The director passed away yesterday, at the age of 69 Patrice Vivancos. The Hellenic Center for Cinema, Audiovisual Media and Creation – Creative Greece said goodbye to Patris Vivankos with the following statement:

“Patris Vivankos was a sensitive person, a restless connoisseur of European culture, a naturalized cinematographically Greek. The border for him was of no particular importance. Born in Spain, orphaned early, traveled and lived in many countries, breathed his last in Brussels. In Greece, where he shot all his films, he spent his most creative years. The starting point of his cinematic journey was his collaboration with Theodoros Angelopoulos, in 1984, which inspired his first short film, “Shot No 80”, about “Journey to Kythira”.

The first feature, “Xenia”, starring Themida Bazakas and the Greek-born Denis Pontalindes, won him the first-time director award at the Thessaloniki Festival in 1989. Four years later, he collaborated with Thanasis Vengos and Eva Kotamanidou in the film “Gifted Life “. The concept of travel forms the core of the fiction in both of these works, which were co-produced by the Hellenic Film Center.

Patris Vivankos worked for the common future of Europe’s film and audiovisual sector and as an executive of the European MEDIA programme.

The Hellenic Center for Cinema, Audiovisual Media and Creation – Creative Greece bids him farewell, expressing its deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”