Greek Film Festival 2006

Opening Night Film

CHARITON’S CHOIR/ I Horodia tou Haritona

Dir. Grigoris Karantinakis

Cast: George Chorraface, Stefanos Karantinakis, Maria Nafpliotou, Akyllas Karazissis, Christos Steryioglou, Alexandros Logothetis, Ilektra Nikolouza, Vassilis Kolovos, Yvonni Maltezou, Dimitris Piatas, Spyros Stavrinios.

The politics of individuality versus autocratic rule is also the theme of Chariton’s Choir, a comedy/drama by Greek director Grigoris Karantinakis, which stars Greek superstar George Corraface as a bohemian school principal whose free-thinking spirit will not be crushed by the fascistic military after their 1967 coup d’etat.

Chariton Ulianov has one great love: Life! That great love affair however does not hamper him in his pursuit of everyday pleasures. His position as School Principal in a provincial town on the island of Corfu gives him the opportunity to disseminate his own unique philosophy especially to the students that participate in his greatest passion: the choir. His tender and playful outlook on life is an inspiration to his students who find themselves facing all the challenges of adolescence in a Greece which is itself facing the challenges of life under dictatorship.

Contemporary Films

SIRENS IN THE AEGEAN/ Sirines sto Egeo

Dir. Nikos Perakis

Cast: Yannis Tsimitselis, Yorgos Seitaridis, Ioannis Papazisis, Orfeas Avgoustidis, Socratis Patsikas, Stelios Ksanthoudakis, Vassilis Haralabopoulos, Renos Haralambidis, Vicky Kaya, Tugce Seitaridi, Arzu Yanardag, Muge Bakircioglou, Metin Belgin, Aris Bafaloukas, Apostolis Totsikas

This farcical tale revolves around the impounding of a Turkish yacht by Greek sailors after its captain attempts to put a group of illegal immigrants ashore on a small Greek island. Also on the yacht are two women and a camera crew bound for a beauty competition on the Turkish island of Bodrum. Tempers fray, passions flare and stereotypes and prejudices come to the fore as the two sides try to communicate. The outcome is the involvement of both countries in the incident resulting in several comic situations.

The film is a sequel to the director’s original movie Loafing & Camouflage released in 1984.

LOAFING AND CAMOUFLAGE/ Loufa Kai Parallaghi

Dir. Nikos Perakis

Cast: Nikos Kalogeropoulos, Yiorgos Kimoulis, Takis Spyridakis, Fotis Polychronopoulos, Yannis Hatziyannis, Paris Tselios, Stavros Xenidis, Andreas Filippidis, Christos Valavanidis, Antonis Theodorakopoulos, Nikos Tsachiridis, Tania Kapsali, Ifigenia Makati, Rocky Taylor, Dimitris Poulikakos, Antonis Maniatis

A cult classic Greek movie by Nikos Perakis, which was recently followed with the sequel in 2005, Sirens in the Aegean.

During the military takeover by the junta in 1967, a group of neophyte soldiers are assigned to duty in the dictatorship-run television station, a prospect, which is totally new to them. Overcoming boredom, they begin to produce comical and subtly subversive programs in this satirical look at life under Fascism.

A DOG'S DREAM/ To Oneiro tou Skylou

Dir. Angelos Frantzis

Cast Konstantinos Markoulakis, Aris Servetalis, Christos Stergioglou, Argyris Xafis, Evangelia Samiotaki, Peggy Trikalioti, Lina Sakka, Markos Lezes, Fotini Baxevani

A man overhears a description of a dream about an unusual robbery, then returns home to find his own apartment mysteriously cleaned out. This is just the first in a series of inexplicable events that occur in Athens that night. A red-headed hooker with apparent magical powers and a policeman with unorthodox methods also figure in this enigmatic portrait of the Athenian night world.

HONEY AND THE PIG/ Loukoumades me meli

Dir. Olga Malea

Cast: Christos Loulis, Faye Xyla, Pavlos Haikalis, Fotini Baxevani, Spyros Kitsanellis, Sofia Filippidou, Dimitris Piatas, Haris Mavroudis, Vladimiros Kyriakidis

A young man pursues his molester but events quickly get out of control. Pots of honey, a sweet-toothed piglet, a perverted uncle, a sexy hearse-driver, a wandering dietician and hundreds of villagers mingle in an outrageously original comedy.

Olga Malea, Greece’s well-known filmmaker and a professional psychologist, tackles the issue of child sexual abuse through a surreal sense of humor and a Balkan landscape.

THE HEART OF THE BEAST/ I kardia tou ktinous

Dir. Renos Haralambidis

Cast: Renos Haralambidis, Yorgos Voultzatis, Manos Vakoussis, Alkis Panayotidis, Tzina Thliveri, Yannis Zouganelis, Mara Darmousli, Elisavet Constantinidou, Giannis Bostantzoglou Dimitris Starovas, Dimos Gigantakis, Yorgos Velentzas, Marina Tavoulari

A comic drama of three male friends from high school coming together again years later to solve their problems in an unusual way. When egocentric Stephanos is discharged from the army, he feels the world belongs to him. However, the only things he really possesses are the debts his mother left him and rejection from his girlfriend. When Nikos proposes they rob a bank, Stephanos plunges into the brutality but also the magic of real life on his way to maturity.

Documentaries

UNPLANNED/ Ektos Schediou

Dir. Menios Ditsas

Cast: Narrators: Eva Kotamanidou, Christos Tsangas

This documentary features the Gypsy community, their origins, their history and the daily problems they face in Greece. Their special social characteristics, their nomadic perception of life, childhood, work, education, their social mores and traditions, their musical skill, their weddings and celebrations. A special element of this film is the attempt to fuse the narration with the tales of the gypsies and excerpts from Costis Palamas’ poem “The Twelve Words of the Gypsy”.

Tragedies

ELECTRA/ Elektra

Dir. Michael Cacoyannis

Cast: Irene Papas, Yannis Fertis, Aleka Katselli, Theano Ioannidou, Notis Peryalis, Takis Emmanuel, Phoebus Rhazis, Manos Katrakis

Music by Mikis Theodorakis.

Greek director Michael Cacoyannis to the screen Euripides’ tragedy of a troubled woman trapped in a cycle of murder and revenge. Irene Papas is outstanding as the doomed heroine.

Electra is the daughter of King Agamemnon, who ruled over Mycenae. When Agamemnon was murdered by his queen and her lover, Electra was confined within her father’s castle while her brother Orestes fled for safety. Years pass and hard times overcome the people of the land. Electra is married off to an older peasant man, and effectively exiled from her rightful place as Princess of Mycenae.

At once dark artistic and moving, Electra is a powerful film. Its black and white cinematography by Walter Lassally is as symbolic and fiercely provocative as any Greek tragedy could ever hope to be.

THE TROJAN WOMEN

Dir. Michael Cacoyannis

Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold, Irene Papas, Patrick Magee, Brian Blessed, Alberto Sanz

Euripides' classic tragedy brought to the screen by a star-studded cast of actresses. Hecuba, queen of Troy, leads this ensemble of women in a passionate, proto-feminist condemnation of war and its atrocities. Troy has been conquered by the Greeks. Hecuba and the other women find their city in ruins and their cause lost; they will be assigned by lot to become the concubines of Greek leaders.

IPHIGENIA

Dir. Michael Cacoyannis. Music by Mikis Theodorakis.

Cast: Irene Papas, Tatiana Papamoschou, Kostas Kazakos, Costas Carras, Christos Tsagas, Panos Mihalopoulos, Dimitri Aronis

The Greek army is about to set sail to wage war on Troy, but the winds refuse to blow. Their leader, King Agamemnon, accidentally slays a sacred deer. His punishment from the gods is to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia.

Based on the classic Greek tragedy by Euripides (485-406 BC.), Michael Cacoyannis' film is both stunning and moving. A talented cast, headed by Irene Papas, give first-rate performances and do wonders with this stirring ancient drama.

The film brilliantly captures the stark mood of the myth.

Nominated Golden Palm Cannes Film Festival 1977

Nominated Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film 1978

Family Films

THE CANARY YELLOW BICYCLE/ To Canarini Podilato

dir. Dimitris Stavrakas

1999 | Rating: Session where persons under 15 may be admitted, when accompanied by an adult
Greece | 35mm | 90 minutes | In Greek with English subtitles

Cast: Dimitris Alexandris, Yorgos Halaris, Manos Vakousis, Thanos Grammenos, Nikos Yorgakis, Alexandra Pandelaki.

When Aris Skourtis is hired to teach 6th grade in an Athens elementary school, he takes a personal interest in Lefteris, an almost illiterate kid who's laughed at by his classmates. He decides to help the child find a way out of its predicament, only to find his efforts thwarted by all sorts of obstacles, not the least of which is the distrust of Lefteris himself.

THE FLEA/ O Psyllos

Dir. Dimitris Spyrou

1990 | Rating: Session where persons under 15 may be admitted, when accompanied by an adult
Greece | 35mm | 108 minutes | In Greek with English subtitles

Cast Pantelis Trivizas, Vassilis Kolovos, Dimitra Hatoupi, Amalia Ghiza, Dimitris Spyrou, Costoula Tsellou

The "Flea" is a handwritten little newspaper written, edited and published by Ilias, a determined twelve year-old schoolboy who lives in a remote village in the mountains near ancient Olympia. His efforts go largely unappreciated by his elders, who tease him and nickname him "The Flea", and his concerned parents are convinced his preoccupation with his newspaper will distract him from more serious studies and forbid him to continue it. Ilias' only allies are a quixotic eccentric and a sensitive schoolgirl. The villagers' scoffing at Ilias' ambitions changes to admiration when an Athenian journalist shows up to do a story on Ilias. He becomes disheartened, however when he realizes much of their enthusiasm stems from hopes for increased tourism spurred by his fame and he distrusts the journalist's motives as well. In the end he chooses the road less traveled much as he always has done. To paraphrase a well-known saying: "Children are too serious a matter to be left in the hands of film directors". Dimitris Spyrou, however, handles his subject with the same devotion, skill and sensitivity that Ilias "publishes" his paper.

Classics

ISOFERINA

Dir. Alekos Sakellarios

Cast: Aliki Vougiouklaki, Alekos Alexandrakis, Maro Kodou, Giorgos Konstadinou, Vasilis Avlonitis, Costas Hajihristos, Giorgos Panjas, Dionysis Papayannopoulos, Joly Garbi, Keti Lampropoulou, Alkis Yannakas,

Tassos Yannopoulos, Cleo Skouloudi, Theodoros Katsadramis

Mary lends her car to her friend Lili (wife of jealous Mihalis) who wants it for meeting her new boyfriend. But Lili has an accident and returns the car in a very bad condition. To cover for her friend, Mary tells her husband Nikos that she is responsible. Things become more complicated when Mary goes to the court accused of the accident.

A cast of first-rate actors and good dialogue make this movie shine, oh, and the courtroom scene is one of the funniest in Greek film history.

Closing Night Film

FADING LIGHT/ To Fos Pou Svini

dir. Vasilis Douros

2001 | Rating: Session where persons under 15 may be admitted, when accompanied by an adult
Greece | 35mm | 100 minutes | In Greek with English subtitles

With: Alekos Alexandrakis, Viki Volioti, Vladimir Golosinski, Elissavet Naslidou, Dimitris Mavropoulos, Babis Hatzidakis, Stella Yanni, Alkis Kourkoulos, Takis Spyridakis, Thanos Kanousis.

On the tiny island of Halki, near Rhodes, 12-year-old Hristos is a musically talented loner who regularly skips school to spend time with an old lighthouse keeper. Hristos is slowly going blind from a rare eye disease, and, with no encouragement from his divorced mother, finds inspiration for his violin playing in the natural sounds of the island. Only with the steady encouragement of a new teacher, Maria, does Hristos slowly bloom.