Athina Rachel Tsangari received a B.A. in Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and an MFA in Film Directing from the University of Texas at Austin. Her introduction to cinema was a small role in Richard Linklater's seminal film Slacker.
Her first short film Fit was a finalist at the Student Academy Awards. Her debut feature The Slow Business of Going, a lo-fi-sci-fi road movie shot in nine cities across the world, was voted one of the best undistributed films in the 2002 Village Voice Critics' Poll. She cofounded and was artistic director of the Austin-based Cinematexas International Short Film Festival (1997-2007). She was the projections designer and video director for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies.
In 2005, she founded Haos Film, a production office that develops and produces work by and with fellow filmmakers. Amongst her producer credits are Yorgos Lanthimos' films Kinetta, Dogtooth as an associate producer, and Alps. In 2009, she directed the animated film Reflections for the opening of the new Acropolis Museum designed by Bernard Tschumi, where it screened as a large-scale, site-specific projection. Her sophomore feature Attenberg premiered at the 2010 Venice Film Festival official competition, and received the Coppa Volpi Award for Best Actress for its protagonist, Ariane Labed.
Strand Releasing
