January 24th 2012. On the day film lovers around the globe tuned in to find out this year's Oscar contenders, the world of cinema mourned the loss of one of its most respected figures. Greek award-winning film director Theo Angelopoulos died Tuesday night after suffering serious head injuries in a road accident in Athens.

The 77-year-old auteur, who’s numerous accolades, included a "Palme d'Or" at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for "Eternity and a Day”, was hit by a motorcycle while crossing a street near the set of his latest film, "The Other Sea." Renowned for his dreamlike sequences and slow narrative style, Angelopoulos worked with actors such as Harvey Keitel, Marcello Mastroianni, Bruno Ganz and Jeanne Moreau in a career spanning over four decades. His critically-acclaimed films focused on issues such as war, immigration and politics, while his latest movie was reported to look at the economic troubles faced by many Greeks under the squeeze of the financial crisis.

Theo Angelopoulos began to study law in Athens but broke up his studies to go to the Sorbonne in Paris in order to study literature. When he had finished his studies, he wanted to attend the School of Cinema at Paris but decided instead to go back to Greece. There he worked as a journalist and critic for the newspaper "Demokratiki Allaghi" until it was banned by the military after a coup d'état. Now unemployed, he decided to make his first movie, Reconstruction (1970). Internationally successful was his trilogy about the history of Greece from 1930 to 1970 consisting of Days of 36 (1972), The Travelling Players (1975), and The Hunters (1977). After the end of the dictatorship in Greece, Angelopoulos went to Italy, where he worked with RAI (and more money). His movies then became less political.