Giorgos Sgourakis, producer of audiovisual works, director and president of the “Archive of Crete”, passed away. He was born in Chania, Crete in 1946. He studied Political Science, journalism and film directing.

He initially engaged in journalism and radio broadcasts specializing in the professional guidance of young people and from the mid-1970s as a creator, producer and director of cinema and television films, mainly of intellectual and cultural content, with the aim of creating the “national archive”. as the series of autobiographies has been called, the “Monogram”. This series – 400 films to date – is one of the longest running on Greek television and completes 40 years of continuous presence on ERT, with the recording and presentation of the most important figures in the intellectual, artistic and social life of our country.

A special place in his overall work is occupied by independent films-monographs, which he has created together with his wife Iro Sgourakis, about key figures of the spirit, such as: Nikos Kazantzakis, Giorgos Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, Yiannis Ritsos, Stratigos Makrygiannis, Manos Hatzidakis , Mikis Theodorakis and the biographies Eleftherios Venizelos, Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Konstantinos G. Karamanlis.

A total of approximately 900 films includes what is known as the “Archive of G. & H. Sgourakis” with historical series, serials, telefilms, music shows, shows, etc.

Author work: “Studies in Greece and abroad”, “Crete

Diary” and jointly with Iro “Mikis Theodorakis – autobiography” and “Yiannis Ritsos – autobiography”.

The son Stelios Sgourakis said goodbye to his father with a post on Facebook as follows: “Your chair has been empty for years but I always hoped you would come back. . . Go now to find your mother, your beloved Hero, and your friends, Vangelis, Vassilis and all the company, who are surely waiting for you. Go because here the world is full of cuckolds, father, as the Tsar once told you. They look to destroy and destroy your work because they trembled at you and did not dare to face you as equals, but now they have cast you aside when they felt you were seized by the disease, and this has hurt you deeply. They’ve been waiting for this for years. The legacy you leave to us is heavy, but at the same time the debt to continue the struggle of recording and saving the culture of this place, as you did with Iro for almost fifty years … a whole life. Good way father.”

Condolences from Mendoni

“The loss of Giorgos Sgourakis, which fills us with sadness, comes to close an entire chapter not only of Greek television, but also of our culture” notes the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni on the death of the creator of “Monogram” and extends her sincere condolences to his sons, Stelios and Nikos, to his many friends and associates.

“Together with the unforgettable and beloved Iro Sgourakis, George conceived and implemented one of the most emblematic productions of all time, the now legendary “Monogram”. With impeccable professionalism, immense passion and deep knowledge and concern for the rescue and promotion of our cultural stock, George and Iro bequeath us a unique body of 400 film-documents, which all, almost without exception, record the great personalities of culture us and recapitulate, in a comprehensible but profound way, their work and progress” says Mrs. Mendoni and adds:

“Yorgos and Iro Sgourakis created, with stubbornness in the face of all adversity, a unique ark, combining, like few others of their kind, the high quality with the massiveness inherent in the medium they honored. They redefined what cultural television means, without discounts, but with great respect for the audience. The life work of Giorgos Sgourakis, “Monogram”, will be an immediate point of reference, occupying a prominent place in the intellectual legacy of an extremely versatile man, who fills us with a rare archive of his television productions. Its multifaceted emergence is an imperative debt”.

Society of Greek Directors: Unfilled gap in the field

The Society of Greek Directors “says goodbye with deep sadness to the great Greek director and producer, George Sgourakis” and as it notes in its related announcement “his death fills us with emotion and highlights an unfilled void in the field of Greek Culture”.

“Yorgos Sgourakis”, it is added, “was a pioneer of the renewal of the documentary, with the multi-award winning show of the public television “Monograma”, one of the most important documentary series, which covered for decades all aspects of the Greek cultural landscape, with the collaboration of dozens of young Greek directors under the inspiring guidance of both Giorgos Sgourakis himself and his wife Iros Sgourakis”.