Open Cinema

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/zcy9T1jsjBs

From Friday, February 19, to Sunday, February 21, 2021 two Greek film selected by Syllas Tzoumerkas

Onassis Culture and the Hellenic Film Academy join their forces for an ‘Open Cinema’. Open to diverse genres, to short, feature, and medium length, to fiction, documentary, and animation films, but also to the ones that defy any categorization. An Open Cinema to renowned directors who paved the way for the Greek film industry, and still inspire, but also to new and bold voices at the start of their career. Open to all people, languages, themes, and diverse gazes. Wishing that very soon we will meet again at the open movie theaters across Greece and the world.

From Friday, 19th of February at Onassis Channel on YouTube and for three consecutive weekends the ‘Open Cinema’ kicks off with an initiative that brings together filmmakers of the past and the new generation, yesterday’s and today’s Greek films. Syllas Tzoumerkas, Zacharias Mavroeidis, and Dionysis Samiotis, winners of 2020 Iris Awards, for Best Film Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Feature Film, respectively, select each two Greek films that have defined and inspired their work.

1st Week

From February 19 to 21, 2021

Syllas Tzoumerkas (2020 Iris Award, Best Film Director, for the film “The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea”) has selected “The Fear” by Kostas Manousakis and “The Spring Gathering” by Dimos Avdeliodis.

“The Fear” by Kostas Manoussakis | 1966 | Runtime: 102´

The son of a farmer rapes and kills the family’s deaf-mute maid. His father and stepmother decide to cover up the crime, disposing of the body in a lake. “The boldest shift away from charted waters and, artistically speaking, the most remarkable success was ‘The Fear’ by Kostas Manoussakis. It is without doubt a work of national filmmaking because it takes an unflinching look at our sicknesses and problems as a people from within, not picturesquely from without.”

Yiannis Bakoyiannopoulos, 1966

Produced by: Damaskinos – Michaelides | Written by: Kostas Manoussakis | Cinematography by: Nikos Gardelis | Music by: Yannis Markopoulos | Starring: Anestis Vlahos, Elli Fotiou, Alexis Damianos, Mary Chronopoulou, Elena Nathanael, Spyros Fokas, and others

Awards | Distinctions: In contention for the Golden Bear at the 1966 Berlin International Film Festival

"The Spring Gathering" by Dimos Avdeliodis | 1999 | Runtime: 170´

Chios island, 1960. Following the unexplained death of a village’s rural guard, the local council asks the police chief to appoint a replacement. No-one wants to take the job, however, thanks to the village’s poor reputation and the unexpected death of their colleague whilst on duty.

The village council decides to offer a higher salary to whoever will replace him. When the police chief announces this to his twelve rural guards, four offer to take the job. He picks one of them to go. The guard is posted at the beginning of summer and, after four months of service, is fired by the police chief for breach of duty. A similar fate awaits his three successors, each one removed at the end each season for similar breaches that arise each time from their natures.

As Derek Elley mentions at Variety, January 2020 “A wry comedy of rural life that does double duty as an examination of the Greek character and its sly transgression of authority.

Produced by: Dimos Avdeliodis, Greek Film Center (EKK), Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), Directed by: Dimos Avdeliodis, Written by: Dimos Avdeliodis, Cinematography by: Odysseas Pavlopoulos, Sotiris Perreas, Alekos Yiannaros, Linos Meitanis, Film Editing by: Kostas Iordanidis, Production Design by: Nikos Hadzis, Music: Antonio Vivaldi, “The Four Seasons”, Starring: Angeliki Malanti, Takis Agoris, Yannis Tsoubariotis, Stelios Makrias, Angelos Pantelaras, Ilias Petropouleas, Panagiotis Louros, Marinos Mouzakis, Giorgos Pavlidakis, Dimitris Avgoustidis

AWARDS

• Voted onto the 2006 and 2016 Greek Film Critics Association lists for the ten best Greek films of all time
• FIPRESCI Award (International Federation of Film Critics)
• Four awards at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival Forum*
• Best Director, Thessaloniki International Film Festival
• Audience Award, Thessaloniki International Film Festival

DISTINCTIONS at the Berlin Festival Forum

• Arthouse Cinema Association (CICAE) Award, “for its artistic integrity, its authenticity, its creative freedom”.
• “Don Quixote” Award from the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC). (FICC is an international network of arthouse cinemas that seeks to promote films of artistic excellence.)
• 2000 Caligari Film Prize; the award announcement drew attention to “the multifaceted parable the film presents, with its incredible characters, use of political allegory, authenticity, and humor”.
• Highly commended by the German “Bild” newspaper’s film critics pool. The film was distributed in Germany by the German “Pandora-Pegasus” company.

Festival appearances and other international screenings

• Thessaloniki
• Berlin, Munich, Genoa, Zurich, Lisbon
• Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago

NEXT WEEKS SCHEDULE

2nd Week – From February 26 to 28, 2021

Zacharias Mavroeidis (2020 Iris Award, Best Screenplay, for the film Defunct) has selected:

- Excursion by Takis Kanellopoulos (1966)

- Correction by Thanos Anastopoulos (2007)

3rd Week– From March 5 to 7, 2021

Dionyssis Samiotis (2020 Iris Award, Best Feature Film, for Eftihia) has selected:

-Stone Years by Pantelis Voulgaris (1985)

-Take Care by Yorgos Tsemberopoulos (1991)

ABOUT THE HELLENIC FILM ACADEMY AND THE ONASSIS FOUNDATION COLLABORATION

The Onassis Foundation’s collaboration with the Hellenic Film Academy has been going on for eleven years and counting. Since 2010, the Onassis Stegi has supported the Iris Awards, in its effort to encourage the Greek cinema’s bold voices to thrive. The Iris Awards ceremony, hosted annually at the Onassis Stegi, brings together the entire Greek film community, and is a major event in this field. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony took place online, and was broadcasted live through the Onassis Channel on YouTube.

ABOUT THE HELLENIC FILM ACADEMY

The Hellenic Film Academy (HFA) was founded on November 23, 2009, reflecting the Greek film industry’s need to define itself, and to follow the respective organizations lead around the world. Today, after 11 years, full of activities, extroversion, celebration, and exchange, HFA, with its 565 members, has become the ‘home’ that hosts everything concerning the Greek film production; all the generations, the trends, and the professionals that make up Greek cinema.

HFA is a member of the network of European national film academies and the European Film Academy (FAN), and it aims at the development and promotion of domestic film production. It holds the annual Iris Awards, the Greek national film awards, which result through secret ballot among its members.

A few words about the filmmaker of the week

Syllas Tzoumerkas

Syllas Tzoumerkas was born in 1978 in Thessaloniki. He grew up in Thessaloniki, Kilkis and Nissyros. His feature films Homeland (2010), A Blast (2014) and The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea (2019), had their world premieres in the Venice, Locarno and Berlin International Film Festivals, respectively, participated in over 200 festivals around the world, and were released in theatres and streaming platforms in many countries. He co-wrote the scripts of Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ Suntan (Rotterdam IFF / SXSW 2016) and All This Victory by Ahmad Ghussein (Venice 2019). In theatre and in multi-platform works, he collaborated with Youla Boudali, the blitz theatre group, the Erasers, Onassis Stegi, the Greek National Opera, and others.

Read more:

https://www.onassis.org/culture/cinema/open-cinema-hellenic-film-academy