 Having received an education as an electrician in the construction sector, he started working in the movies business in his early 20s, advancing from 2nd camera assistant to finally become a director of photography.Arvanitis has been an important figure in the Greek film industry, having worked on many films produced by Finos Films.In 1968, he worked on Theo Angelopoulos's first short film "Εκπομπή" (Broadcast).