Award!!

A delighted Vangelis Chatzopoulos won the Mailuki Films Distribution Award at the XXIV Annual Tirana International Film Festival in Albania.
At this year’s festival, which featured the best projects entered, this promising young Greek filmmaker has triumphed with his magnificent project OLD DOGS DIE ALONE.

Vangelis Chatzopoulos received his certificate and trophy from Bruno Carnide.

We at Mailuki Films would like to congratulate the young Mediterranean filmmaker and wish him all the best in the world for the filming of his film.

Vangelis Chatzopoulos enjoyed one of the festival’s most well-attended editions, featuring the most interesting professionals from the independent film industry.

Vangelis Chatzopoulos is a Greek-Albanian filmmaker. His graduation film “Strangers in the Night” gained international recognition after winning the Bjarki Award for Best Graduation Film, together with Best Directing and Best Production at the Icelandic Film School (Reykjavik, 2025). Its festival journey includes the Audience Award at the River Film Festival (Padua, Italy), the Best Panorama Generations Award at the Tirana International Film Festival (2025), and awards for Best Icelandic Student Film, Best Icelandic Film, and Best Cinematography at the Pigeon International Film Festival (Iceland, 2025). The film also received Special Mention Awards from 4th Panorama of Short Films of the Greek Directors’ Guild (Athens, 2026) and the Young Critics Jury at the Euro Balkan Film Festival (Rome, 2025) and screened at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, the Big Shoulders International Student Film Festival (Chicago, 2026), Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Schwerin, Germany, 2026), and KINO Athens – International Independent Film Festival of Athens (2026).
A graduate of the Icelandic Film School in Directing and Producing, Chatzopoulos was selected to participate in the Pitching Lab of the Drama International Short Film Festival in 2025. He is currently developing Old Dogs Die Alone, a short film that he both writes and directs.
His films explore questions of identity, belonging, and otherness, illuminating lives at the margins and the fragile contradictions that shape human existence.

Old Dogs Die Alone is a film about people who return too late.
I was drawn to the idea of a man who has lost the right to belong. After years of absence, he
returns to a world that has continued without him. The film does not seek to justify its
protagonist or explain his past. What interests me is not the crime he committed, but the void he
left behind.

Kostas carries the burden of his choices without asking for forgiveness. For this reason, I chose
to make him a silent character. His silence is not a narrative device but a reflection of his
condition. He has reached a point where words can no longer change anything. The film
observes him through his actions, his gaze, and the small gestures of everyday life.

From a directorial perspective, I want the camera to remain close to Kostas and experience the
world through his presence. I am interested not in explanation, but in observation. The most
important moments often take place outside the frame or within silence itself. The storytelling
relies primarily on images rather than dialogue, inviting the audience to participate actively and
fill in the gaps.

Athens functions as another character in the film: a city full of life and movement, yet one in
which a person can feel completely invisible. Within this urban loneliness, the appearance of an
old stray dog takes on particular significance. It is not a symbol of redemption, but a simple and
selfless presence – a final reminder that companionship can still exist, even in its most
unexpected forms.

Old Dogs Die Alone is a story about loneliness, memory, and the consequences of our choices. It
is a story about people who love deeply but return when it is already too late.