Kostis Kallivretakis

He graduated from the Chemistry department of the Kapodestrian University of Athens, as well as from the Morfes Theater group, operating from Embros Theatre. Since then he has worked as an actor, director, dramatist, translator and stage photographer, in various stages in Greece, Germany, Italy and Turkey. He directed his first play in 2014, "Deep" by Jon Atli Jonasson. This was the first Icelandic play ever to be performed in Greece. Between 2012 and 2019 he lived and worked mainly in Berlin (also in Athens and Dresden) where he collaborated with the Ballhaus Naunynstrasse theatre, Maxim Gorki theatre, TAF theatre, Heimathafen theatre, as well as the Rimini Protocoll group. In 2014, following an invitation by Maxim Gorki theatre, he directed the play "Remember Distomo" with Arghiris Sfountouris, one of the last survivors of the Distomo massacre of 1944. In the autumn of 2015, he did a residency under the Istanbul theatre festival "A Corner in the World". There he acted and directed the play "A Boy and his Dog", based on the award-winning 1969 futuristic novel by Harlan Elisson. In December 2015, while in Berlin, he directed two plays. The first one was "die Dunkelkammer/Dark Room", based on the book "Zoi en Tafo" by Stratis Mirivilis, and the second one was "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erick Maria Remarque, where he was also the dramatist. The play was nominated for the 2016 Monika Bleibtreu award. The last play he directed in Berlin's Maxim Gorki theatre was "Karagiozis in Thermopiles", in 2018-2019. This play was based on the traditional shadow puppet and mask theatre styles, and was written by himself in collaboration with Yerasimos Bekas. It was a satire of the Greek referendum of 2015. In recent years, he returned to Athens where he acted in the following plays: "Fear eats the soul" by Simos Kakalas, Techni theatre, "The Educated" by Konstantinos Moraitis, 104 theatre, "It's not about if you will love me tomorrow part II" by Androniki Marathaki, Athens Festival, "Military life in Greece" by Simos Kakalas, Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, and "Aeolian Earth" by Takis Tzamarias, National Theatre. In 2022 he directed "Venebra, a play for voice, viola and guitar" in Athens Red Jasper Cabaret theater. The play was based on the story "Women who sing goodbyes" by Chrysostomos Tsaprailis. He followed that with a musical narration of "The story of Kallivretanagnostis", based on the story "Yenitsar's Gift" by Ioannis Kondilakis. He performed in various villages in the area of Chania, Crete between April and June 2022. The latest feature film he participated in is "Pray" of Louis Lagayette.