Edgar Rice Burroughs Legacy Award
This Years Recipient is Evan Spiliotopoulos
The Edgar Rice Burroughs Legacy Award, a distinguished honor established by the Tarzana International Film Festival (TZIFF), celebrates the indelible impact of Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of the most celebrated authors globally. Renowned for his creation of Tarzan, which inspired the name of the city of Tarzana, Burroughs’ legacy extends beyond this iconic character to include science-fiction masterpieces such as “John Carter and the Princess of Mars,” “The Land That Time Forgot,” and “At the Earth’s Core.” His works, which have been transformed into successful feature films, novels, motion pictures, and television shows, continue to captivate audiences around the world.
Initially presented to the Burroughs family in recognition of their dedication to preserving and advancing Edgar’s rich legacy, the award now annually honors an iconic screenwriter, director, or producer who embodies Burroughs’ spirit in the realms of action/adventure, fantasy, and science-fiction.
This year, the award proudly goes to Evangelos (Evan) Spiliotopoulos, a Greek-American storyteller acclaimed for his contributions to animated and live-action films. Spiliotopoulos was born in Greece, but moved to the United States and received a master’s degree in screenwriting. Spiliotopoulos wrote several animated projects for Walt Disney Pictures including, “Tarzan II”, “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” and “Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure” to name a few. In 2014, Spiliotopoulos wrote the screenplay for the action-adventure fantasy film “Hercules”, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and then wrote the screenplay for the action-adventure fantasy film “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”, starring Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron. Spiliotopoulos then wrote Disney’s hugely successful live action musical romantic fantasy film; Beauty and the Beast” starring Emily Watson and Luke Evans.
In 2021, he wrote the horror film “The Unholy” starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“The Walking Dead”) which also served as Evan Spiliotopoulos’ directorial debut. “The Unholy” was followed up by the big budget action/adventure “Snake Eyes”, a spin-off based on a character that’s part of the “G.I. Joe” cinematic universe.
Most recently, Spiliotopoulos wrote another horror feature film, “The Popes’ Exorcist” starring Russell Crowe which was a critical success and Evan is currently working on the sequel, along with many other exciting projects that are secretly under wraps for now.
The Tarzana International Film Festival is proud to honor and present Evan Spiliotopoulos with this years, “Edgar Rice Burroughs Legacy Award”.
