Village East Cinema
Second Ave at 12th St, New York, NY 10003
October 5-8
Barrymore Film Center
153 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
October 9-10
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave at 37 St, Astoria, NY 11106
October 13-15
The Latest Films from Greece
BLACK STONE
Directed by Spiros Jacovides
Opening Night Screening
2022 | 87 minutes | New York premiere
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Eleni Kokkidou, Julio George Katsis, Kevin Zans Ansong, Achilleas Chariskos, Alexis Vidalakis, Domenica Regkou
A desperate, overprotective mother engages a film crew working on a documentary about absentee civil servants, mistakenly believing they can help her find her missing civil servant son. When authorities accuse the son of fraud, she becomes even more determined to find him and bring him home where he belongs, even if it means discovering who her son really is.
2023 Hellenic Film Academy Award: Best Actress (Eleni Kokkidou)
Followed by audience Q&A with lead actress Eleni Kokkidou.
Opening night reception immediately following.
| Thursday, October 5, 7 pm Village East Cinema | |
| Sunday, October 8, 1:30 pm Village East Cinema | |
| Monday, October 9, 7:30 pm Barrymore Film Center | |
Thursday, October 5, 7 pm
Village East Cinema
Village East Cinema Monday, October 9, 7:30 pm
Barrymore Film Center
Prior to the feature film, we presented this short film:
11:20 a.m.
Directed by Dimitris Nakos
2022 / 14 min
A home break-in inspires an act of kindness.
BROADWAY
Directed by Christos Massalas
2022 | 97 minutes | New York Theatrical Premiere
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Elsa Lekakou, Foivos Papadopoulos, Stathis Apostolou, Rafael Papad, Salim Talbi
A small squatter community of dancers, tramps, petty thieves, and a pet monkey establish a household in Broadway, an abandoned entertainment complex in Athens. The balance of their makeshift family is upset when a former member of the group, wanted dead by the city’s most dangerous mafioso, is released from prison and returns to Broadway. Recommended for mature audiences.
Nominated for 15 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Elsa Lekakou) and Best Actor (Foivos Papadopoulos)
Co-presented with NYWIFT, New York Women in Film & Television
Prior to the feature film, we presented this short film:
FAULT
Directed by Katerina Papanastasatou
2022 / 15 min
An elderly man atones for his past sins.
DIGNITY
ΜΕ ΑΞΙΟΠΡΕΠΕΙΑ
Directed by Dimitris Katsimiris
2022 |75 minutes | New York Premiere
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Electra Gennata, Giorgos Ieronymakis, Giannis Kotsifas, Marouska Panagiotopoulou, Thanassis Chalkias, Charisa Tsitsakis, Vangelio Andreadaki
Family members gather on the birthday of their ailing patriarch. What begins as a celebration, however, quickly turns into an intense confrontation when the fraught question of who’s to care for the old man comes up. Secrets and mistakes of the past are revealed, changing the lives of all involved.
2022 Thessaloniki International Film Festival Audience Award, Film Forward Competition
Hellenic Film Academy Award nomination – Best Supporting Actress (Vangelio Andreadaki)
Followed by audience Q&A with director Dimitris Katsimiris.
Prior to the feature film, we presented this short film:
AIRHOSTESS-737
Directed by Thanasis Neofotistos
2022 / 15 min
A flight attendant does her best to hide the pain she is feeling.
DODO
Directed by Panos Koutras
2022 |132 minutes | New York Premiere
In Greek and French with English subtitles
Cast: Smaragda Karydi, Akis Sakellariou, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Mariella Savvides, Natasa Exintaveloni, Nikos Gelia, Angelos Papadimitriou, Polydoros Vogiatzis
A dodo, a bird extinct for the last 300 years, suddenly appears at the villa of a financially troubled family on the eve of their daughter’s marriage to a wealthy heir. Wedding preparations are disrupted, and the line between sanity and madness collapses as the situation spins out of control. Not recommended for young audiences.
Nominated for 15 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Smaragda Karydi), Best Actor (Akis Sakellariou)
Followed by audience Q&A with actor Mariella Savvides.
IMAN
Written and directed by Korinna Avraamidou, Kyriakos Tofaridis
2022 |110 minutes | New York Premiere
In Greek and Arabic with English subtitles
Cast: Stephanie Atala, Andreas Tselepos, Rita Hayek, Margarita Zachariou, Pambina Georgiou, Prokopis Agathokleous, Varnavas Kyriazis
Abdallah, an Arab Muslim civil engineer, must come to terms with his responsibility in the collapse of a building, which caused the death of seven people. Having been radicalized, Iman and Leila, are sent to Cyprus on a secret mission. Michelle, a lonely teenage girl, falls for Angelos, a domineering young man with racist ideals. Three stories, each involving characters whose actions may mean the difference between life and death, are defined by their search for redemption from their past, their guilt, their loneliness.
Prior to the feature film, we presented this short film:
TOKAKIS OR WHAT’S MY NAME
Directed by Thanos Tokakis
2022 / 23 min
An actor tries to salvage his career.
LISTEN
ΑΚΟΥΣΕ ΜΕ
Written and directed by Maria Douza
2022 |108 minutes | New York Premiere
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Efthalia Papacosta, Dimitris Kitsos, Giorgos Pyrpasopoulos, Yoana Bukopvska Davidova, Mikos Koiukas, Vangelio Andreadaki
When a deaf teenage girl is forced to leave her progressive Athens school and return to the island where her father lives, she is confronted by the dangers brought on by prejudice and intolerance. Her own failure to adjust to the world of the hearing adds to the difficulties she faces. When the stability of her family is threatened and her personal relationships are in shambles, she begins the difficult task of facing the truth and ending self delusions that will lead her to forgiveness and reconciliation.
Hellenic Film Academy Award nomination – Best Supporting Actor (Giorgos Pyrpasopoulos).
Co-presented with NYWIFT, New York Women in Film & Television
Followed by audience Q&A with director Maria Douza.
WHERE WE LIVE
ΕΚΕΙ ΠΟΥ ΖΟΥΜΕ
Directed by Sotiris Goritsas
2022 |90 minutes | New York Premiere
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Prometheas Aleiferopoulos, Stelios Mainas, Makis Papadimitriou, Christina Tsafou, Maria Kallimani, Gerasimos Skiadaresis, Natalia Tsaliki, Mary Mina, Lena Papaligoura
After an 11-year absence from the big screen, award-winning director Sotiris Goritsas continues his career-long examination of the daily lives of Greeks. In this satirical social comedy, he focuses on a young struggling lawyer who, on his birthday, must confront his obligations as a professional, a son, a friend, an ex-husband, and a lover. By the end of the day, he is a changed man.
Nominated for three Hellenic Film Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Prometheas Aleiferopoulos), Best Supporting Actress (Maria Kallimani), and Best Supporting Actor (Stelios Mainas)
Followed by audience Q&A with director Sotiris Goritsas.
Prior to the feature film, we presented this short film:
THE RIDE (Η Κούρσα)
Directed by George Leontakianakos
2022 / 15 min
An elderly passenger inspires a taxi driver to rethink his priorities.
Renos Haralambidis Retrospective
4 BLACK SUITS
4 ΜΑΥΡΑ ΚΟΥΣΤΟΥΜΙΑ
Written and directed by Renos Haralambidis
2010 | 90 minutes
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Renos Haralambidis (Makis), Giannis Zouganelis (Kiriakos), Takis Spyridakis (Kosmas), Alkis Panagiotidis (Babis), Dimitris Poulikakos (Lawyer), Dimitris Verikios (Police Officer), Titika Saerigouli (Old Lady)
The Marx Brothers meet Aristophanes in this offbeat road movie. Two down-and-out undertakers, an unsuccessful actor and an ex-con join forces in an effort to turn around their failed lives. On the promise of a large fee, they fulfill the dying wish of a wealthy Greek man to carry his body on foot for burial in his remote home village many miles from Athens. Much goes wrong along the way, but when the journey becomes an opportunity for self-discovery, the four come away with more than they bargained for.
Followed by interview with David Schwartz, former Chief Curator of MoMI
Director’s note
We live in a culture that abhors death. Everything is done to hastily dispense of the deceased. But in this film, the deceased does not want to leave before making one last journey back to where his no-longer-beating heart leads him: an odyssey of a dead Odysseus embracing his Ithaca. The four pallbearers never met the man whose body they are carrying; nor can they imagine the true meaning of Ithaca. Nevertheless, for the four it is a journey towards self-awareness and maturity. Secrets are revealed, tears shed, fears experienced, but the four achieve personal purification.
NO BUDGET STORY
Written and directed by Renos Haralambidis
1997 | 87 minutes
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Renos Haralambidis (Eirinaios), Yannis Bostantzoglou (Tolis), Dimitra Papadima (Maria), Giorgos Voultzatis (Marios), Vana Pefani (Popi)
Eirinaios, a wannabe film director, has four unsold movie scripts in hand. Approaching 30, he faces eviction for not paying the rent. He meets a soft-hearted maker of porn flicks and, to make ends meet, they decide to shoot a love story. While waiting to go into production, Eirinaios shoots a no-budget TV commercial, washes windows, and falls in love. This refreshing look at Athenian culture at the end of the century combines everything from subway scenes to traditional Greek music and playful winks to Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver.
Haralambidis won the coveted FIPRESCI Prize awarded by international film critics at the Istanbul Film Festival.
Followed by interview with film historian Andrew Horton.
Director’s note
NO BUDGET STORY is my “heroic” entry into cinema as a director and screenwriter. It expresses a time in my life when my motto was “cinema or death.” I shot it when I was 26 years old, and it embodies my youthful passion and my need to create with whatever means I had at my disposal. I chose to shoot it in black and white to give a distance from reality. I was trying to give the film the feeling of a fairy tale. The movie stars my friends, my parents, and people from the neighborhood where I grew up. It’s an autobiographical film. I’m still working on it to this day. I recently recomposed the music and did final editing.
THE HEART OF THE BEAST
Η ΚΑΡΔΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΚΤΗΝΟΥΣ
Written and directed by Renos Haralambidis, based on a novel by Petros Tatsopoulos
2005 | 82 minutes | 35mm
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Renos Haralambidis (Stefanos), Giorgos Voultzatis (Nikos), Mano Vakousis (Aris), Tina Thliveri (Popi), Mara Darmousli (Anna)
Upon completion of his military obligation, all Stefanos owns are debts left by his deceased mother. Job opportunities are non-existent, and his girlfriend has ditched him. Two childhood friends convince him that robbing a bank will solve all their problems. The robbery and its aftermath offer a hilarious look at the foibles of contemporary Greece.
Followed by interview with film historian Foster Hirsch.
Director’s note
My films have always struggled to find themselves. It was more difficult for THE HEART OF THE BEAST, which cannot be classified in any specific genre. It moves between detective film noir, bittersweet comedy, and poetic cinema. And there’s the light nostalgia of old Greek cinema. The film deals with the spectacular fall but also the redemption of a narcissist who is called to face real life. It is my only film where the script is not entirely of my own conception. I always wanted to adapt a best-selling book, without losing my personal touch and without betraying the book’s author.
CHEAP SMOKES
ΦΤΗΝΑ ΤΣΙΓΑΡΑ
Written and directed by Renos Haralambidis
2000 | 85 minutes | 35mm
In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Renos Haralambidis (Nikos), Anna-Maria Papaharalambous (Sofia), Michalis Iatropoulos (Manolis), Kostas Tsakonas (Telis), Alkis Panagiotidis (Takis)
Nikos, struggling with work, romance, and finding meaningful purpose in life, roams the streets of Athens on a warm summer night looking for love and questioning his existence. Along the way, he befriends a motley bunch of quirky characters: a young woman who has just broken up with her boyfriend, two unrepentant middle-aged bachelors, two mobsters, and a poetry-reciting coffee house owner.
Featured a live musical performance by Renos Haralambidis and acclaimed jazz vibraphonist and composer Christos Rafalides, prior to screening. Followed by interview with film historian Andrew Horton.
Director’s note
CHEAP SMOKES is the most autobiographical of my films. I tried to capture the essence of a bohemian generation of Athenians at the end of the 1990s that had moved to the margins. I tried to combine realism with elements of neo-expressionism, the atmosphere of film noir, and elements of the cinema of everyday moments, reality and fantasy, seriousness and ridiculousness. The film went unnoticed by both critics and the public, but it has been rediscovered by the next generation. It is still shown in cinemas all over Greece, almost 20 years after the first screening.
Substitution of films may be made without notice.
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