Yorgos' father, Antonis Lanthimos, was a professional basketball player who played for Pagrati B.C. and the Greece national basketball team, and was also a basketball instructor at the Moreaitis School. This was a co-educational private school in Athens.
Having later graduated from the Moraitis School, Lanthimos went on to study Business Administration and played for a period in Pagrati B.C., a Greek professional basketball club. This was before he turned to study film in his hometown.
However, he eventually dropped out and went on to study Directing for Film and Television at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos (HCTSS) in Athens.
Although there were very few Greek films being made, Lanthimos managed to find work behind the camera as a commercial director.
During the 1990s, Lanthimos directed a series of videos for Greek dance-theater companies.
Since 1995, he has directed television commercials, music videos, short films and experimental theater plays.
In the early 2000s, he co-directed his first feature along with Greek playwright, actor and songwriter Lakis Lazopoulos.
This was the 2001 Greek comedy film 'O kalyteros mou filos' ('My Best Friend'). However, the mainstream sensibility didn't suit Lanthimos' style.
Three years later, Lanthimos was a member of the creative team that designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics (officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad) in Athens.
The following year, Lanthimos directed the experimental 2005 Greek drama film 'Kinetta'.
This was his first solo directing effort, and his unique style and framing earned the film entry into international festivals, most notably in Berlin and Toronto.
'Kinetta' had been co-produced by Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari. She would later go on to co-produce Lanthimos' films 'Dogtooth' and 'Alps'.
'Dogtooth' is classified as a horror film due to the presence of certain horror elements such as intense atmosphere, sex relations, uncanny concepts, and violence.
Still, in comparison to a number of horror movies, the attempt of Lanthimos to define family relations and care as the main threat for society is regarded as unique and even educative.
It is this that provides the viewers with a chance to understand better the worth of family and not to turn this type of relations into a horror of everyday life.
One year later, Lanthimos co-produced and co-starred in the 2010 Greek drama film 'Attenberg'. It had been directed by Tsangari.
'Attenberg' also co-starred Greek-French actress and film director Ariane Labed. Lanthimos had met her when she was acting in the film. They would be married three years later.
The following year after 'Attenberg', Lanthimos directed his fourth feature. This was the 2011 Greek drama film 'Alpeis' '(Alps').
The film won the Osella Award for Best Screenplay at the 68th Venice International Film Festival later that same year.
Four years later, Lanthimos directed the 2015 Irish/British/Greek/French/Dutch/American absurdist dystopian black comedy romance/sci-fi film 'The Lobster'.
The following year, 'The Lobster' was nominated Outstanding British Film. This occurred at the 69th British Academy Film Awards on February 14, 2016.
Two weeks later, 'The Lobster', received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. However, it didn't win. This occurred at the 88th Academy Awards on February 28, 2016.
Three months later, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year where it premiered. While there, it won the Jury Prize.
'The Lobster' was later shown in the Special Presentations section of the 40th Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September.
One year later, Lanthimos directed his fifth feature. This was the 2017 Irish/British/American psychological thriller/horror film 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer'.
Prior to this, the screenplay for 'The Lobster' won the 2013 ARTE International Award as Best CineMart Project. This occurred at the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam.
The film later became a box office success. On a budget of $15 million, it grossed $96 million at the box office.
This was alongside Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy irons, Michael K. Williams, Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling.
In February 2019, it was reported that Lanthimos was working on an adaptation of American author and screenwriter Jim Thompson's 1964 crime mystery fiction novel Pop. 1280. For this, Lanthimos is set to write and direct.
Lanthimos has said: “It's true that there are younger people making films, and there are different kinds of films. This has created some attention in what's coming out of Greece, and people like to find a way to name this new ethnic cinema.
It's not like there's a movement, or a common philosophy in making these films. They're just things that happened, and now people are paying attention to it.”
@Kanopy
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