Syllas Tzoumerkas () is a Greek film director, screenwriter, and actor. Life and early work Syllas Tzoumerkas was born in Thessaloniki. He studied theatre and directing for Film and Television at the L.Stavrakos Film School and the University of Athens. In 2000, he directed the short film The Devouring Eyes (Ta Matia Pou Trone) that was selected by the Cinéfondation of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize at the 2001 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Film Tzoumerkas' first feature film Homeland (Hora Proelefsis) had its world première at the International Critics' Week of the 67th Venice International Film Festival, in 2010. Homeland participated in several international film festivals and won 5 Awards of the Hellenic Film Academy (Best first film director, supporting role actress for Ioanna Tsirigouli, original music, editing and make-up). The script for his second feature film A Blast won the Eurimages Co-production Award at the Cinelink co-production market of the 2012 Sarajevo film festival. A Blast''', a Greek-German-Dutch-Italian co-production had its world premiere at the International Competition of the Locarno Film Festival 2014. The film was consequently presented in many international film festivals, most notably Sarajevo international film festival (regional premiere), BFI London Film Festival (Dare), São Paulo International Film Festival (Competition New Directors), Rotterdam International Film Festival 2015 (Limelight), among others. It was theatrically released in several countries (Greece, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, Denmark, Australia, etc.) and was picked up for VOD and DVD release in the United States by Indiepix Films. In the international press, the critical reception of the film varied from great and mostly favourable reviews in Screen Daily, Indiewire, The Hollywood Reporter, Der Spiegel to mixed in Variety and negative in We Got this Covered. Syllas Tzoumerkas participated with the essay short film A Manifesto for the Un-Communal, in the omnibus documentary feature Out-of-Place, a German-Israeli production, recipient of the Shimon-Peres Prize 2018. A Manifesto for the Un-Communal had its world premiere as an individual short film at the Locarno International Film Festival 2017 (Out of Competition). In 2019, Syllas Tzoumerkas presented his third feature at the Berlin International Film Festival (Panorama). The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea, a co-production of Greece, Germany, Holland and Sweden, a crime thriller with horror and surrealist undertones, had its premiere at the Zoo Palast. It was nominated for the Panorama Award and the Teddy Award and New Europe Film Sales announced