"Attack of the Giant Moussaka" director tipped for Cannes Film Festival

"Attack of the Giant Moussaka" Greek film director Panos  Koutras is being tipped to make a return to the Cannes Film Festival this year with his fifth feature 'Dodo' according to Screen Daily.

Koutras first became known through his first feature film "Attack of the Giant Moussaka"  a Greek science fiction parody film, which he produced, wrote and directed.

It was released theatrically in France, with French subtitles where it remains a cult classic, and Japan, with Japanese subtitles. It has been screened at several festivals, including specialised LGBT film festivals.

His recent work 'Dodo' revolves around a formerly grand Athens family in decline. Koutras’s last feature Xenia premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2014.

RESOURCE | ABOUT PANOS KOUTRAS

Panos H. Koutras  is a Greek film director, film producer and screenwriter, who made his debut with the feature film The Attack of the Giant Moussaka (1999), an independent science-fiction parody who gained international recognition in France and Japan and is still considered as a cult classic. He has directed, produced and written three more films: Real Life (2004), a French-Greek co-production, selected at the Toronto International Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema) Strella (2009), selected at the Panorama at Berlin International Film Festival and Xenia (2014), selected at the Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival. His latest film, Dodo (2022), a Greek-French-Belgian co-production is currently in post-production.

His first feature film, The Attack of the Giant Moussaka (1999) was a totally independent production and one of the first films that were shot digitally in Greece. It was completed after five years and two sets of shooting. The film gained recognition in France,  where it is still considered as a cult classic. The film was also released in movie theaters in Japan.

His second feature film, Real Life (2004), a Greek - French co-production, became a critics' favorite in Greece, where it won the National Critics Award in 2004, and traveled to the International Toronto Film Festival at the Contemporary World Section.

His third feature film, Strella (2009), premiered at the Panorama Section of Berlin International Film Festival in 2009. Strella (2009), a totally independent production, was filmed over a period of almost ten months with nearly all the roles played by non-professionals. Mina Orfanou, the trans woman actress who played the title role was the first ever trans woman to ever receive the award for Best Female Role at the awards of the Hellenic Film Academy.

Xenia, his fourth feature film, a Greek-French-Belgian co-production had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard),  was the official submission of Greece for the Academy Award for International Film.

He was a member on the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and on the jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Films section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.