in 2016 to support new creators in Greece and Europe. He teaches screenwriting, directing and acting for the camera at Ant1 Media Lab.
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