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Maria Douza

Maria Douza is a Greek film director and screenwriter of feature films, commercials and documentaries.  Since her graduation from the National Film & TV School of England, she has been living and working in Athens, Greece, while her films enjoy national and international distribution.


Her first feature film The Tree and the Swing[1] - aka A Place Called Home [2]- 2013, represented by EastWest Filmdistribution GmbH[3] was bought by Netflix Europe. Her second feature Listen[4] 2022 (original title Akouse me[5]), represented by Screenbound UK[6], is currently travelling to festivals all over the world, and has been sold to Latin America, Britain and the USA.

Maria Douza's television work includes the extremely popular History Series Small Lessons for a Big World and Lasting Through Time for the Hellenic Parliament TV Channel.

Douza is married to producer Michael Sarantinos and they have two children, Giorgis and Dione.

Early life and education

Maria Douza (born in Athens on 28 June 1961) studied Byzantine Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and, subsequently, Film Direction at the National Film & TV School of England, where she wrote and directed her first short films, The Bridge [7](1990, 30') and The Island [8](1994, 42'), introducing, in the latter, the now acclaimed actress Maria Nafpliotou. After completing her studies, Maria Douza returned to Greece and immediately started working with production company Stefi[9] directing TV commercials. While working on commercials, she also attended the MFI [10](Mediterranean Film Institute) Script2Film writing workshops, through which she developed her first screenplays, under the guidance of writing tutors Lewis Cole and Christina Lazarides.

Career

Between 2000 - 2008, Douza continued to direct high profile TV commercials, including Euro-Elections and National Elections spots, as well as social awareness spots about Streetlight Kids, Domestic Violence and Energy Saving. In 2008, with a rich portfolio and a number of developed feature scripts, she joined production company Steficon Films[11], as in-house film director making cultural videos, commercials, and documentaries for television and the web.

Between 2008 - 2010, she worked as film consultant on research program ANSWER carried out by a consortium of European universities, companies and research centers, under the auspices of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).  The aim of the program was to develop a  notation system for the production of fictional audiovisual works, called Director Notation[12].

In 2012, Douza directed her first feature film, written by her (based on an idea by Eleni Atsikbasis), The Tree and the Swing[1] - aka A Place Called Home[2], featuring Mirjana Karanovic, Myrto Alikaki and Elias Logothetis[13]. The film, a Greek-Serbian co production between Steficon Films[11] and IntermediaNetwork [14], premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2013, and, subsequently, traveled to international festivals all over the world winning awards and distinctions. After its theatrical release and broadcast at home in 2014, it went on to represent Greece in the 2014-2015 European Union Film Festivals of India, Canada, China, Hong Kong and the USA. Acquired by EastWest Filmdistribution GmbH, the film was bought by Netflix Europe in 2022.

After that, Douza made a documentary, titled Thission Cinema of Athens (2017, 52’), as part of the French TV Cine+ series Mythical Cinemas[15]. A Greek French co-production between Kolam Productions[16] and Steficon Films[11], Thission Cinema was sold to numerous broadcasters around the world by Premiere Entertainment[17]. In 2018, she made the 63' documentary, Pantelis Kaliotsoss, In the Writer's Workshop, a film on the ethics of creativity and writing, shown to the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and bought by Cosmote TV.

From 2020 to 2023, Douza created (and directed in collaboration with Polish director Oliwia Twardowska[18]) two extremely successful TV history series, for the Hellenic Parliament TV Channel. The 54 episode Small Lessons for a Big World and the 24 episode Lasting Through Time, both based on lectures of professor Maria Efthymiou[19]. Lasting Through Time will be broadcast by Hellenic Broadcast Corporation - ERT in 2025.

In 2022, she made her second feature film, Listen[4] (original title Akouse me[5]), also written by her, a Greek-Bulgarian co production between Steficon Films[11] and Ars Digital[20]. After its premiere at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Listen [4] was shown to many festivals around the world, Tallinn Black Nights, Cairo International, Sofia International, Dhaka International (winning the Women Filmmakers' award) Galway Film Fleadh and many more. Centering around a deaf adolescent girl, Listen [4] was also widely shown to International Youth Festivals, winning awards in Azerbaijan (Salam International Film Festival[21]) and Finland (Oulu Youth Film Festival). Acquired by Screenbound UK[6] Listen [4] has been sold to Latin America, Canada, USA and Britain, and it continues to travel, representing Greece in the European Film Festivals of India, Canada, China and the USA.

Maria Douza is currently working on her next feature film, End Point, an anti-war fantasy, pitched in Galway Film Fleadh Marketplace in 2023 and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Agora in 2024. End Point will be produced as a co production between a consortium of three European companies headed by Steficon Films[11] Greece and a Canadian partnership between U11 Productions[22] and Equinoxe distribution company. It will be Maria's first English speaking film.

Filmography

Title Year Duration medium
Listen (Akouse me) Fiction 2022 108' DCP
Pantelis Kaliotsos, In The Writer's Workshop Documentary 2018 63' DCP
Thission Cinema of Athens Docu-drama 2017 52' DCP
The Tree and the Swing (aka A Place Called Home) Fiction 2013 107' DCP
The Agas Trial in Chios Documentary 2008 70' DV-HD
The Making of "Free Diving" Documentary 1994 20' DV-HD
The Island (Από δω και Πέρα) Fiction 1994 42 16mm
The Bridge Fiction 1991 30' 16mm

References

  1. ^ a b "The tree & the swing - Home". www.the-tree-and-the-swing.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  2. ^ a b Douza, Maria (2014-02-06), The Tree and the Swing (Drama, Family, History), Mirto Alikaki, Mirjana Karanovic, Ilias Logothetis, Steficon SA, Fos, Greek Film Centre (GFC), retrieved 2025-04-30
  3. ^ "Home". EastWest Filmdistribution GmbH. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Listen-movie". Listen-movie. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  5. ^ a b Douza, Maria (2025-02-20), Akouse me (Drama), Efthalia Papacosta, Dimitris Kitsos, Nikos Koukas, Steficon SA, ARS Digital Studio, Bulgarian National Film Center, retrieved 2025-04-30
  6. ^ a b "Screenbound International Pictures". Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  7. ^ Films, Steficon (2020-01-22). The Bridge | 1990. Retrieved 2025-04-30 – via Vimeo.
  8. ^ Films, Steficon (2021-05-02). THE_ISLAND (Από Δω και Πέρα), by Maria Douza (41:25, Greece - England, 1994). Retrieved 2025-04-30 – via Vimeo.
  9. ^ "Stefi Productions". stefi.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  10. ^ "Home". Mediterranean Film Institute. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Steficon Films". steficonfilms.gr. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  12. ^ Γιαννόπουλος, Άγγελος Ν (2011-12-19). Σημειογραφία κινηματογράφου “DirectorNotation” και Αλγοριθμικός Γνωσιακός Προγραμματισμός “ThoughtOrientedProgramming” (doctoralThesis thesis) (in Greek).
  13. ^ "Ilias Logothetis | Actor". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  14. ^ "Intermedianetwork". www.intermedianetwork.rs. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  15. ^ Cinémas Mythiques (Documentary), Ketty Konstadinou, Evangelia Adreadaki, Eleni Collins, Kolam productions, Kolam productions, Parallell Cinéma, 2016-06-18, retrieved 2025-04-30{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. ^ "kolam – Des documentaires inspirés comme autant de fenêtres sur le monde" (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  17. ^ "Mythical Movie Theaters | Prime Entertainment Group". Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  18. ^ "Oliwia Twardowska | Writer, Editor, Director". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  19. ^ "Ευθυμίου Δ. Μαρία". www.blod.gr. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  20. ^ "Home - Ars Digital Studio". 2023-09-11. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  21. ^ "International Youth Film Festival in Azerbaijan - SalamFest". salamfest.az. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  22. ^ "U11 PRODUCTIONS". U11 PRODUCTIONS (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-05-01.