Sotiris Donoukos is a director and producer, known for the short films “Un seul corps” (2014), “Mona Lisa” (2004) and “Joe Cinque’s Consolation” (2015).

Dounoukos’ short film, “A Single Body” (Un Seul Corps) won the inaugural Best International Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 amongst a hugely impressive line-up of filmmakers including Claire Denis. The film recently won the Dendy Best Short Film Award at the 2015 Sydney Film Festival.

In awarding the prize to Dounoukos, the jury remarked on the film’s “extraordinary exploration of the value of friendship, hope, and aspiration in an unusually brutal and austere environment… and world — made especially heartbreaking by striking performances”. Made with a mix of professional actors and real workers and an international team from France, Greece and Australia, the film is a tightly constructed portrait of male friendship set against the grisly backdrop of an abattoir, where best friends and skilled workers David and Wani diligently ply their trade saving for their own butchery. Before they can realise that dream, the arrival of a worker and a new reality will test the bonds of their shared life.

His short films have screened at over 180 festivals around the world and acquired numerous sales and awards.
Past films include “Mona Lisa” in 2004, winner of Best Student Film at Melbourne International Film Festival, and “Paper & Sand” (2007).

In 2011, he was the recipient of the ACT Creative Arts Fellowship which enabled him to develop a slate of projects with market and mentor feedback.

Dounoukos adapted Helen Garner’s book “Joe Cinque’s Consolation” to the screen. The book is an account of the trials of ANU student Anu Singh, her friend Madhavi Rao and the death of Singh’s boyfriend Joe Cinque.

“My first feature film is the adaptation of Helen Garner’s book ‘Joe Cinque’s Consolation’. The book is a true story of the death of Joe Cinque in 1997 by his then-girlfriend, Anu Singh. This was my year of law school, so this story is very personal to me. Beyond the relationship, the narrative also explores the group of friends surrounding them, just as the book examined. The film is not cold, detached or black or white. I believe that films are about showing something and letting people make up their own mind,” he said about his new film.

Sotiris Dounoukos was raised in Canberra. He is a graduate of the Binger Institute, Netherlands, and the VCA School of Film and Television where he received the Outstanding Postgraduate Student Award.