His short film The Fall and Rise of Lydia Von Burer won the first prize at the Festival du Cinema, Mediterranean in 1991.
His second feature film, Real Life (2004), a Greek - French co-production, became a critics' favorite in Greece, where it won the National Critics Award in 2004, and traveled to the International Toronto Film Festival at the Contemporary World Section.
[3] Strella (2009), a totally independent production, was filmed over a period of almost ten months with nearly all the roles played by non-professionals.
[6] Panos H. Koutras is openly gay, an LGBTQ+ activist, a founding member of Athens Pride and a constant advocate of human rights.
In an interview in the French newspaper Libération he highlighted the racism and hypocrisy prevailing in Greek society.