Chris Anastassiades Chris Anastassiades i(A36121 works by)
Born: Established: 1963 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Chris Anastassiades is a dramatist and script-writer, with extensive experience in television script-writing, particularly comedy and children's television.

Anastassiades's earliest television scripts were for Col'n Carpenter (1990-1991), a spin-off from the successful skit-comedy program The Comedy Company. Following this, he wrote scripts for such programs as G.P., as well as contributing extensively to Acropolis Now.

Anastassiades had a long-running association with the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF), for whom he wrote the script for Yolngu Boy: according to Patricia Edgar, the script was 'developed over two years, with Chris absorbing the culture and working with Gordon Glenn, the principal script editor (p.348). Anastassiades was one of the writers whom Edgar particularly valued as having the 'precise elements' for which she was looking in ACTF writers: indeed, she describes him as a 'close second' to her first-choice director Esben Storm when describing her choice of writers (p.317). As well as Yolngu Boy, Anastassiades worked on such ACTF productions as Legacy of the Silver Shadow, Round the Twist, and Lift Off.

Anastassiades has also written extensively for Jonathan M. Shiff Productions, including scripts for The Elephant Princess, H2O: Just Add Water, Pirate Islands: The Lost Treasure of Fiji, Scooter: Secret Agent, and Wicked Science.

His film scripts include Hating Alison Ashley, The Wannabes, and The Kings of Mykonos.

He has also worked as a script editor and a story consultant.

(Source: Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2006.)

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

form y separately published work icon High Ground ( dir. Stephen Johnson ) Australia : Higher Ground Pictures , 2019 9759748 2019 single work film/TV

'1931, Northern Australia. The destinies of Travis, a white bounty hunter, and Baywara, an Indigenous man trying to save what remains of his family, intersect. Twelve years after a tragedy that scarred them both, a manhunt pits them against each other.'

Source: Berlinale program.

2020 selected Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale Special
2021 winner Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Screenplay - Original or Adapted
2021 joint winner Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Director
2021 joint winner Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Director
2021 winner Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Film
2021 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Direction in Film
2021 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Original Screenplay
2021 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Film
2020 winner Capricornia Film Awards Best Feature-length Production
form y separately published work icon The Elephant Princess ( dir. Grant Brown et. al. )agent Australia : Jonathan M. Shiff Productions , 2008-2009 Z1656784 2008-2009 series - publisher film/TV children's adventure fantasy

Alexandra Wilson is a normal girl living in an average suburb. She can sing brilliantly (she's a songwriter at heart). She's funny and driven. Alex's band is her life, and her band-mates, expressive Amanda Tucci and realist JB Deekes, are her closest friends. There's also Marcus, their lead guitarist: he's a year older, and, well, rather attractive. Alex has two grounded parents, Anita and Jim, and one very centre-stage younger sister, Zoe. Life is very normal. But ...

Since birth, Alex has caused a succession of strange, somewhat magical events. Fortunately, she's been able to conceal, ignore, or deny them all. But then Kuru, a young man dressed in exotic robes, and Anala, a decorated adult elephant who has a tendency to vanish now and again, arrive on Alex's doorstep. Kuru explains that Alex is actually Princess Liliuokalani Parasha Khaled Persphone Amanirenas of Manjipoor.

Alex is not so sure about that! But the magical effects she seems to cause have recently blossomed. It's scary. Alex asks Kuru and Anala to leave, but they won't go anywhere. They are under the royal command of Omar, Chief Advisor to the former Queen Nefari, to bring the princess home to rule.

Manjipoor is an exotic, mystical kingdom that exists very close to our world--but not in it. The nation was born six hundred years ago when 'gifted' people (sorcerers, oracles, and witches) fled persecution and created their own territory, and later, for their protection, moved it to a parallel location by magical means!

Kuru's mission is made easier when Alex's parents accept him as an 'exchange student' and he is invited to stay at their home. He does his best to fit in at Alex's school. Alex keeps her identity as a princess a secret from everybody but Amanda and JB, but it's an ongoing problem concealing a wilful, sometimes-invisible elephant in her backyard.

Omar's recent revelation of the existence of Manjipoor's secret princess shocks and threatens Vashan, the last royal relative in a conflicted and dying dynasty, who fully expected to rule. Aided by his skilful servant Diva, Vashan acts--first subtly, then overtly--to prevent his cousin Alex from claiming her inheritance.

Back in 'The Old World'--our world--Kuru's persistence with Alex starts to have an effect. Alex begins to practise and accept her magic--and it often goes awry. It's not easy being a teenager with magical powers! Alex uses her magic to rectify some very teenage-related issues, as well as to bend the occasional rule, but she draws the line at using magic in her music or for the band. They've got to prove they're good enough without it!

Following an encounter in Manjipoor where Alex learns some of the history of her real mother, Queen Nefari, and is introduced first hand to Vashan's enmity, she awakens to the strong qualities developing inside her and the need for her in Manjipoor as a princess.

Simultaneously, Alex, Amanda, Marcus, and JB improve as a band. They get gigs, and Alex's confidence as a singer increases. Alex finds the pull between both worlds conflicting. When Vashan becomes increasingly bold in his endeavours to undermine and overtake Alex, his actions precipitate a series of stunning revelations affecting the lives of Alex, Kuru, Anala, and Omar and the future of Manjipoor. Alex finds she must make a choice about where her real destiny lies ...

Source: Jonathan M Shiff Productions website, http://www.jonathan-m-shiff.com.au/
Sighted: 15/12/2009

2009 winner Australian Film Institute Awards Best Children's Television Drama
form y separately published work icon Mortified ( dir. Pino Amenta et. al. )agent Australia : Australian Children's Television Foundation , 2006-2007 Z1844380 2006-2007 series - publisher film/TV children's fantasy

Mortified follows the trevails of eleven-year-old Taylor Fry, as she copes with the general embarrassment of having parents, as well as being annoyed by her sister, jealous of her neighbour, and completely oblivious to her best friend's crush on her. The program inserts some fantasy elements into the otherwise straight comedy-drama by having Taylor speak directly to the camera, using elaborate fantasy sequences to explore her daydreams, and showing her over-active imagination as bringing seemingly inanimate objects to life.

Mortified was the last major work of television producer and screenwriter Angela Webber before her early death in 2007.

2006 nominated Australian Film Institute Awards Best Screenplay in Television For episode 1
Last amended 22 Aug 2012 12:30:40
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