Stefan Georgiou

NFTS Graduate Stefan’s first 35mm short ‘Dear Steven Spielberg’, a 20min short shot with shortends for £8k won the Nostimar Imar award at the Cyprus International Film Festival and has screened at various international festivals. His graduation film ‘Lemonade’ was screened at Bafta and managed to get interest from companies such as Working Title and Potboiler Productions.  He is currently in pre-production for his first feature Dead Cat.

What training have you received?
I studied Film and Video production at SIAD university and then went onto to work for Pathe Distribution and Capitol Films. From the shorts that I’d made I then managed to get on the one year fiction direction course at the NFTS. The rest and probably majority of my training came from going through the process of making my own shorts consistently since I was about 17.

What kind of projects attract you?
My work up to now has been quite varied and I’d like to keep that going as I head into making features. I feel drawn to projects told with heart, about real characters that go through a fundamental change in their lives. I want to make intelligent films that both entertain and say something. I want people to be excited to go to the cinema and be moved when they’re there, whether that be through more personal independent films or more commercial projects.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as a director?
‘Being a Director is not about being a genius’. At the time it seemed to make everything instantly achievable. Mozart said ‘Be spontaneous, yet inevitable’ and I always thought that would be something interesting to create as a director.

Most significant moment in your career so far?
I don’t feel I’ve had one significant moment if I’m honest. I think just constantly trying to create a career has created lots of little moments that have all contributed. I suppose the most significant would be when I knew this is what I wanted to spend my life doing. My university grad film winning a ‘Special Recommendation’ and getting into the NFTS were quite significant but it quickly loses its relevance as you’re instantly focused onto furthering that. I always think getting rejected has been pretty significant; it’s always made me work harder and refuse to give up. I think making my first feature will be significant…

You’ll die happy when…
Probably when I have a body of work which represents me and all that I am, both failures and successes, that I hope will have a life beyond my time. Work that I’m proud of and that people are moved by and find inspiration and enjoyment in.