Stergios Paschos was born in Velestino, gave up his initial studies opting to attend courses of creative writing and acting in Thessaloniki, he went on to study cinema at the Athens Metropolitan College, was initiated into the secrets of screenwriting alongside the great Nikos Panayotopoulos, worked as second assistant director in the film Knifer by Yannis Economides, but most of all made sure to introduce us to this talent from early on, through seven short films, while contributing as a screenwriter in a series of films directed by fellow colleagues.
Before his full-length debut, he had taken part in TorinoFilmLab’s script&pitch programme, the MFI Script Workshop, Sarajevo’s CineLink, as well as TorinoFilmLab’s FrameWork. When was the first spark for cinema ignited inside of him? Has the brave decision of making cinema a profession in Greece become any less daring and risky as time goes by? Stergios Paschos is eager to answer both questions.

“The fervent feeling that I’m devoted to cinema and willing to make films had grown inside of me ever since the age of fourteen, but I found the way to express it only as an adult. Since then and up until Afterlov was released, where I tested myself in a full-length narrative, I often thought about quitting, but this decision always triggered a sense of detachment from myself, immersing me into depression. Today, I am less doubtful, but at the same time I consider this feeling of doubt to be a sane attitude, as I don’t think that embarking on a new film should be taken for granted. Over the last years one can remark a change for the better concerning the financing of films and the approval time, however film directing and screenwriting have not ceased to be deeply class-related professions in Greece; here’s one unpleasant topic no-one yet dares to include in the inclusivity issues in art raised so often recently.”

His short films Largo and Elvis Is Dead had already unveiled a solid personal style and gaze in every aspect and of the filmmaking process (in terms of film construction, aesthetics and dramaturgy) and Afterlov corroborated all the positive signs, earning a series of prizes and distinctions in the film festivals of Locarno, Mons and Thessaloniki: a fresh and innovative debut, gifted with an inner pace and a well-tempered direction of actors, endowed with a gamut of references to the magical beguilement of cinema. Stergios Paschos’ sophomore full-lenght film The Last Taxi Driver, a journey into male demystification, urban loneliness, fragmented human relations and the battle against the decay of time, celebrated its premiere at the recent 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, winning the Award of the Greek Association of Film Critics, as well as the Best Actor Award for the performance of its protagonist, Kostas Koroneos. For most filmmakers in Greece, the transition from the short film to the full-length format is a rather painful coming-of-age process. How did he experience this literal and allegorical rite of passage?