On its one-year anniversary, Ember Frames Founder Nicholas Franghias talks about his creative journey<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The word ember is often used metaphorically, reflecting the \u201clingering warmth of a memory, an everlasting soul, or a remaining spark of home when themes seem lost.\u201d And it\u2019s the perfect word to describe the work of award-winning filmmaker Nicholas Franghias, founder of Ember Frames, a motion picture company. On the eve of Ember Frames\u2019 one year anniversary, I had the opportunity to sit down with Nicholas to learn more. In this first in a multi-part series, Nicholas shares his beginnings, his journey to storytelling, and the spark that refused to be extinguished.<\/p>\n Born and raised in Athens, as were his parents, Franghias has roots in Constantinople, France, and Armenia. His maternal great grandfather, Matthew Rallis, was a scholar and merchant living in Constantinople. He was a prominent figure within the Greek Orthodox community with close ties to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the rise of the Neo\u2011Turks, whose nationalist policies targeted minority communities,\u201d Franghias explained, \u201chis work brought him into conflict with the new authorities, and the family was forced to flee Constantinople in 1913. Their entire estate \u2014 including their residence in Phanar and two country houses on the island of Halki \u2014 was confiscated.\u201d<\/p>\n Rallis rebuilt his life in Greece. He published the Herald of the East<\/em> newspaper and later established the Chamber of Commerce on the island of Lesvos, where his brothers lived, as well as on the neighboring island of Chios.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that blend of worlds \u2014 Paris, Constantinople, Athens \u2014 and the history carried by my ancestors gave me a sense of belonging to multiple cultures at once, a wide and layered heritage as a background.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Franghias\u2019 credits his paternal grandmother for shaping his sense of wonder.<\/p>\n \u201cLong before I understood what storytelling was, while my parents worked, she filled my days with language, history, and a quiet dignity that seemed to come from another era.\u201d<\/p>\n Fluent in five languages and \u201ccarrying the grace of the Constantinopolitan elite\u201d, she was a gifted storyteller.<\/p>\n \u201cShe fired up my imagination through stories. I remember being four years old, sitting at the table as she fed me and narrated Greek mythology with a vividness that felt cinematic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nicholas\u2019 first trip to the cinema left him in awe. As a boy, Nicholas\u2019 father took him and his younger brother to see The Adventures of Robin Hood<\/em><\/a> (1938). After, his family visited the cinema, and the experiences were significant in shaping his future path. One Greek film, The Teacher with the Blonde Hair<\/em><\/a> (1969), by stood out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe film was shot in widescreen CinemaScope (2.35:1), offering a visual experience unlike anything I had seen. I was seven. My mother had taken us to the early screening so I would still have time to do my homework afterward. But when the film ended, I refused to leave. I wanted to experience that magic again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n He stayed in the theater to watch it several more times. Arriving home late, he didn\u2019t finish his homework. The next day at school, he had to explain to his teacher why his homework was incomplete.<\/p>\n \u201cShe then banned me from watching a film in the school\u2019s screening hall with my classmates. \u00a0So I was locked alone in the classroom. When the teacher and my schoolmates returned, they found me standing proudly in front of the elongated blackboard \u2014 which reminded me of the CinemaScope screen format \u2014 completing a colored\u2011chalk drawing of the establishing shot of the village square from The Teacher with the Blonde Hair<\/em>. I remember my teacher calling her closest colleague from the adjacent classroom, and the two of them just standing there, staring at my drawing.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his school years, his teachers insisted that he had a gift, but his father dismissed it. \u201cHe said that all kids paint and draw, and in his mind, the arts were a \u2018weakness\u2019.\u201d Thus, he refused to recognize or encourage the burgeoning talent of his firstborn. But Nicholas was not deterred.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In 1973, his beloved Aunt Ellie took him to see The Sound of Music<\/em> <\/a>(1965) upon its reissue in Greece. Spellbound, the then-11-year-old felt a calling. \u201cMy soul was ignited, watching Julie Andrews in the prologue, twirling, singing. It was then that I knew that this what I wanted to devote my life to.\u201d<\/p>\n A week later, his aunt gifted him with the soundtrack. Soon, the soundtracks for My Fair Lady<\/em><\/a> (1964) and Fiddler on the Roof<\/em><\/a> (1971) were added to his collection. \u201cOnce I discovered Rodgers and Hammerstein II, I added works of other great songwriting teams.\u201d Listening to a constellation of symphonic film composers attracted him to films with sweeping scores. \u201cAnd from there, to the full breadth of cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n He studied piano and dreamed of composing show tunes for a great American movie musical. By high school, he was not only drawing. He also composed music, wrote lyrics, took photos, and crafted stories. All under the disapproving eye of his father.<\/p>\n Later he discovered the works of Manos Hatzidakis. And then a book in an American bookstore called The Making of a Musical<\/em> by Lehman Engel. \u201cI didn\u2019t speak English then, but I translated it myself and studied it.\u201d His self-led education led him to Aristotle\u2019s Poetics<\/em>. \u201cLearning the principles of three-act structure and it\u2019s sequences was invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n Building further, he devoured great films from the 60s and 70s, films like Lawrence of Arabia <\/em><\/a>(1962). \u201cTheir vast scope and anamorphic grandeur, with their imagery and their scores, excited me beyond musicals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Laying the foundation for his own craft took considerable time and he neglected his high school homework. Then his grandmother passed away. He found solace in music, painting, writing, and \u201cgoing to the movies constantly\u201d, which didn\u2019t sit well with his father. Nicholas was young, but he was also patient.<\/p>\n It was his ancient Greek teacher who made a difference. \u201cHe recognized and understood my grief. And my father\u2019s lack of support.\u201d He guided Nicholas, helped him catch up in class. Then he encouraged him to write longer stories. The teacher suggested that young Nicholas submit his first two novellas for the Hadjipateras Literary Prize, a distinction the school had introduced decades earlier. Nicholas won the prize in 1980 and 1981. He continued to attend the cinema as much as possible, devouring work after work. And studying.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Around that time, a classmate allowed him to look through the viewfinder of his 8mm film camera. The classmate urged Nicholas to film a short segment of friends in the schoolyard. \u201cIt was a landmark moment. It was the first time I saw the world framed through a movie-camera viewfinder. I caught the filmmaking bug instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n After devastating losses in his family, including the passing of his grandparents and aunts who had encouraged and supported him, and then the loss of the family business, his father relented. \u201cHis wish to honor my true vocation, the arts, was monumental. But at that time. Greece did not have an academically accredited film school and studying filmmaking abroad was unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n With his father\u2019s blessing, Nicholas took painting classes, in hopes of entering the Polytechnic School of Fine Arts. \u201cI failed the entrance exams. I had no interest in becoming a painter, illustrator, or sculptor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n After much begging, his father enrolled Nicholas in a private three-year film school for writing and directing. But the theory-bound environment and the heavily politicized anti-American sentiment, \u201cleft little room for the mainstream, commercially driven English-speaking cinema of the genres I envisioned.\u201d It was the early 80s, when the Greece was still raw from the Junta years. Nicholas wasn\u2019t interested in politics, only filmmaking, but had to tread lightly. \u201cI recall that even clothing carried ideological weight. You had to appear bohemian, casually free. A tie marked you as fascist. Mention Hollywood musicals at your own risk.\u201d But he charged ahead.<\/p>\n Longing for training grounded in Aristotelian three-act storytelling. Nicholas followed the principles he learned in Engel\u2019s book, and wrote the book, music, and lyrics for his first musical, Erinika!<\/em> (1982), an adaptation of Aristophanes\u2019 comedy Peace<\/em>. \u201cIts antiwar themes were a critique on warmongers and profiteers, revealing how they had imprisoned Peace itself, and the longing to end the Peloponnesian War.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholas produced it during the day and attended film classes in the evening. He assembled a troupe of film classmates plus dancers and chorus members. They rehearsed and performed in the auditorium at Lyc\u00e9e L\u00e9onin Franco-Hellenique high school, his alma mater. \u201cTheir generosity made our young production possible. It was my first direction, at age 19. We staged three spirited, packed house shows.\u201d<\/p>\n After one year, he left school. \u201cIt was clear that the culture was moving in the opposite direction of where I was heading.\u201d But he hadn\u2019t given up. On the contrary.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n That summer, he worked a part-time job and bought a \u201cMagic Bus\u201d ticket to Britain. \u201cI obtained a passport but told no one until the day before my trip.\u201d It didn\u2019t go over well, but he left anyway. Once in London, he threw away the return ticket and set out in search of Mr. Hadjipateras, of the literary prize.<\/p>\n Through the generosity of Hadjipateras, a shipbroker with a deep love of the arts, Nicholas attended film school in Britain. \u201cHe funded my studies and rent.\u201d But for his daily expenses, Nicholas took on part-time jobs, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the London Palladium, the Vaudeville Theatre in London\u2019s West End. And later, at Thorn EMI Studios and BBC World\u2019s Greek Service. In time, he earned support \u2013 moral and financial \u2013 from his parents.<\/p>\n During that period, he presented a concept and several compositions to MCA Music in London. \u201cIt was a pop\/rock musical. Think Cats<\/em>, but with spirits and a graveyard.\u201d He won a preliminary six-month songwriting contract. They recorded six of his songs, and the company hoped to take the collaboration to the next stage. \u201cThey asked that I register as a self-employed composer in Britain rather than an continue under my status as an overseas student. But Greece was not yet part of the European Community and the legal implications and delays were considerable. That was the end of our collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his four years in London, he continued honing his craft. Nicholas worked independently on drawings, poems, photographs, and private musical collections.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Then Nicholas returned to Greece for his national military service. During that time, his beloved Aunt Ellie invited him over. She wanted to hear the work he had composed during his time in London. He played them for her on the piano. Impressed, she financed studio recordings. Several of those compositions are part of one of his current projects.<\/p>\n Growing up \u201cin the birthplace of dramatic storytelling\u201d set him on the road to storytelling. But these collective experiences from his youth shaped his work as an artist, composer, screenwriter, and filmmaker. \u201cThese are the forces that lit my fire and shaped my imagination and purpose. Many people defined and supported my journey. I was fortunate to receive continued support as I moved to the US, and still today.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholas\u2019 unorthodox path fueled his passion for his work, and his creativity knows no bounds. Like embers, his drive and inner strength kept him going during hard times. They also symbolize what can grow from small beginnings.<\/p>\n In Part 2, Nicholas reveals more of his early work, including the award-winning Lisippos<\/em> (1996). Then, in Part 3, we\u2019ll discuss the founding of Ember Frames and his multiple projects currently in development.<\/p>\n For more information about Ember Frames, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bestselling Author Christopher Cosmos Revisits the Battle of Crete<\/p>\n #WeAreGreekWarriors Exhibition Draws Diverse Audiences to Hellenic Museum of Michigan<\/p>\n Actress Angeliki Papoulia Talks \u2018Arcadia\u2019 and New York Greek Film Expo<\/p>\nGreek-born<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/picture>Inspiration for storytelling<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Intro to the cinema<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Nicholas](\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ncicholas-Franghias-and-Ellie-Franghia.jpg\")
Musical influence<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Early stories<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A landmark moment<\/strong><\/h3>\n
First film school and musical production<\/strong><\/h3>\n
London or bust<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Back to Greece and beyond<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Also by Maria A. Karamitsos<\/strong><\/h4>\n