Φως στη σκηνή/The stage exposed

G iorgos Katsouris was born in Nicosia on 23 April 1939. His father, Christodoulos, a teacher by profession, came from the village Psimolofou and his mother Eleni was from Nicosia. He studied at the Pancyprian Gymnasium and the Samuel School, while working at the same time as a salesman for various companies in Nicosia. During the liberation struggle (1955-1959), George was an active member of EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters). in 1958, at the age of nineteen, the British arrested him for possession of bombs and he was sentenced to nine months in jail. He was imprisoned at the Detention Camp of Kokkinotrimithia. in 1963, at the age of twenty-four, he and his bosom friend, Costas Farmakas, sailed for London to study Photography and Film. in London, he met his wife Belinda Anne Gilboy, with whom he had three children, Alexis, Elena and Nikolas. All of them work for AVS, an audiovisual and set support company. Upon completing his studies, Katsouris returned to Cyprus and in 1973 opened with Farmakas FotoCine Studios in the centre of Nicosia – specifically in Anna Komnini Street, near Archbishop Makarios iii Avenue. However, due to the unstable political situation in Cyprus and Greece at the time, and after their premises were vandalized and eventually totally destroyed, they moved their premises to Zena Kanther Street, where the business remained for more than forty years. The two photographers effectively introduced advertising photography to the island, and the first commercials shot with motion-picture film to the Cypriot television. Earlier, in 1969, together with Costas Farmakas, they filmed the first comedy feature film in Cyprus titled O Pparas o Mascaras (Money the Masquerader) , starring Thanos Petteremides, Pitsa Antoniadou, Takis Stavrinides, Andreas Moustras and Nikos Siafkalis. 12 | GiORGOS KATSOURiS BiOGRAPHiCAL NOTE With the establishment of the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, in 1971, Giorgos and Costas started their collaboration with the state theatre by professionally photographing the performances. This collaboration lasted for the following ten years. young, tireless and passionate about their work, they had the opportunity to travel around the island recording significant events with their camera. The Turkish invasion of Cyprus and refugee life was a period they filmed with personal anguish. Their film footage from the refugee camp at Achna Forest, where thousands of displaced Greek Cypriots had fled, is a unique testimony of the pain of being uprooted from one’s home and becoming a refugee. These film frames, together with many others from Nicosia and Paphos that had been relentlessly bombed, constituted the main body of the documentary Cyprus ’74 . With script by yiannis Katsouris, music by Mikis Theodorakis, narrated by Manos Katrakis, and with the help of the then ambassador of Greece, Michael Dountas, the documen- tary was screened in Paris, Moscow and Athens, where Melina Mercouri, Jules Dassin, yiannis Ritsos and other important personalities of Greece were among the audience in the crowded cinema hall. in 1981, Katsouris made a turn in his professional career, setting up AVS, a company making television commercials. in the mid-1990s, the company took a turn once again turning its attention to audiovisual and scenic support for events, making it one of the pioneering and innovative companies in its field. George Katsouris passed away on 14 February 2011.