Film industry veteran Dimitri Eipides, whose lifetime of work helped shape Canada’s film festival landscape, has passed away at 82.

Eipides spent decades working in Canada’s film industry, co-founding the Montreal Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) – then called the Festival International du cinéma – with Claude Chamberlan in 1971. In its early days the festival brought in acclaimed international talents such as German directors Werner Schroeter and Werner Herzog, and American director Frederick Wiseman.

“As our 50th anniversary approaches, we learned today with great sadness that Dimitri Eipides has passed away following a lengthy illness,” said Nicolas Girard Deltruc, executive director of FNC, in a statement. “Dimitri played a very important role in discovering new talents and emerging filmmakers who later shot to international renown. We are very proud and grateful for all the work Dimitri did throughout his career and draw inspiration from him as we continue pursuing our mission.”

Eipides spent 28 years as a regional programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), introducing Canadians to cinema from Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Greece, before his departure in 2019. He helped introduce Iranian cinema to Western audiences, programming 26 films from Iran during his first year as a programmer at TIFF. He was given an honorary award by the Iranian  Ministry of Culture in 1993 for his efforts to promote Iranian cinema on the global stage.

“Dimitri was a pure, gentle soul and one of the most committed programmers and cinephiles I have ever known,” said Piers Handling, former TIFF CEO and executive director, in a statement. “I met Dimitri at the Berlinale, early in my days with TIFF. He knew cinema, had impeccable taste, and brought a certain kind of demanding film to Toronto. He knew the cinemas of Eastern Europe, but also Asia and Europe — he travelled extensively — and, despite his apparent shyness, was incredibly well-connected. It was through him that I met Béla Tarr, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Theo Angelopoulos, Cristian Mungiu, Abbas Kiarostami, and Goran Paskaljevic, to name just a few of the modern icons of cinema. He brought them all to Toronto. Dimitri was tireless when it came to cinema and programming. He fought like a tiger to bring extraordinary films to audiences around the world. He was one of the great pillars of TIFF. His legacy and love of good cinema will live on in those he touched. He will be missed.”

At the time of Eipides’ departure from TIFF, artistic director and co-head Cameron Bailey called him one of TIFF’s “founding curatorial voices” in a statement. “His legacy will never be forgotten,” he said.

Internationally, Eipides founded the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 1999 and served as director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. He was head programmer of the Reykjavik International Film Festival between 2005 and 2010.

“Dimitri Eipides taught us how to watch documentaries, how to discover filmmakers. Cinema was his life. In myth he found the anthropocentric stories that originate from reality,” wrote the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in a statement on his passing. “We will always remember him in front of a screen, watching a film, explaining passionately why it is ideal for a festival, ideal for our soul.”

Updated with a statement from Piers Handling, former TIFF CEO and executive director