# Yorgos Lanthimos (Γιώργος Λάνθιμος)
**Yorgos Lanthimos** (Γιώργος Λάνθιμος; born 1973 in Athens) is a Greek director, producer, and screenwriter whose films, from *Dogtooth* (2009) to *Bugonia* (2025), made him the most internationally visible figure of the Greek Weird Wave and a regular presence at the Cannes and Venice festivals and the Academy Awards[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [2](https://www.athensvoice.gr/politismos/kinimatografos/940203/giorgos-lanthimos-i-diadromi-enos-skinotheti-pera-apo-ta-sunithismena/?pg=307). His honors include the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion) at Venice, the Jury Prize at Cannes, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and nominations for the Academy Awards[3](https://www.onassis.org/people/yorgos-lanthimos). Since the early 2020s he has also worked as an exhibited photographer and photobook maker[4](https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/yorgos-lanthimos-photographs).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Athens, Greece, 1973[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) |
| Breakthrough | *Dogtooth* (2009), Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes; Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) |
| First English-language film | *The Lobster* (2015), Jury Prize at the 68th Cannes Film Festival; Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) |
| Top festival prizes | Golden Lion for *Poor Things* (Venice 2023); Silver Lion for *The Favourite* (Venice 2018)[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) |
| Oscar record | *The Favourite*: ten nominations, Olivia Colman won Best Actress; *Bugonia*: four nominations including Best Picture[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/bb1e9b304a8f4aa9fa9ea3a74af905b0) |
| Personal Oscar nominations | Six: Original Screenplay for *The Lobster*; Picture and Director for *The Favourite* and *Poor Things*; Picture for *Bugonia*[6](https://sevenarts.gr/george-lanthimos/) |
| Photography | Three books (*Dear God, the Parthenon is still broken*, *i shall sing these songs beautifully*, *VISCIN*) and a 182-work exhibition at Onassis Stegi, Athens, 2026[4](https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/yorgos-lanthimos-photographs) |
## Early life and training
Lanthimos grew up in the Pagrati neighborhood of Athens. His father played basketball for the Greek national team, and Lanthimos himself played for a local team; his mother died when he was 17[7](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-04/yorgos-lanthimos-cineasta-ya-nadie-puede-decir-que-no-le-interesa-la-politica-o-eres-consciente-de-lo-que-sucede-o-estas-muerto.html). He briefly studied business administration, then trained in directing at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos in Athens[7](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-04/yorgos-lanthimos-cineasta-ya-nadie-puede-decir-que-no-le-interesa-la-politica-o-eres-consciente-de-lo-que-sucede-o-estas-muerto.html) • [8](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781501375477_A43614371/preview-9781501375477_A43614371.pdf). He quit basketball at 19 and picked up a camera at film school, shooting his peers[9](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/mar/17/absurdist-photography-yorgos-lanthimos-emma-stone-willem-dafoe).
His early career moved across formats: in the 1990s he made videos for Greek dance-theater companies, and from 1995 he directed television commercials, short films, experimental theater productions, and music videos[6](https://sevenarts.gr/george-lanthimos/) • [3](https://www.onassis.org/people/yorgos-lanthimos). He was also part of the creative team behind the television visuals for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics[10](https://www.screenhub.com.au/news/features/who-is-yorgos-lanthimos-a-primer-on-the-greek-weird-wave-director-2646593/). In a 2019 interview he recalled that as a Greek director he "wasn't particularly ambitious because the film industry barely existed in my country"[11](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2019/interview-with-yorgos-lanthimos-member-of-the-feature-film-jury/).
## Greek films and the Weird Wave
**Kinetta (2005)**, his first solo feature, screened at the Toronto and Berlin festivals and established his unusual framing and style[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/yorgos_lanthimos) • [1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/). His second feature, *Dogtooth* (2009), won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2011[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/). *[Alps](https://www.edgepedia.org/alps-2011-film)* (2011) won the Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice and the Sydney Film Prize in 2012[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [10](https://www.screenhub.com.au/news/features/who-is-yorgos-lanthimos-a-primer-on-the-greek-weird-wave-director-2646593/).
Critics grouped these films with the "Greek Weird Wave," an independent cinema movement that emerged against the backdrop of the Greek film industry's expansion between the 1990s and the mid-2000s[8](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781501375477_A43614371/preview-9781501375477_A43614371.pdf). Lanthimos became the movement's most internationally recognized representative, though he has resisted the label, saying that beyond sharing a country, language, and problems, contemporary Greek films have little in common and that "there is no 'national school'"[2](https://www.athensvoice.gr/politismos/kinimatografos/940203/giorgos-lanthimos-i-diadromi-enos-skinotheti-pera-apo-ta-sunithismena/?pg=307).
## English-language films and international awards
After *Alps*, Lanthimos moved to London and deliberately switched to English[13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/yorgos-lanthimos-i-just-think-interesting-to-start-dialogue). *The Lobster* (2015), a dystopian comedy in which single people must find a partner within 45 days or be turned into animals, won the Jury Prize at Cannes and later an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/yorgos-lanthimos-i-just-think-interesting-to-start-dialogue). *The Killing of a Sacred Deer* (2017) premiered in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at Cannes and won the Best Screenplay award there[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/).
*The Favourite* (2018), starring [Olivia Colman](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivia-colman), Emma Stone, and [Rachel Weisz](https://www.edgepedia.org/rachel-weisz), marked his mainstream breakthrough. It won the Silver Lion at Venice, received a record ten BIFA awards and twelve BAFTA nominations (winning seven), and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, with Colman winning Best Actress[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/). After a five-year gap spent in Los Angeles preparing three projects, he released three films in three years: *Poor Things* (2023), which won the Golden Lion at Venice and the Best Actress Oscar for Emma Stone; *Kinds of Kindness* (2024), which premiered in Competition at Cannes where [Jesse Plemons](https://www.edgepedia.org/jesse-plemons) won the best actor award; and *Bugonia* (2025), which premiered in Competition at Venice and received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [14](https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/giorgos-lanthimos-apo-sinema-sti-fotografia) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/bb1e9b304a8f4aa9fa9ea3a74af905b0).
His success has been built substantially with foreign producers, including Ireland's Element Pictures, Searchlight, Focus Features, and CJ ENM[6](https://sevenarts.gr/george-lanthimos/). Not every location request succeeded: Greece's culture ministry refused permission to shoot *Bugonia* scenes depicting 70 dead bodies at the [Acropolis](https://www.edgepedia.org/acropolis), calling them incompatible with the site's symbolism[15](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/apr/07/yorgos-lanthimos-denied-permission-to-shoot-film-at-athens-acropolis).
## Style and collaborators
Lanthimos co-writes his Greek-conceived films with the screenwriter Efthimis Filippou, beginning with *Dogtooth* and *Alps* and continuing through *The Lobster*, *The Killing of a Sacred Deer*, and *Kinds of Kindness*[13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/yorgos-lanthimos-i-just-think-interesting-to-start-dialogue) • [16](https://apnews.com/article/7b2eb25be679bd8219bfda246e410880). His longtime editor is Yorgos Mavropsaridis, and Robbie Ryan has served as director of photography since *The Favourite*[17](https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1285436/people-live-inside-bubbles-that-technology-reinforces/). His visual style is known for wide-angle lenses and symmetrical framing; he has cited influences ranging from [Stanley Kubrick](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-kubrick) to the camera freedom of Polanski's *[The Fearless Vampire Killers](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fearless-vampire-killers)* and Juraj Herz's *[The Cremator](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cremator)*[18](https://www.athinorama.gr/cinema/3020613/o-giorgos-lanthimos-me-dika-tou-logia/).
Since *The Favourite*, Emma Stone has been his most frequent lead, starring in *Poor Things*, *Kinds of Kindness*, *Bugonia*, and the short silent film *BLEAT* (2022), designed to be screened with live orchestral music[1](https://lanthimos.com/biography/) • [16](https://apnews.com/article/7b2eb25be679bd8219bfda246e410880).
## Photography
Photography began for Lanthimos as a technical foundation for filmmaking; "in film school you learn that cinema is basically 24 photographs per second," he told the Associated Press[5](https://apnews.com/article/bb1e9b304a8f4aa9fa9ea3a74af905b0). He shoots on film and develops negatives himself, at one point running an improvised darkroom in his hotel bathroom during the filming of *Poor Things*, with help from Stone[7](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-04/yorgos-lanthimos-cineasta-ya-nadie-puede-decir-que-no-le-interesa-la-politica-o-eres-consciente-de-lo-que-sucede-o-estas-muerto.html).
Three photobooks collect this work: *Dear God, the Parthenon is still broken* (VOID, 2024), from the *Poor Things* shoot; *i shall sing these songs beautifully* (MACK, 2024), made alongside *Kinds of Kindness*; and *VISCIN* (MACK, 2026), with previously unpublished photographs from the *Bugonia* set[4](https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/yorgos-lanthimos-photographs). His first exhibition in Greece, **Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs**, opened at Onassis Stegi in Athens in March 2026, gathering 182 photographs in four bodies of work, including a first showing of black-and-white landscapes and portraits made on solitary walks around the edges of Athens and on Aegean islands[4](https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/yorgos-lanthimos-photographs) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/bb1e9b304a8f4aa9fa9ea3a74af905b0). He has described photography as "freeing" compared with the pressures of studio filmmaking[19](https://petapixel.com/2026/03/03/director-yorgos-lanthimos-stepping-back-from-movies-to-focus-on-photography/).
## Recent work and hiatus
After a decade in London, Lanthimos returned to live in Athens in 2021[7](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-04/yorgos-lanthimos-cineasta-ya-nadie-puede-decir-que-no-le-interesa-la-politica-o-eres-consciente-de-lo-que-sucede-o-estas-muerto.html). Alongside his films he has directed commercial work, including a 2025 Prada film, *Ritual Identities*, with [Scarlett Johansson](https://www.edgepedia.org/scarlett-johansson), and two [Super Bowl](https://www.edgepedia.org/super-bowl) advertisements in February 2026, one with [Emma Stone](https://www.edgepedia.org/emma-stone) and one with George Clooney[6](https://sevenarts.gr/george-lanthimos/).
In interviews around the photography exhibition in 2026, he said he was stepping back from filmmaking after making three films back to back, telling the *Financial Times*, "Will I make more films? I don't know, we'll see," and describing the need to rediscover the joy of creation[19](https://petapixel.com/2026/03/03/director-yorgos-lanthimos-stepping-back-from-movies-to-focus-on-photography/) • [14](https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/giorgos-lanthimos-apo-sinema-sti-fotografia). Projects reported in development include adaptations of [Ottessa Moshfegh](https://www.edgepedia.org/ottessa-moshfegh)'s *[My Year of Rest and Relaxation](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-year-of-rest-and-relaxation)* and Jean-Patrick Manchette's *Fatale*[20](https://greekcitytimes.com/2026/06/07/yorgos-lanthimos-photographer-filmmaking-break-2026/).
## References
1. [Biography, Yorgos Lanthimos official site](https://lanthimos.com/biography/)
2. [Γιώργος Λάνθιμος: Η διαδρομή ενός σκηνοθέτη πέρα από τα συνηθισμένα, Athens Voice](https://www.athensvoice.gr/politismos/kinimatografos/940203/giorgos-lanthimos-i-diadromi-enos-skinotheti-pera-apo-ta-sunithismena/?pg=307)
3. [Yorgos Lanthimos, Onassis Foundation](https://www.onassis.org/people/yorgos-lanthimos)
4. [Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs, Exhibition, Onassis Foundation](https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/yorgos-lanthimos-photographs)
5. [Before his return to the Oscars, Yorgos Lanthimos finds a still moment in Athens, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/bb1e9b304a8f4aa9fa9ea3a74af905b0)
6. [Γιώργος Λάνθιμος: Εμαθε στον κόσμο να γελάει άβολα, 7Arts](https://sevenarts.gr/george-lanthimos/)
7. [Yorgos Lanthimos interview, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-04/yorgos-lanthimos-cineasta-ya-nadie-puede-decir-que-no-le-interesa-la-politica-o-eres-consciente-de-lo-que-sucede-o-estas-muerto.html)
8. [The Cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos: Films, Form, Philosophy (preview)](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781501375477_A43614371/preview-9781501375477_A43614371.pdf)
9. [The absurdist photography of Yorgos Lanthimos, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/mar/17/absurdist-photography-yorgos-lanthimos-emma-stone-willem-dafoe)
10. [Who is Yorgos Lanthimos? A primer on the Greek Weird Wave film director, ScreenHub](https://www.screenhub.com.au/news/features/who-is-yorgos-lanthimos-a-primer-on-the-greek-weird-wave-director-2646593/)
11. [Interview with Yorgos Lanthimos, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2019/interview-with-yorgos-lanthimos-member-of-the-feature-film-jury/)
12. [Yorgos Lanthimos Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/yorgos_lanthimos)
13. [Yorgos Lanthimos: 'I just think it's interesting to start a dialogue', BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/yorgos-lanthimos-i-just-think-interesting-to-start-dialogue)
14. [Γιώργος Λάνθιμος: Από το σινεμά στη φωτογραφία, iefimerida.gr](https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/giorgos-lanthimos-apo-sinema-sti-fotografia)
15. [Yorgos Lanthimos denied permission to shoot new film at the Acropolis, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/apr/07/yorgos-lanthimos-denied-permission-to-shoot-film-at-athens-acropolis)
16. [The unstoppable duo of Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/7b2eb25be679bd8219bfda246e410880)
17. ['People live inside bubbles that technology reinforces', eKathimerini](https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1285436/people-live-inside-bubbles-that-technology-reinforces/)
18. [Ο Γιώργος Λάνθιμος με δικά του λόγια, Athinorama.gr](https://www.athinorama.gr/cinema/3020613/o-giorgos-lanthimos-me-dika-tou-logia/)
19. [Director Yorgos Lanthimos Stepping Back From Movies to Focus on Photography, PetaPixel](https://petapixel.com/2026/03/03/director-yorgos-lanthimos-stepping-back-from-movies-to-focus-on-photography/)
20. [Yorgos Lanthimos Turns Photographer, Greek City Times](https://greekcitytimes.com/2026/06/07/yorgos-lanthimos-photographer-filmmaking-break-2026/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Film directors by country and region › Continental European directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license