Associate Professor in Cinematography
courses:
A short biography
Peter Salapatas was born in Australia. Even though his first degree was in Pure Mathematics, obtained in Sydney he continued with a BFA in New York and an MFA in Film Production in Los Angeles (USC). He has worked in many countries as a director of Photography in feature films, documentaries and short films. Kamo in the Philippines (35mm), The Hidden Gift in Sudan, (DV) and continues to do so in Greece. The film Still Looking for Morphine (35mm) (directed by Yannis Fagras) won the Greek Critics’ Association Award in the 2001 Thessaloniki Film Festival. The Forest Dances, a documentary which he shot and directed in 2005 won the audience award at the Platforma 2006 video festival in Athens. In 2008 he photographed Slaves to their Bonds (High Definition), a period drama feature film scheduled to be released late 2008. In 2008 he shot Forget me Not (35mm), Yannis Fagras’ second feature film which takes place in New Orleans and Alaska. The film is in post-production.
Peter has taught cinematography at the LARW (Los Angeles Recording Workshop) in 1995 and is currently a lecturer of cinematography at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
In 2011-2012 he worked as a cinematographer for the documentary A Monk with a camera produced and directed by Guido Santi and Tina Mascara. The documentary was shot in Bodh Gaya, northern India at the Kalachakra initiation inaugurated by his holiness the Dalai Lama.