Yorgos Zois is a Greek film director based in Athens. He studied Applied Mathematics and Nuclear Physics at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and film directing at the Stavrakos Film School. He also participated as a guest auditor at UdK Berlin and is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents. Early in his career, he worked as an assistant to Theo Angelopoulos on The Dust of Time during the film's shoot in Berlin.
His debut short film, Casus Belli, premiered at the 67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010 and went on to screen at more than 200 film festivals worldwide, including Rotterdam, Tokyo, Clermont‐Ferrand, and Palm Springs. The film received over 25 awards. In Greece, it won the 2011 Best Short Film Award from the Greek Film Academy, as well as seven awards at the Drama Short Film Festival, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Casus Belli was broadcast by ARTE, Canal+, NBC, SBS, and Criterion, received theatrical releases in Greece and France, and continues to be screened internationally in museums, festivals, art exhibitions, and political events.
His second short film, Out of Frame, premiered at the 69th Venice Film Festival in 2012 and won the European Film Academy Award for Best European Short Film, along with multiple awards for its visual form and narrative concept at more than 100 festivals worldwide.
His first feature film, Interruption, premiered at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival. The film received highly acclaimed international reviews for its meta‐cinematic aesthetics and daring narrative approach, and was praised by directors such as Ruben Östlund and Romain Gavras. It received nine nominations from the Greek Film Academy, winning Best New Director, and screened at numerous international festivals including Palm Springs, Sarajevo, Istanbul, and Vilnius.
His third short film, The Eighth Continent, premiered as a special screening at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and continued its festival run at Rotterdam and more than 80 festivals worldwide. His next short film, Third Kind, premiered at Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, had its U.S. premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, and screened at over 100 international festivals, receiving several awards for Best International Film. The film was publicly praised by Barry Jenkins as one of the two best films at Telluride 2018, alongside The Favourite.
In 2017, Zois served as a member of the Official Jury for the "Lion of the Future—Best Debut Film" award at the 74th Venice International Film Festival.
His second feature film, Arcadia, premiered worldwide at the Berlinale in 2024 in the Encounters section, receiving strong international acclaim. The film's festival journey began with its Asian premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, where it won Best Actor, followed by screenings at Sarajevo Film Festival, where Zois received the Best Director Award from a jury chaired by Paul Schrader. Arcadia also won Best Screenplay at Cork International Film Festival, Best Actress at BAFICI, the FIPRESCI Award for Best International Film at TIFF, and Best Film at the San Francisco Film Festival. It was the only Greek film shortlisted for the European Film Academy Awards. In Greece, Arcadia won Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Director at the Greek Film Academy Awards and was selected as Greece's official submission for the Academy Awards in 2026.