Elia Petridis (born in Paris, France) is a Lebanese-Greek film director and screenwriter, known for ''

The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez ''The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez'' is a 2012 American Western film written and directed by Elia Petridis, and starring Ernest Borgnine in his final role. Plot A retired radio disc jockey/actor (Ernest Borgnine) is forced to en ...

'', and for his work in

transmedia Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of adapting a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a product ...

and virtual reality production. He is the founder and creative director of film production company Filmatics and the transmedia production company Fever Content.

Early life and education

Petridis was born in Paris, France, and raised in Dubai. He attended

Dubai English Speaking School Dubai English Speaking College is a British private school located in the Academic City, Dubai, UAE. It follows the National Curriculum for England. DESC was founded by the first headteacher, Peter Daly and Mr A.Q, in 2005 with 35 Year 7 students, ...

, Dubai College, English College, and the

American School of Dubai The American School of Dubai (ASD) is an independent, not-for-profit, U.S. curriculum, Early Learning through Grade 12 international school offering an American education. The school was founded in 1966 and was previously known as the Jumeirah Am ...

. He relocated to the US to study film at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Critical Studies and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Film and Television Production.

Career

Petridis made his professional screenwriting and directorial debut with the award-winning 2006 film ''How Henri Came To Stay''. The film aired on

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in California's 2006 Fine Cut Film Festival, screened at multiple film festivals, including the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2007, and won the Audience Award at the

Beijing International Film Festival The Beijing International Film Festival (), abbreviated BJIFF, is a film festival in Beijing, China. Founded in 2011, along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of China's two biggest film festivals. The festival is one of ...

in 2007. In 2012, he wrote and directed the film ''

'', which starred

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perf ...

in his final on-screen performance before his death and

June Squibb June Louise Squibb (born November 6, 1929) is an American actress. She began her career by making her Broadway (theatre), Broadway debut in the musical ''Gypsy (musical), Gypsy'' (1959). Her film debut was in Woody Allen's romantic comedy ''Alice ...

. The film was awarded a production grant from

Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...

, enabling Petridis to shoot on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on ...

, and was financed by multiple investors. The crew on the film included score writer Ruy Folguera, production designer Curt Beech, editor Terel Gibson, and cinematographer Eric Beech. The film premiered at the

Newport Beach International Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival had permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival bega ...

in 2012 and went on to receive positive critical acclaim. It was acquired by Indican Pictures in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. In 2016, Petridis directed the music video ''The Lost Sky'' for American singer-songwriter

Jesca Hoop Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with other ...

which received over 125,000 views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. He has directed music videos for

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

, and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. Later that year, he began writing, producing, directing, and creating the

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

horror transmedia world of ''Eye for an Eye'' in collaboration with ''Gnomes and Goblins'' virtual reality studio Wevr, including ''Eye for an Eye: A Séance in VR'' and ''Eye for an Eye: Henrietta''. Petridis was a co-presenter and panelist on the Di-VR-sity Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 in California, and his collaborators at Filmatics showcased ''Eye for an Eye'' at the Hollywood VR Summit 2016 and

SXSW 2016 South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

. In 2017, he founded Fever Content, the

production sister company to Filmatics, in collaboration with producing partner Craig Bernard. Petridis has been a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

since 2011.

Filmography

Award

In 2007, Petridis' film How ''Henri Came To Stay'' won the Audience Award at the

References

External links

*
Filmatics Official Site

Fever Content Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petridis, Elia University of Southern California alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Lebanese film directors Greek film directors Virtual reality pioneers Lebanese screenwriters Greek screenwriters Emirati screenwriters Emirati film directors Emirati film producers People from Dubai