Born in Kefalonia, Greece in 1991, Vasilis Kekatos is a graduate student of the film department of Brunel University’s School of Arts, in London. In 2016, he won Sundance Ignite “What’s Next?” Short Film Challenge and received a mentorship from Sundance Institute, with his short Zero Star Hotel. In 2017, he participated in Euro Connection in Clermont-Ferrand ISFF, as well as in Nisi Masa ESP, with the script of his short, The Silence of the Dying Fish. The film, a Greek-French co-production, had its world premiere in Locarno Film Festival 2018 in the international Competition Pardi di Domani and its US premiere in Sundance Film Festival 2019. It has also been selected in many international film festivals, such as ZINEBI and Aix-En-Provence, and it has been awarded in several, like Villeurbanne SFF where it won Best Film and Drama ISFF where it won Best Southeastern European Film, as it continues its tour of the festival circuit.
In May 2019 Vasilis won the Short Film Palme d’Or in Cannes for his latest short film “The Distance Between Us And The Sky”, and was the first Greek Director to ever be awarded in this category.
He is currently working on his debut feature and is also the artistic director of SeaNema Open Air Film Festival.