The Sociopath

A man devoid of empathy leaves his dead mother's body to decay in the living room, until a neighbor accidentally sees it.

  • Yorgos Keramydas
    Director
  • Yorgos Keramydas
    Writer
  • Yorgos Keramydas
    Producer
  • Yorgos Keramydas
    Key Cast
  • Chryssa Thessalonikiou
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Crime
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    100 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Greece
  • Country of Filming:
    Greece
  • Language:
    Greek (Modern)
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Hellenic Open University
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Yorgos Keramydas

Yorgos Keramydas is an emerging filmmaker from Ptolemaida, Greece. His work is rooted in dark psychological storytelling, visual narration, suspense, and emotionally restrained characters. Since his early encounter with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, he has been drawn to films that create tension through atmosphere, silence, and suggestion.

He has directed several student and independent short films, frequently working across writing, directing, cinematography, editing, music, and color grading. This self-sufficient process has shaped a visual style focused on controlled compositions, symbolic objects, psychological unease, and the expressive use of light, rhythm, and sound.

He completed three years of theatre and acting workshops, with training in body and voice work, improvisation, acting methods, directing, scenography, and theatrical performance organization. He has also performed on stage, an experience that supports both his own screen performances and his work with actors as a director.

His films have received awards and nominations at independent festivals, including distinctions for editing, cinematography, soundtrack, experimental film, student short film, and no-dialogue cinema. His work often explores guilt, isolation, emotional distance, obsession, loss, and the hidden violence within intimate relationships.

Alongside filmmaking, he has a background in digital journalism, graphic design, music, theatre, and computer technology, elements that continue to support his independent, hands-on approach to cinema.

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Director Statement

This Experimental film was born from an exploration of the uncanny, the absurd, and the unsettling. I wanted to create a world devoid of empathy and justice, where reality is stripped of moral weight and actions exist without consequence. In doing so, my aim was to confront the audience with the true significance of justice and empathy—not through their presence, but through their absence—creating a sense of unease and challenging the familiar cinematic expectation.

Visually, the film embraces an expressionistic aesthetic, inspired by Suspiria’s unnatural color palettes and Hitchcock’s calculated framing. I approached the cinematography with a high-contrast, expressionistic style, allowing the colors to feel as if they emanate from the characters rather than merely illuminating them. The protagonist is wrapped in cold blue, symbolizing detachment and calm calculation, while red invades the frame in moments of impending violence. Pink, tied to the female character, suggests innocence, lightness—before it's inevitably snuffed out. Green, a presence of death and decay, forms a stark imbalance with the protagonist’s blue, a tension that resolves only when he himself absorbs the "evil" red.

Narratively, I wanted to construct a monologue-driven experience, immersing the viewer entirely in the protagonist’s disturbed inner world. There are no conventional dialogues, only his voice-over; his reality, as he perceives it. A man whose actions stem solely from personal discomfort rather than moral reasoning. The film explores the absurdity of violence when stripped of traditional motivation.

This was the most technically demanding film I have created, with complex lighting setups, self-directed acting, and precise blocking that required absolute control over every frame. Every detail was meticulously constructed to maintain a detached yet hyper-stylized world, one that reflects the protagonist’s mind rather than objective reality.