16/09/2013 - Yorgos Papalios ended his seven-year reign over the state’s main funding mechanism by resigning, citing personal reasons

News came as a shock on Friday afternoon, when the Greek Film Centre, the state’s main funding mechanism, announced its president’s resignation. Yorgos Papalios (photo), who served as head of the GFC for seven consecutive years, cited personal reasons for stepping down.

Local industry has been set abuzz, in large due to Papalios’ timing: the former producer and ship-owner chose to end his incumbency a little less than a week after Alexandros Avranas’ Miss Violence [+see also:
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interview: Alexandros Avranas
film profile] picked up the Silver Lion and Volpi Cup awards in Venice.

The Greek Film Centre falls under the jurisdiction of the country’s Ministry of Culture and Sports, and though its new Minister as of two months, Panos Panagiotopoulos, was quick to share the local industry’s enthusiasm for Avranas’ win in Venice, no statement has been released concerning Papalios’ resignation.

Though insufficient funding had practically crippled the GFC even before Papalios took over, his term was linked to the early splashes of what later came to be called the Greek Weird Wave. Such films as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Cannes UCR winner Dogtooth [+see also:
film review
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interview: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile], Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ Rotterdam sensation Wasted Youth and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice awarded Attenberg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile], were all made under Papalios’ presidency.

A maritime businessman, Papalios was a man of the market, who was no stranger to film: Theodoros Angelopoulos’ The Traveling Players, which went on to become one of the late authors’ most revered films, is but one of Papalios’ credits from back when he was a private producer.

His exit from the GFC leaves both the institute and its acting director Grigoris Karantinakis in turbulent waters.