Founder of Byzanfest, Chris Vlahonasios. It was in 2013 at the foothills of Meteora, one of the largest complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, that Chris Vlahonasios, a longtime cinephile, was first struck with the idea of creating a film festival with an Orthodox Christian focus. He quickly brushed the idea aside however, convinced it was a little too ambitious and that it could wait for another time, further cemented by a shocking discovery upon returning home to Melbourne. “My mum actually had advanced breast cancer and of course I just focused on helping her with her treatment,” Chris told Neos Kosmos . During that trying time, he started to feel a little hollow inside. Then one day while at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, he started to take note of the emphasis placed on the connection between health and creativity for patients. While he himself was […]