Biography
Nikias Chryssos was born in 1978 in Leimen near Heidelberg. From 2001 to 2002 he studied film and video production at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Farnham, England. Back in Germany, he completed a degree in film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (2002-2009). During his studies, in 2005 he received the Baden-Württemberg scholarship for the masterclass "The Hollywood Perspective" at the University of California in Los Angeles and in 2008, he was selected for the new project "Résidence du Festival de Cannes" in Paris (2008).
Also during his studies, Chryssos realized several short films, which were screened at numerous international festivals. For example, the short film "Hochhaus" ("Tower Block", 2006) won Best Short Film at the Münster Film Festival, received the Best Soundtrack Award at the Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand (France) and Centaur Award at the Message to Man Film Festival in St. Petersburg (Russia ). Chryssos' 20-minute graduation film "Der Großvater" ("The Grandfather", 2009), starring Matthias Habich and Pit Bukowski, won the Orpheus Award for Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival.
In 2012, Chryssos began working on his first feature film, the eccentric family story "Der Bunker" ("The Bunker"), again with Pit Bukowski in a lead role. The film premiered at the Berlinale 2015 in the section Perspektive Deutsches Kino; numerous international festival participations followed. At the Ithaca International Fantastic Film Festival (USA), Chryssos was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Director, at the Festival Mauvais Genre in Tours (France) "Der Bunker" received the jury prize. He was also nominated at the German Film Critics' Award 2016 for Best Feature Film Debut. In 2017, Chryssos received the Berlin Scholarship 2017 for Film and Media Art from the Akademie der Künste. Chryssos started shooting his second feature film in November 2018: "A Pure Place" (release scheduled for 2019) is about a sister and brother who grow up in a sect secluded on a Greek island. As the girl moves up in the hierarchy of the sect, her brother loses his footing.
The film premiered in July 2021 at the Munich Film Festival, where it was awarded the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino for Best Director. Shortly before that, Chryssos began filming the "Tatort" episode "Erkenne dich selbst", which he also penned. "A Pure Place" had its theatrical release in November 2021.