Panagiotis Salapatas was born in Australia in 1965. There he studied Theoretical Mathematics and Classical Literature in Translation Bachelor of Arts and continued in New York with studies in cinema, Bachelor of Fine Arts and then in Los Angeles with a Master of Fine Arts also in cinema

In 1997 he follows an exiled Sudanese priest from Kenya back to the Sudanese war where he carries much needed goods for his fellow villagers. His experiences are also mentioned in the book War and Faith in Sudan (published by Wm. B. Eardmans Publishing Co. 2005) by Gabriel Meyer, a fellow travel journalist.

In 1999 he works in the Philippines as a director of photography in the independent film production KAMO. In 1999 he returned permanently to Greece and created the film production company Two Stroke Films with Yiannis Fagras. He works as a cinematographer/cinematographer and co-producer in the film project Tell Morphine I'm Still Looking for her, which won the Panhellenic Union of Film Critics award at the Thessaloniki Festival in 2001. In 2006, he directed the documentary THE FOREST DANCES, which won the audience award at the PLATFORMA festival VIDEO. In 2008 he photographed the film SLAVES IN THEIR BOND directed by Toni Lykouresi. The film won ten awards at the Thessaloniki festival in 2009. At the end of 2008, he filmed the film FORGET ME NOT, directed by Yiannis Fagras. The film takes place in New Orleans and Alaska.

He works as a lecturer at Aristotle University in the Faculty of Fine Arts in the Department of Cinema.