LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) announced on January 31 that novelist, screenwriter, film and television producer George Pelecanos will receive the 2023 Honorary Orpheus Award at the Festival’s Opening Night Ceremony on June 3 at the James Bridges Theatre UCLA and realized in collaboration with the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture.

Pelecanos’ longtime collaborator, producer and former HBO Executive Kary Antholis will present the award. “It’s one of the great honors and blessings of my life that I have known and been friends with George and his family for three decades,” said Antholis. “We have worked together on several occasions, and I treasure each of those experiences as a lesson in efficient and impactful storytelling. But beyond his prodigious professional gifts, George is about as great a friend as a human being can have.”

On June 4, George Pelecanos will present a masterclass hosted by Los Angeles City College for the benefit of aspiring filmmakers and film students. “The Cinema/TV Department at Los Angeles City College is honored to host LAGFF and George Pelecanos for this wonderful tribute,” stated Jen Vaughn, Cinema/TV Department Chair. “Our students are excited to learn about his career and passion for bringing fictional crime stories to life.”

The event will crown the 17th edition of the LAGFF, an organization that has a record of spotlighting major Greek-American artists and industry professionals.

“As an organization which is committed to bridging the Greek and American cultures and entertainment communities, we are thrilled to honor George Pelecanos, an exceptional Greek-American artist and contributor to the art of film and television,” said Ersi Danou, LAGFF Co-Founder.

LAGFF Artistic Director Aristotle Katopodis stated: “We are proud to recognize and honor George Pelecanos, a seminal American crime writer, a Greek-American artist that has helped shape the look and feel of modern television. Between The Wire and The Deuce, Mr. Pelecanos’ body of work lights up the American literary and television production space brightly.”

A prolific artist, Pelecanos is the recipient of numerous international writing awards. He is the author of 21 novels set in and around Washington, DC, and was a producer and writer on the HBO series The Wire, Treme, and The Pacific, and co-creator and showrunner of HBO’s The Deuce, and We Own This City.

“I cannot think of a better festival than the LAGFF to honor my longtime collaborator and producer George Pelecanos,” added LAGFF team member and writer/director Fay Efrosini Lellios. “And we are thrilled about his generous participation in a masterclass that will benefit students, filmmakers, and the filmmaking community.”

The 17th Annual LAGFF will run June 3-11. For more information on the Tribute and Masterclass, visit www.lagff.org.

LAGFF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that focuses its attention on bringing films and filmmakers from Greece, Cyprus, and the rest of the world to the United States. Over the past 16 years, LAGFF has screened over 520 films and hosted over 500 filmmakers supporting their films.