Smuggling Hendrix[/caption]
The 12th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) running June 4-10 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood revealed its 2018 program selection. The Festival lineup includes 11 feature films, 15 documentaries, 27 shorts, as well as industry-lead roundtables, panels and masterclasses.
LAGFF celebrates the best new films from Greek filmmakers worldwide and promotes Greek cinema and cultural exchange while bridging the gap between the filmmakers and Hollywood. “Greek Cinema continues to impress and produce,” explains Artistic & Festival Director Aristotle Katopodis. “Greek filmmakers keep winning major awards at international film festivals and we are proud to host over 50 of the best and most innovative Greek films from around the world, for the 12th time. Greece is vigorously entering the incentives arena for international productions, and FILMING IN GREECE is one of our themes to explore this year.”
Themes for the 2018 Festival
• Music and how it informs Greek films.
• Greeks in the Academy, A tribute to the Greek artists who have received an Academy Award or Oscar Nomination since 1935.
• Filming in Greece, the new financing laws, incentives and rebates.
Opening Night (June 4 at 7pm) begins with a screening of the West Coast premiere of “1968” directed by Tassos Boulmetis at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater. 1968 is the story of how the well-known Greek basketball team A.E.K. founded in 1924 by refugees from Constantinople, beat SLAVIA of Prague to win the European Cup at Kallimarmaro Stadium, and changed Greek history forever. The evening launches the strategic collaboration of LAGFF and the newly established UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. The screening will be followed by Q & A with Boulmetis (a Bruin alumnus) and a reception in his honor.
Opening Night (June 6 at 7pm) – The West Coast premiere of Marios Piperides’ comedy “Smuggling Hendrix” will open LAGFF at the Egyptian on June 6. The award winning film recently garnered “Best International Narrative Feature” at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Filmmakers will be in attendance, and the red carpet evening includes the screening, a catered reception in the Egyptian’s iconic courtyard and a special performance by popular singer Ariana Savalas. In “Smuggling Hendrix,” Yiannis, a fading musician, is planning to leave crisis-ridden Cyprus for a better life abroad. His plans are put on hold when his dog Jimi runs away and crosses the UN buffer zone to the occupied side of the island. Through the simple story of a man who searches for his dog, Smuggling Hendrix gives a vivid demonstration of how the fences we build, both real and imagined, between ourselves and others, can be broken down once we recognize the familiarity in the face of the unknown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYRMWhLoAEA
Closing Night (June 10) – The West Coast premiere of Thodoris Atheridis’ “Perfect Strangers” will close LAGFF at the Egyptian, followed by the star-studded Orpheus Awards Ceremony, a catered Greek reception and live entertainment (TBA) under the stars in the courtyard. This delightful comedic film involves seven friends who meet for dinner on a Friday night. An idea emerges. Every text and call they receive through the night must be shared with the whole group. When the game forces complete transparency, secrets are revealed and relationships are deeply threatened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72lwuge9wI
The Orpheus Awards are given to the outstanding new films in the dramatic, documentary and short film category. The theme of this year’ ceremony is “The Academy of Greeks”, paying tribute to Greek artists who have received an Academy Award or Oscar Nomination since 1935. The Best Supporting Actor of “West Side Story”, George Chakiris, will be one of the honorees this year with actress Rita Moreno presenting his Award.Los Angeles Greek Film Festival
The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) showcases new films from Greece and Cyprus, and includes works by international filmmakers of Greek descent. The Festival’s Orpheus Award is named for the legendary Greek poet and “father of songs” and is the annual prize honoring the best in Greek and Greek inspired cinema. Since the Festival’s inception in 2007, the awards night has become an integral event serving to highlight filmmakers who are changing the way we think about film.
Los Angeles Greek Film Festival started in 2007 and takes place in Los Angeles, CA, USA
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12th Los Angeles Greek Film Festival Reveals Premieres, Opens with Marios Piperides’ Comedy SMUGGLING HENDRIX
[caption id="attachment_28552" align="aligncenter" width="1392"] Smuggling Hendrix[/caption]
The 12th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) running June 4-10 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood revealed its 2018 program selection. The Festival lineup includes 11 feature films, 15 documentaries, 27 shorts, as well as industry-lead roundtables, panels and masterclasses.
LAGFF celebrates the best new films from Greek filmmakers worldwide and promotes Greek cinema and cultural exchange while bridging the gap between the filmmakers and Hollywood. “Greek Cinema continues to impress and produce,” explains Artistic & Festival Director Aristotle Katopodis. “Greek filmmakers keep winning major awards at international film festivals and we are proud to host over 50 of the best and most innovative Greek films from around the world, for the 12th time. Greece is vigorously entering the incentives arena for international productions, and FILMING IN GREECE is one of our themes to explore this year.”
Themes for the 2018 Festival
• Music and how it informs Greek films.
• Greeks in the Academy, A tribute to the Greek artists who have received an Academy Award or Oscar Nomination since 1935.
• Filming in Greece, the new financing laws, incentives and rebates.
Opening Night (June 4 at 7pm) begins with a screening of the West Coast premiere of “1968” directed by Tassos Boulmetis at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater. 1968 is the story of how the well-known Greek basketball team A.E.K. founded in 1924 by refugees from Constantinople, beat SLAVIA of Prague to win the European Cup at Kallimarmaro Stadium, and changed Greek history forever. The evening launches the strategic collaboration of LAGFF and the newly established UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. The screening will be followed by Q & A with Boulmetis (a Bruin alumnus) and a reception in his honor.
Opening Night (June 6 at 7pm) – The West Coast premiere of Marios Piperides’ comedy “Smuggling Hendrix” will open LAGFF at the Egyptian on June 6. The award winning film recently garnered “Best International Narrative Feature” at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Filmmakers will be in attendance, and the red carpet evening includes the screening, a catered reception in the Egyptian’s iconic courtyard and a special performance by popular singer Ariana Savalas. In “Smuggling Hendrix,” Yiannis, a fading musician, is planning to leave crisis-ridden Cyprus for a better life abroad. His plans are put on hold when his dog Jimi runs away and crosses the UN buffer zone to the occupied side of the island. Through the simple story of a man who searches for his dog, Smuggling Hendrix gives a vivid demonstration of how the fences we build, both real and imagined, between ourselves and others, can be broken down once we recognize the familiarity in the face of the unknown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYRMWhLoAEA
Closing Night (June 10) – The West Coast premiere of Thodoris Atheridis’ “Perfect Strangers” will close LAGFF at the Egyptian, followed by the star-studded Orpheus Awards Ceremony, a catered Greek reception and live entertainment (TBA) under the stars in the courtyard. This delightful comedic film involves seven friends who meet for dinner on a Friday night. An idea emerges. Every text and call they receive through the night must be shared with the whole group. When the game forces complete transparency, secrets are revealed and relationships are deeply threatened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72lwuge9wI
The Orpheus Awards are given to the outstanding new films in the dramatic, documentary and short film category. The theme of this year’ ceremony is “The Academy of Greeks”, paying tribute to Greek artists who have received an Academy Award or Oscar Nomination since 1935. The Best Supporting Actor of “West Side Story”, George Chakiris, will be one of the honorees this year with actress Rita Moreno presenting his Award.
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AMERIKA SQUARE to Open, SON OF SOFIA to Close 2017 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_17461" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Amerika Square[/caption]
The West coast premiere of Yannis Sakaridis’ award-winning Amerika Square (Plateia Amerikis) will open the 11th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival on Wednesday, June 7. Nakos, a banal racist, had enough of the thousands of refugees in his neighborhood, Amerika Square in the center of Athens. Tarek, a Syrian ex-Military doctor, is looking for a deal to smuggle out of Greece with his daughter. Billy, a tattoo artist, falls in love with Tereza, an African singer who is also looking for an escape by the sea. The three stories merge, while time is running out for everyone. Amerika Square took the FIPRESCI award at the 2016 Thessaloniki Film Festival.
Thursday, June 8, has several films and documentaries including the world premiere of Anastasios Papapostolou’s short documentary The Greek that follows the story of one-armed Greek boxer Vaggelis ‘Cobra’ Chatzis.
Nikos Koundouros’ The Ogre of Athens (Oh Drakos) also screens on Thursday. The film, marked a departure role for comic actor Dinos Iliopoulos. Iliopoulos plays a mousy, timid man who, due to mistaken identity, becomes embroiled in a high crime life and death situation. THE OGRE OF ATHENS has been consistently voted the number one Greek film of all time by the Hellenic Film Critics’ Association. The screening is LAGFF’s homage to the director and his works following his passing this February at age 90. This screening is free to the public to attend.
Late night spot on Thursday belongs to the west coast premiere of Petros Charalambous’ Boy On The Bridge (To Agori Sti Gefyra”). The drama is based on a novel by the British-Cypriot Eve Makis who penned the script with Stavros Pamballis. The film is the true story of a boy whose idyllic life in a Mediterranean village is disturbed by a crime that claims his innocence.
Friday’s schedule includes the screening of – Michele Poulos’ documentary and Los Angeles premiere A Late Style Of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet which chronicles the writer’s childhood, three marriages, friendships with other famous poets and self-destructive behavior.
Babis Tsokas’ documentary and west coast premiere Our Own Maria Callas, a voyage into the mythical world of the famous soprano, will also be shown, in a tribute to Callas’ passing away 40 years ago. Our Own Maria Callas is free and open to the public.
Saturday’s program includes a screening and Los Angeles premiere of writer-director Clio Fanouraki’s uplifting first feature Xamou. This second coming of age story finds Georges Corraface (A Touch Of Spice) an aging hotel promoter recently out of work and job prospects, fighting depression until his wife lures him outside of his self-imposed exile. He discovers a renewed life and career as his family and neighbors reintroduce him to the wonders and beauty of his home island of Crete. This spectacularly visual film is edited by Yorgos Mavropsaridis (The Lobster, Dogtooth).
Swing Away John O’Hurley, Shannon Elizabeth star in Michael A. Nickles drama about a professional golfer who travels to her grandparents in Greece to avoid the harsh spotlight and Sofia Exarchou’s new Greek Cinema feature PARK about Athens Olympic Village, ten years after the Games, where wilding youths, injured retired athletes and stray dogs roam among ruins and decaying sports venues.
Before each feature and throughout the festival is an array of short narratives and documentaries from up and coming as well as established filmmakers.
Shorts include Daphne Matziaraki’s Academy Award ® nominated 4.1 Miles which will play before Amerika Square opening night. Friday Giannis Ziogkase’s Ethnophobia will play with Boy On The Bridge. The west coast premiere of Phedon Papamichael’s dramatic short A Beautiful Day, written by Angeliki Giannakopoulos and starring James Brolin and Francis Fisher will screen with the U.S. premiere of Sotiris Tsafoulias’ feature crime thriller The Other Me.
Sunday ushers in a new documentary slot from 12:00 – 4:00 P.M. including well known sports filmmaker Constantine Papanicolaou’s U.S. premiere of Frozen Ambrosia about his skiing adventure on Greece’s Mount Olympus and about the little-known winter tourism in Greece and the world premiere of George Lagdaris’ With The Hoes And The Terrarium Forks chronicling evolution of the village of Zagora which developed cooperatively over the last 100 years and passes on this tradition from generation to generation.
[caption id="attachment_21925" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
The family (Thanasis Papageorgiou, Valery Tscheplanow, Victor Khomut) watches TV in SON OF SOFIA. Photo credit: Dionysis Eftimiopoulos.[/caption]
Closing the Festival is the west coast premiere of Elina Psykou’s drama Son Of Sofia. In April, the film took Best Picture in the International Narrative Feature Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. Psykou, known for The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, has created a dark fairy tale featuring 11-year-old Misha, a young Russian boy who is brought to Athens by his mother to live and is surprised to learn she has remarried. Misha’s imagination soon takes over to protect him from his new life, and he creates a journey that puts make believe against stark reality.
The festival will finally wrap with the Orpheus Awards that honor the best of the Festival’s feature, short and documentary films as voted by the 2017 Jury with one film receiving the Orpheus Audience Award honor. Also, the festival selects one filmmaker or actor whose contributions to the entertainment industry have exceeded those of their peers. This year, the festival honoree is Oscar-winning writer/producer/director Alexander Payne. Payne will receive the Orpheus for his contributions to worldwide entertainment and the preservation of film itself.
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Lineup Unveiled for 10th Anniversary of Los Angeles Greek Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_13899" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]
Worlds Apart[/caption]
The 2016 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, celebrating its tenth anniversary, will run June 1 to 5, 2016 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA.
This year’s festival will showcase more films, Q&A’s and festivities than ever before including a collaboration with Athens International CulinaryFilm Festival (AICFF) and a Gastronomical Sidebar complete with cuisine themed entertainment and top chef cooking demonstration with tasting.
The 2016 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival will kick off with the North American premiere of Tassos Boulmetis’ bittersweet comedy “Mythopathy “(Notias) on Wednesday, June 1. The story is set during the 1970s military junta in Greece and follows a young boy, Stavros, as he copes with the ever changing social and political climate by reinventing established Greek myths and creating his own versions. This is the third feature from the award-winning “Touch of Spice” director. “Mythopathy” stars Hellenic Academy awardwinners Themis Panou (“Miss Violence”), Maria Kallimani (“Sto Spiti”) and introduces Giannis Niaros in his first feature starring role among others. Tasos Boulmetis, a former UCLA assistant professor and film school Alum, will be in attendance
The Closing Night film will be Christopher Papakaliatis’ “Worlds Apart” in its debut outside of Greece. The film stars Academy Award® winner J.K. Simmons. “Worlds Apart” is the highest grossing Greek film since 2009, notably surpassing box office numbers in Greece for the long-awaited 2015 blockbusters “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Spectre”. “Worlds Apart” fosters three separate narratives each following a love story between a foreigner and a Greek. Each story represents a different generation falling in love during a time of socioeconomic turmoil that dominates Southern Europe as a whole, only to connect with a single story in the end. Christopher Papakaliatis and J.K. Simmons will be present for their film’s North American premiere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=94D1XC83i3o
Following the screening is the star-studded Orpheus Awards Ceremony where J.K. Simmons will receive the 2016 Orpheus at the ceremony hosted by “American Beauty” star Mena Suvari.
Thursday, June 2 LAGFF will have a special tribute to iconic Greek director Alexis Damianos with a screening of the all-time favorite masterpiece “Evdokia” in its original 35mm format. First released in 1971, this Greek/UK co-production is a love story between a prostitute (Evdokia) and a sergeant (Yorgos). The film features an original Manos Loizos’ Rembetico musical piece and stars the late Maria Vassilou (Chrysothemis) and Chris Zorbas (Silhouettes). In 2002, the Greek Film Critics Association voted Evdokia as one the 5 best Greek films of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRedRJeihbw
Thursday also offers writer/director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s critically acclaimed comedy “Chevalier”. Tsangari, who is attending this year’s festival, will also be conducting a Directing Master Class on Saturday, June 4 which is open to the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b10Bc8mVbHo
There is something for every Cinephile on Friday, June 3 when the Festival screens 15 films beginning at 4:00 P.M. The TGIF program includes a searing look at relationships with Panos Karkanevatos’ “Riverbanks” (Ohthes) and Dimitri Anthanitis’ drama “Invisible”. Representative of Friday’s documentary offerings is Loukas Stamellos’ “Golden Dawn: A Personal Affair” about the Greek neo-Nazi party “Golden Dawn” and Vasilis Katsoupis’ “My Friend Larry Gus” about the Milan, Italy-based electronic artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9_8H33wloc
Preceding all narrative and documentary films is a litany of the best creative shorts of 2015 and 2016. Highlights include Haris Pantelidakis comedy “Pacino’s Way”, Nikos Tsemberopoulos’, “Simon Says” winner of the Grand Prize of the Competition Section Greek Film Short Film of the 21st Athens International Film Festival ‘Opening Nights’,Christos Liakouris’ family drama and festival circuit favorite “Pet” and “Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage’s 2016 Oscar Winner for Short Film (Live Action). Michael Paledimos, “Stutterer’s” Producer will be in attendance for the film with Q&A to follow.
On Thursday June 2 and Saturday, June 4, LAGFF proudly hosts the films of the Athens International Culinary Film Festival (AICFF.ORG). The Gastronomical sidebar will offer savory treats like the moving yet joyful coming of age documentary from director Angelos Abatzoglou’s “Mustafa’s Sweet Dreams”; Taso Boulmetis award-winning relationship drama “A Touch of Spice” starring George Corraface as a forty-year-old chef who returns to Istanbul after years of exile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7nIP0wm6_4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioZyZQUDTY
World-renowned award-winning chef, Doxis Bekris will be on hand to offer up a tantalizing cooking demonstration in the Egyptian courtyard with tastes of Greek cuisine for all in attendance.
New this year, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Professor of Classics Katerina Zacharia instituted an Interdisciplinary Core course on “Representations of Greece: Ancient and Modern” with embedded student internships at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. The 16 LMU-LAGFF interns and Prof. Zacharia assisted in the selection of this year’s program. LAGFF designated an LMU Special Selection slot at 10 pm on Saturday, June 4th 2016, during which the LAGFF-LMU interns selected Angelos Frantzis modern fantasy drama “Symptom” and the short “Pet” by Christos Liakouris for their screening.
For the first time in Festival history, LAGFF is opening its screenings free of charge to all college students with a valid student ID. Discounted tickets to the Opening and Closing Night Galas for eligible students will also be offered.
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7th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Announces 2013 Film Lineup, METEORA to Open and MITSIGAN-HARDSHIPS AND BEAUTIES to Close the Festival
[caption id="attachment_3828" align="alignnone" width="550"]
METEORA[/caption]
The 7th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival – LAGFF to run June 6-9, at the Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills announced its 2013 Program.
The program includes Opening Night film, Spiros Stathoulopoulos’ drama, METEORA, which debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and Closing Night film, Kimon Tsakiris’ (SUGARTOWN) documentary, MITSIGAN – HARDSHIPS AND BEAUTIES.
Spiros Stathoulopoulos’ US premiere of the period drama, METEORA, starring Theo Alexander (TRUE BLOOD) is set in a 12th century monastery in Greece. METEORA, an official selection of the Berlin Film Festival is the story of an illicit love affair between a Greek Orthodox monk and a Russian Orthodox nun.
[caption id="attachment_3829" align="alignnone" width="550"]
MITSIGAN – HARDSHIPS & BEAUTIES[/caption]
Kimon Tsakiris’ new film, MITSIGAN – HARDSHIPS & BEAUTIES, is about Mitsos “Mitsigan” Tsiganos, a modern-day Greek cowboy and the owner of “Hardships & Beauties”, a vegetable and fruit farm in southwestern Greece. The story follows Mitsigan on a journey throughout that region’s farming area, as he meets with old and new friends and comes to the realization that his country will never be the same again.
[caption id="attachment_3830" align="alignnone" width="550"]
BOY EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD[/caption]
Other featured films on the lineup include is Ektoras Lygizos’ award-winning drama, BOY EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD, which won this year’s Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Film and the prestigious European Crossing Award in the European Competition. BOY, which marks Lygizos’ feature directorial debut, is a modern-day adaptation of Knut Hamsun’s classic 1890 novel, Hunger, which follows a young outcast desperately trying to survive on the streets of Athens.
[caption id="attachment_3831" align="alignnone" width="550"]
THEY GLOW IN THE DARK[/caption]
LAGFF 2013 will also feature the US premiere of Panagiotis Evangelidis’ documentary, THEY GLOW IN THE DARK, shot in post-Katrina New Orleans, about Michael and Jim, two middle-aged gay friends and ex-lovers, penniless and with HIV, who reunite after twenty years. THEY GLOW IN THE DARK won the 2013 FIPRESCI Prize at this year’s Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
FEATURES
AMERICA, AMERICA
USA, 1963, 174 min
Retrospective
Director/Writer: Elia Kazan
Cast: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Harry Davis, Elena Karam
At the end of the 19th century in a small village in Turkey, when oppression against the Greek minority increases, a father, plotting his family’s escape, sends his young son to Constantinople to make money and get the family to join him. But the son’s own dream is different: America…
*1964 Academy-Award winner, Best Art Direction (B&W)
*1964 Academy-Award nominations for: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Elia Kazan
A.C.A.B (ALL CATS ARE BRILLIANT) – (Sygharitiria stous Aisiodoxous)
Greece, 2012, 83 min, US Premiere
Director/Writer: Constantina Voulgaris
Producer: Eleni Afentaki, Greek Film Centre, MITOS, ERT
Principal Cast: Maria Georgiadou, Kostas Ganotis, Dimitris Xanthopoulos
A young woman living in Athens tries to find herself amid the demands of her boyfriend, who has a radical political agenda, and her parents, whose only hope is that their daughter begins a career. In the meantime, a tender relationship develops between her and an eight-year-old friend.
BOY EATING BIRD’S FOOD (To Agori Troei to Fagito tou Pouliou)
Greece, 2012, 80 min, LA Premiere
Writer/Director: Ektoras Lygizos
Producers: Stefi Productions, Guanaco, Ektoras Lygizos
Cast: Yannis Papadopoulos, Lila Baklesi, Kleopatra Perraki
A personal take on Knut Hamsun’s classic 1890 novel “Hunger” follows a young man desperately trying to preserve his sense of dignity and overcome demoralizing hunger and loneliness in the streets of Athens.
*2012 Karlovy Vary Int’l Film Festival, Special Mention for Yannis Papadopoulos
*2012 Toronto Int’l Film Festival, Association Quebecoise des Critiques de Cinéma Award
*2013 Crossing Europe Linz, Crossing Europe Award – European Competition
*2013 Hellenic Film Academy, Best Film, Best New Director, Best Actor,
*2014 Greece’s Foreign Language Film Academy Award Entry
FYNBOS
South Africa, 2012, 96 min, US Premiere
Director: Harry Patramanis
Writers: Jonathan Kyle Glatzer, Harry Patramanis
Producers: Eleni Asvesta, Stefanos Fotiadis, Marios Fotiadis, Philip Key
Cast: Warrick Grier, Jessica Haines, Susan Danford, Sthandiwe Kgoroge, CaraRoberts, John Herbert, Chad Philips
On a lavish and remote property in South Africa, within the walls of a glass house, six lives intersect and lay bare their secrets in this twisting drama.
*2013 Berlin Int’l Film Festival, Official Selection
*2013 Slamdance Film Festival, Vision Award for Cinematography
METEORA
Germany/Greece/France, 2012, 85 min, US Premiere
Opening Night Presentation
Director: Spiros Stathoulopoulos
Writers: Asimakis Pagidas, Spiros Stathoulopoulos
Producers: Philippe Bobber, Susanne Marian, Spiros Stathoulopoulos, Asimakis Pagidas, Theo Alexander, Yolanda Markopoulou
In the plains of central Greece, Byzantine monasteries are perched atop sandstone pillars, suspended between heaven and earth. A young Greek monkand a Russian nun have devoted their lives to the strict rituals and practices of their community, but a growing affection for one another puts their monastic life under question. Torn between spiritual devotion and their human desire, they must decide which path to follow.
*2012 Berlin Int’l Film Festival, Official Selection
THE DAUGHTER (I Kori)
Greece/Italy, 2012, 87 min, US Premiere
Director: Thanos Anastopoulos
Writers: Thanos Anastopoulos, Vassilis Giatsis
Producers: Fantasia LTD, Mansarda Production
When a 14-year-old girl finds out that her father has fled to avoid his debts, she kidnaps the 8-year-old son of her father’s business partner. The Greek economic crisis touches and changes forever many facets of the family’s nucleus. How will the new generation react? How is it reacting?
*2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Forum Screening
*2013 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography
WELCOME TO ALL SAINTS (Ap ta Kokkala Vgalmena)
Greece, 2011, 88 min, LA Premiere
Director: Sotoris Goritsas
Producer: Constantinos Moriatis
Cast: Argiris Xafis, Dimitris Immelos, Anna Kufsaftiki, Kostas Berikopoulos, Minas Xatzisavvas, Giorgos Simeonidis, Dimitri Xanthopoulos, Vangelis Mourikis
A young medical intern begins his career at the “All Saints Hospital” in Athens, only to discover that everyone who works in the Greek public sector is part of a monstrous bureaucracy and an absurd tragicomedy.
DOCUMENTARIES
AMNESIA DIARIES (Imerologio Amnesias)
Greece, 2012, 105 min, US Premiere
Director/Writer/Cinematographer: Stella Theodoraki
A woman reflects upon her leisurely past and frantic present, gradually coming to a realization that concerns each and every one of us, just asintimately as it does her.
*2013 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, Best Documentary
FOOD FOR LOVE
Greece, 2013, 52 min, US Premiere
Director: Marianna Economou
Producer: Lilette Botassi
Some Greek mothers show their love by regularly preparing veritable feasts for their children, who attend university some distance away from home.
LITTLE LAND
Greece, 2013, 52 min, US Premiere
Director: Nikos Dayandas
Writers: Nikos Dayandas, Yuri Averof
Producers: Rea Apostolides, Yuri Averof
A 35-year-old unemployed Athenian settles on the remote island of Ikaria. There, he discovers a society with a unique culture based on autonomy and cooperation, and blessed with peace and exceptional longevity.
MITSIGAN – HARDSHIPS & BEAUTIES (Mitsigan – Omorfies & Dyskolies)
Greece/France, 2013, 60 min, US Premiere
Closing Night Presentation
Director/Writer: Kimon Tsakiris
Producers: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Kimon Tsakiris
When Mitsos Tsiganos, nicknamed “Mitsigan”, a modern-day Greek cowboy and owner of “Hardships & Beauties” vegetable farm, is struck by both professional and personal crisis, he decides to go on a short road trip in search of signs of hope.
ONE STEP AHEAD (Ena Vima Brosta)
Greece, 2012, 126 min, US Premiere
Director: Dimitris Athiridis
Producers: Maria Drandraki, Dimitris Athiridis
Yiannis Boutaris, a successful winemaker and the maverick mayoral candidate for Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, faces his enemies within and without with equal courage and uncompromising honesty.
*2012 IDFA, Official Selection
THEY GLOW IN THE DARK (Lampoun sto Skotadi)
Greece, 2013, 69 min, US Premiere
Director/Writer/Cinematography: Panagiotis Evangelidis
Producers: Amanda Livanou, Panagiotis Evangelidis
Two HIV-positive middle-aged gay friends barely make a living in post-Katrina New Orleans by selling hand-made figures of the Cajun pantheon. Their extravagant past lives fade before their present commitment to survive together until death do them part.
*15th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Fipresci Prize
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4th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) Announces 2010 Line-Up of Films
Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) announced the 2010 line-up of films for its 4th annual Festival, which runs June 10 – 13 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. LAGFF is excited to present 7 feature films, 4 documentaries and 5 shorts, including 1 world premiere, 12 US premieres and 3 LA premieres during the 3-day Festival.