Soulikias comes from an architectural background, having worked as an architectural assistant in the conservation of historic monuments in Greece and the UK.
“I definitely have an interest in historic places, and historic buildings,” he says. “As a first-year PhD candidate, this is a great opportunity for me to start producing and testing and seeing what the potentials are with this particular technique.”
This isn’t the first time Soulikias has based animation on architecture. The 2014 animated short, “Last Dance on the Main”, he made as an undergraduate student at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, made TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Student Shorts in 2015. It was screened at 65 festivals, including DOK Leipzig, the Ottawa International Animation Festival, and the American Documentary Festival.
Soulikias holds a BSc, Architecture and a BArch, Architecture from McGill University, an MA, Conservation Studies from the University of York, and a BFA Major with distinction in Film Animation from the Mel Hoppenhiem School of Cinema. He is now working on his PhD in Architecture and Film Animation under Concordia professors Carmela Cucuzzella (Design), Luigi Allemano (Film Animation), and Cynthia Hammond (Art History).
Soulikias thanks his supervisors for their support and is grateful to the Jorisch Family for, “dedicating their funds to the Arts”, which, to his view, “make life worth living by connecting people across time and place”.