Today we’d like to introduce you to Savvas Christou.
Savvas, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always loved arts and music, and my father has been a great influence on this. He is a fine-artist who loves creating art around his family, and hence I was raised looking at him painting for hours next to us in the living room, while I was studying or watching TV. Naturally, I began experimenting with paints and canvasses since I was very young.
When I turned 13, I started playing the drums and the guitar, and then formed a band called Tutankhamun with my childhood friends. We played in bars and festivals all around Cyprus for years, until we had to join the military service when we turned 18.
After two years in the Cyprus air-force, I went to study fine-arts in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2010. On the third year, I enrolled for an Erasmous program in Dublin where I studied video art, and then after going back to Thessaloniki, I started writing stories and turning them into short films with friends. That’s when I realized that I was in love with filmmaking.
My passion led me to move to Los Angeles in 2016 to study Filmmaking at NYFA. Since then, I have written and directed 14 short films, five of which were awarded in local and international film festivals. One of my latest ones, ‘A Scream That’s Trapped Inside’ (2017) was awarded as the ‘Best Short Film’ in 19 Festivals all around the world.
Over the last year, I have been focusing on my debut feature film ‘Katherine’s Lullaby,’ a psychological thriller. We finalized principal photography last September with an incredible team of 35 people. We are currently in the post-production phase and looking to start distribution within 2019.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest struggles I had was to adapt throughout the big transition from living in a small town in Cyprus knowing most people around me, to move to the movies’ capital of the world, Los Angeles, knowing absolutely nobody. As a director, I enjoy meeting new people every day and taking something each time to help me evolve as an artist.
As a writer though, it’s totally different. Similarly to most writers out there, it tends to be a very lonely job. That part of me likes to go back to dark moments and places in my life, so to get deep to my feelings which I often want to surface and expose in my films through characters and situations. That is often disturbing and hurtful, but at the same time, it’s one of the biggest joys of what I do.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a writer, a director and a producer for films. I specialize in psychological thrillers and horror films. I finished the principal photography of my first feature film “Katherine’s Lullaby” in September, and now it’s currently in post-production.
It’s a psychological thriller about a teenage runaway who’s trapped by a delusional 60-year old man, and she pretends to be his daughter in order to escape. This sick but loving relationship, evolved into a family she would kill to have.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Teamwork!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savvas_christou_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savvaschristou9
- Other: IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6008906/
Image Credit:
Elena Rojas, Victor Soares, Emmanuell Sarriera
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