Efthimis Hatzis grew up in New York and studied Visual Communication & Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. As a scholarship holder, he continued his studies at the Master's level in Directing at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU). He was a student of Al Pacino, Sidney Lumet, Alan Alda, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese. For his thesis, he received a grant from Paramount Pictures. His short films have won many awards at international festivals. His first feature film, The Pink Shores, received international critical acclaim at festivals around the world. Efthimis Hatzis has created over 50 short fiction works for a program that includes high schools throughout Greece. He was the head writer for the series ΙΧΝΗ for the MEGA television channel. He directs television programs and commercials, and teaches directing at Aristotle University and New York College, where his students awarded him the prestigious Best Professor award in the Film Studies Department in 2006.