automatikfilms is the film and documentary collective formed by Grant Wilkinson and Niko Dayandas. Based in London and Athens, its 10 productions have won awards, television screenings and premieres at film festivals including the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Raindance and Rushes.
way back when...
A chance meeting in a cafe in London, six years ago, automatikfilms was born. Over mochas and Marlboros and many afternoons, Grant and Niko shared a mutual devotion to Truffaut, Paul Thomas Anderson and Godard, when dreams of becoming filmmakers became reality. Alasdair Maclean, of The Clientele gave them the their first commission, to make a short film that would be scored with the band’s music.
Informed by Vertov's vision of capturing surroundings with a kino-eye, and a dash of Di Chirico's architectural surrealism, the journey began, through fairgrounds and forests, armed with Niko’s father’s Super 8 camera. When this produced the stunning dream sequence they later named "C", they had no difficulty in giving themselves a title. The first foray into film had been automatik - organic, direct, naive yet knowing, filtered through a shared philosophy of cinema. The journey had truly begun...
