Kostas Manoussakis: The Exiled Filmmaker

Directed by Ilias Giannakakis

Costas Manoussakis traced a short but impressive trajectory in Greek cinema and, after making only three films, withdrew into isolation. It was never made clear whether this was a decision to which he had been led due to events or whether this was a peculiar form of self-exiled chosen by a true aesthete. What is certain is that during the sixties, his films, Betrayal and especially Fear, caused quite a stir. Part of the official selection at both the Cannes and Berlin film festivals, the films were box office hits in Greece and were screened in many countries all over the world. At the same time the critics unanimously proclaimed Manoussakis a great talent and a film stylist whose potential went far beyond the narrow limits of Greek cinema. But after 1966, when Fear was screened, Manoussakis never made a film again. At the age of 33 he was a retiree. The documentary looks at the case of Costas Manoussakis in its entirety.