Veteran filmmaker Nikos Koundouros dies at home aged 91
The veteran Greek film director Nikos Koundouros died at his Athens home on Wednesday at the age of 91.
Best known for his 1956 feature-length film “O Drakos” (The Ogre of Athens), a landmark film noir, Koundouros had been hospitalized recently with respiratory problems.
Widely acclaimed, his 1963 film “Young Aphrodites” won the Silver Bear for best director at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival.
During World War II, Koundouros was a member of the left-wing resistance movement EAM-ELAS, and was exiled to the Makronissos prison island.
His funeral is to be held on Saturday at noon at the capital’s First Cemetery. Instead of wreaths, Koundouros’s relatives have asked well-wishers to make donations to the charities Child’s Smile (Hamogelo tou Paidiou) or Kivotos tou Kosmou.