Drama short films festival 2018

On Tuesday 10 December at 19:00 and on Wednesday 11 December at 21:00 a selection of seven short films and documentaries awarded at the 2018 Drama City Short Film Festival will be screened in cinema Utopia, in the Greek original version with English or French subtitles. Total duration: 132 minutes. The films are suitable for children older than 16. The same films will be screened on both days.

Synopsis

THE LAST DAUGHTER by EVI KARAMPATSOU

Documentary, 21 min, 2018
Who becomes a mother? Anyone… Anyone ….
I could have been her mother… And Aurora could have been my daughter…
I didn’t receive her alive, but dead… It’s the same, though…»


CALLING by ARTEMIS ANASTASIADOU

Fiction, 16 min, 2017
A violent event fractures the relationship between a Mexican-American seamstress and her intellectually challenged adult son.


GO FOR BROKE by MARINOS SKLAVOUNAKIS

Fiction, 30 min, 2018
Michalis is in debt to the banks and in a desperate attempt addresses a loan shark. Andreas, a friend of Michalis, wants to help his friend. The only solution is to place a bet…


AVANOS by PANAGIOTIS CHARAMIS

Fiction, 20 min, 2018
Tasos, an ex-convict, feels guilty of a workplace accident his friend had at the slaughterhouse where he works. Kiki, a waitress at the local tavern, once again falls victim of sexual harassment. When they both find themselves under extreme pressure, the explosion and its consequences are at hand.


FOURTH WALL by DIMITRIS GKOTSIS

Documentary, 10 min, 2018
The fourth wall is the invisible aspect of the social fabric, which looks unchanged, with the only difference being the characteristics of people. People breeding in order to produce, surviving rather instinctively. The film is based on the notes of a ten-month trek.


CHANDELIER by ANTONIS GLAROS

Fiction, 10 min, 2018
Eumenis Nolakis, an army officer, is trapped in a dark box. Soon he will realize that it is his coffin, on his funeral day. He will inevitably come face to face with all the important people of his life for the final account. And the ups and downs are just around the corner ... of Hades.


HECTOR MALOT - THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR by JACQUELINE LENTZOU

Fiction, 25 min, 2018
The last day of the year is dawning under the moon, while Sophia has a dream and does not tell anyone about it: while walking in the desert, she learns that she is ill. She pretends she does not care. Has she lost her heart?

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Όταν ο Βάγκνερ συνάντησε τις ντομάτες | When tomatoes met Wagner (2019) by Marianna Economou

On Tuesday 19 November 2019 at 19:00 and on Wednesday 20 November 2019 at 21:00 the documentary When tomatoes met Wagner (Greece, 2019, 72 min, colour) by Marianna Economou will be screened in cinema Utopia, in the Greek original version with English subtitles. The film is suitable for children older than 12. The documentary was submitted by Greece for the Best International Feature Film Award at the 2020 Academy Awards.

Synopsis

The film is a story about an ordinary rural community, where things start to happen in an extraordinary way. After centuries of introversion, the tomato stirs up life in the village and its thirty three elderly inhabitants respond to a new reality. On top of this, Alexandros plays Wagner in the tomato fields to help them grow, uses stories to market the products and convinces people from all over the world to visit Elias. With humour and poetry, When Tomatoes Met Wagner speaks to us about the power of human relationships and the importance of reinventing oneself during difficult times.

Elias, a small farming village in central Greece, is dying out. But two cousins team up with the village grannies to cultivate the tomato seeds they have kept for hundreds of years. With a little help from Wagner’s music –which they use to help their tomatoes grow– the team succeeds to export little jars with organic tomato recipes across the world. The film follows the protagonists of this unlikely quest, as they struggle to survive and make their dream come true. Humorous and bittersweet, this is a story about the importance of reinventing oneself in times of crisis and the power of human relationships.

Trailer

https://vimeo.com/315176567

A few words about the director

Marianna Economou studied anthropology, photojournalism and film production in London. Since 2000, she directs and produces documentary series and independent films of Greek production and co-productions with European broadcasters such as the BBC, ARTE and YLE. She has received awards for The School, My Place in the Dance, Please Listen to Me, Bells, Threads And Miracles, Twelve Neighbours, Food for Love and The Longest Run which was nominated for the European Film Awards 2016. The Longest Run also won the VER.DI award at Dok Leipzig.

More information

https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/370505/#cm
http://www.anemon.gr/films/film-detail/when-tomatoes-met-wagner
https://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2019/02_programm_2019/02_Filmdatenblatt_2019_201911130.html#tab=filmStills
https://www.visionsdureel.ch/2019/film/when-tomatoes-met-wagner
https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/movie-tdf/movie/12108
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2020-oscars-greece-selects-tomatoes-met-wagner-international-feature-film-category-1240970

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

Ο μεγάλος περίπατος της Άλκης | Alki's long walk (2017) by Margarita Manda

On Tuesday 15 October 2019 at 19:00 and on Wednesday 16 October 2019 at 21:00 the documentary Alki's long walk (Greece, 2017, 88 min, colour) by Margarita Manda will be screened in cinema Utopia, in the presence of the film director, in the Greek original version with English subtitles. The film is suitable for children older than 12. Unfortunately, Mrs Zei will not be able to join us, due to health issues.

Synopsis

A cinematic journey in the tumultuous life and prolific works of Greek novelist, Alki Zei. Α life that accumulates Greece’s entire 20th century history and writings that have received international success and continue to be honoured, touching generations and generations of readers. Based predominantly on the verbal testimonies of Alki Zei herself, but also those of her sister, Heleni Kokkou and her dear friends and fellow-travellers, film director Manos Zacharias and poet Titos Patrikios.

Trailer

https://vimeo.com/205566380

A few words about the director

Born in Athens. She studied Political Science, French Literature and film direction. She has worked as 1st assistant director with Theo Angelopoulos and many other Greek directors. She has written and directed various short and feature films, both fiction and documentaries, as well as videos for stage shows and corporate videos. She has been the editor and co-writer in the published screenplays of Theo Angelopoulos films “Ulysses’ Gaze” (publ. Kastaniotis, 1995) and “Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow” (publ. Electra, 2004). Her novel “Still Memory” was published by “Metechmio” in October 2002. Her personal diaries from the shooting of Theo Angelopoulos’ “Ulysses’ Gaze” became her second published work also by “Metechmio” in February 2013. 

As a film director, Margarita’s films have won various awards and have been selected in various festivals around the world. The Hollywood Reporter wrote for her film “Forever”: “superb performances and artful filmmaking make this minimalistic exercise quietly affecting” which comprises her vision as a filmmaker.

 

Selective filmography

• “Alki’s long walk”, feature length documentary, 2017
• “Forever”, feature length fiction, 2014
• “Gold Dust”, feature length fiction film, 2009
• “New Odessa – the village of the lake”, medium length documentary, 2004
• “Guardians of Time”, feature length documentary, 2002

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Τέλειοι ξένοι | Perfect strangers (2016) by Thodoris Atheridis

On Tuesday 24 September 2019 at 19:00 and on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at 21:00 the comedy Perfect strangers  (Greece, 2016, 100 min, colour) by Thodoris Atheridis will be screened in cinema Utopia in the Greek original version with English subtitles. The film is suitable for children older than 16 years.

Synopsis

Each one of us has got three lives: a public, a personal and a secret one. Our lives, which used to be safe in our memories and our personal files are now locked in our cell phones’ SIM cards. What if this small plastic object could speak? What would it reveal? How much does this "black box" of our lives define us?

The story unfolds during a full moon night. Seven friends meet up for dinner and Martha, the psychologist, proposes to play a game: everybody should leave their cell phones on the table so that everybody can check the calls and the messages reaching the devices. Deep secrets will come to the surface, shaking their lives and threatening their relationships.

Cast

Thodoris Atheridis, Smaragda Karydi, Maria Nafpliotou, Alkis Kourkoulos, Evaggelia Syriopoulou, Giannos Perlergas, Makis Papadimitriou

Trailer

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72lwuge9wI , http://bit.ly/2flnHPA

More information

https://www.clproductions.gr/en/feature-films/perfect-strangerswww.facebook.com/teleioiksenoi

A few words about the director

Born in Thessaloniki in 1965, Thodoris Atheridis has performed on stage, in television and cinema. He was an actor and writer for the musical theatrical group Agami Thite. He has worked in television and film productions both as an actor, scriptwriter and director, especially in recent years.

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Σ'αυτή τη χώρα κανείς δεν ήξερε να κλαίει | In this land nobody knew how to cry (2018) by Giorgos Panoussopoulos

On Tuesday 18 June at 19:00 and on Wednesday 19 June at 21:00 the comedy In this land nobody knew how to cry (Greece, 2018, 90 min, colour, in the Greek original version with English subtitles) by Giorgos Panoussopoulos will be screened in cinema Utopia. The film is suitable for children older than 16 years.

Synopsis

In this unconventional comedy, a French member of the European Parliament and his assistant, a Greek economist, end up in Armenaki, an islet lost somewhere in the Aegean Sea. They are there in an official political mission and obstinate to finish the work as soon as possible. However, the place and its residents are said to be miraculous and able to change people's lives. A spiral of unforeseen events we'll not let them go and force both to reconsider their way of thinking and living. They meet with a visionary teacher and a rugged widow and let themselves get carried away by the vortex of love. They finally decide to live in freedom.

Without roads, money or banks Armenaki is a paradise for easy-going, flirtatious, fun-loving people. A comedy full of summer, a healthy amount of madness, love and passion for life.

Cast

Margarita Panousopoulou, Babis Xatzidakis, Foteini Tsakiri, Yannis Hatziyannis, Valeria Christodoulidou, Stavros Mermigis, Serge Requet-Barville

Trailer https://vimeo.com/281133451

A few words about the director

Giorgos Panoussopoulos, born in 1942 lives and works in Athens. In 1978 he directed his first feature film, Honeymoon, and since 1968 he has filmed seven feature films and over a thousand commercial spots as director, cinematographer and producer. He has worked with many distinguished directors such as Pantelis Voulgaris, Theo Aggelopoulos and Nikos Perakis.

What did the Press say?

http://en.aiff.gr/tribute_to_giorgos_panousopoulos/arthro/in_this_land_nobody_knew_how_to_cry-15553569/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8561698/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl


Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

Επιστροφή στην κορυφή | 2917: Back to the top (2018) by Stratis Chatzielenoudas

On Tuesday 14 May at 19:00 and on Wednesday 15 May at 21:00 the documentary BACK TO THE TOP (Greece, 2018, 95 min, colour, in the Greek original version with English subtitles) by Stratis Chatzielenoudas will be screened in cinema Utopia. The film is suitable for children older than 16 years.

Synopsis

Back to the Top chronicles the never-give-up attitude of Leonidas, a wheelchair-bound punk band drummer in his early 30s who sets out to conquer the 2,917-meter peak of Mount Olympus with the help of a bunch of good friends.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GN0J7eYKdI&feature=youtu.be

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5844772/?ref_=nm_knf_t3

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

DJAM (2017) by Tony Gatlif

On Tuesday 9 April at 19:00 and on Wednesday 10 April at 21:00 the Greek cinema club will screen the film DJAM by Tony Gatlif  (France, Greece, Turkey, 2017, 97 min, in the French and Greek original version with english subtitles) in cine Utopia.

The film is suitable for children older than 16 years.

Tickets will be available 30 minutes before the screenings.

Synopsis

Djam, a young Greek woman, is sent to Istanbul by her uncle Kakourgos, a former sailor and passionate fan of Rebetiko, on a mission to find a rare engine part for their boat. There she meets Avril, 19, who came from France to volunteer with refugees, ran out of money, and knows no one in Turkey. As their destinies cross, the ecstasy of music will lead them into a journey towards freedom.
A female road movie set between Greece and Turkey, that looks at current cultural, social and economic issues that afflict that part of Europe today, but that also celebrates the traditional Greek song form rebetiko.

Cast

Daphné Patakia, Simon Abkarian, Maryne Cayon, Kimon Kouris, Solon Lekkas, Yannis Bostantzoglou, Eleftheria Komi

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TSclmBs60

Toni Gatlif was born in Algeria of Pied noir ancestry. After his childhood there, Gatlif arrived in France in 1960 following the Algerian War of Independence. He works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer. His 2004 film Exils, won the Best Director Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_EeH2SnPY interview with Tony Gatlif

Filmography

1993 Latcho Drom, 1997 Gadjo dilo, 2000 Vengo, 2001 Swing, 2004 Exils, 2012 Indignados, 2017 Djam

What did the Press say

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/djam-review-1007991
https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/djam
https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/movie-tiff/movie/7848
https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/djam-cannes-review/5118538.article

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

Έξοδος 1826 | 1826 A road of no return (2017) by Vasilis Tsikaras

On Tuesday 19 March at 19:00 and on Wednesday 20 March at 21:00 the Greek cinema club will screen the film Exodos 1826 by Vasilis Tsikaras in cine Utopia.

Tickets will be available 30 minutes before the screenings.

Synopsis

A war drama based on the historical research of the author and director Vassilis Tsikaras. 

The story is based on true events and the Greek folk song "Sons of Samarina", about 120 brave men who rushed to fight alongside the besieged Greeks during the heroic Exodus of Missolonghi in 1826.

Cast

Dimitris Papadopoulos, Leonidas Kakouris, Maria Androutsou, Christos Batzios, Vasilis Tsikaras

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PTRB2zkpZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFD7Yr7HiA

More information

https://www.facebook.com/exodosthemovie/
http://exodosmovie.com/

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

Ρόζα της Σμύρνης | Roza of Smyrna (2016) by Giorgos Kordellas

On Tuesday 26 February at 19:00 and on Wednesday 27 February at 21:00 the film Roza of Smyrna Sunday (Greece, 2016, 95 min, colour, English subtitles) by Giorgos Kordellas will be screened in cinema Utopia. The film is not suitable for children under 16 years.

Synopsis

Izmir 1922: Young Roza, the child of a wealthy family, is preparing to get married.
Athens 1987: Roza lives with her granddaughter Mariana and along with powerful Ismael, carries a well-kept secret that she does not will to share with anyone.
But the passion of a collector, Dimitris a young architect, leads him to the coast of Asia Minor and more specifically to the footsteps of enigmatic Roza. An old photo and a wedding dress is enough to retract an old love story and a new to be born.
The smell of the antique shops, the charm of the trips, the challenge of the mystery, the power of love in past and present, create the atmosphere and the itinerary of the heroes in Athens, Izmir and Istanbul to discover that people’s short stories are the ones that seal the great History.

Cast

Tasos Nousias, Evgenia Dimitropoulou, Leda Protopsalti, Yılmaz Gruda, Yulika Skafida, Petros Lagoutis, Cem Aksakal, Haris Emmanouil, Kostas Kazanas, Aysan Sümercan, Giannis Thomas, Penny Agorastou.

Trailer

https://vimeo.com/211444789

What did the press say

http://www.ekathimerini.com/212214/article/ekathimerini/life/roza-of-smyrna-a-greco-turkish-romeo-and-juliet

http://greekfilmfestival.com.au/program/408/roza-of-smyrna

https://www.facebook.com/rozathssmyrnis

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.

Θέλετε να γίνετε μέλη στην Ελληνική Κινηματογραφική Λέσχη Λουξεμβούργου;

Η συνδρομή για το 2019 σας προσφέρει:

- Μειωμένο εισιτήριο 5€ στις προβολές της Ciné-Club Hellénique de Luxembourg στον κινηματογράφο Ciné Utopia.

- Ενεργό συμμετοχή στην επιλογή ταινιών και τον προγραμματισμό εκδηλώσεων!

- Άμεση πληροφόρηση για τις δραστηριότητες της Λέσχης, και Δικαίωμα ψήφου στις γενικές συνελεύσεις.

Ουζερί Τσιτσάνης | Cloudy Sunday (2015) by Manousos Manousakis

On Tuesday 22 January at 19:00 and on Wednesday 23 January at 21:00 the film Cloudy Sunday (Greece, 2015, 116 min, colour, English subtitles) by Manousos Manousakis will be screened in cinema Utopia. The film not suitable for children under 16 years.

Synopsis

During the tumultuous 1943, against the backdrop of a German-occupied Thessaloniki, two star-crossed lovers struggle to surmount prejudice and fear, as the brutalities against the town's persecuted Jewish community escalate.
A box office hit in Greece, this is a powerful and beautifully rendered telling of war-time romance in Thessaloniki between a Jewish girl and a young resistance fighter. Cloudy Sunday is a compelling drama about love, and about the evil and brutality of war, made even more poignant by the wistful songs of famous songwriter Vassilis Tsitsanis and the enchanting classics of Sephardic Jewish music.

Inspired by real events, and adapted from George Skarbadonis’s novel Ouzeri Tsitsanis.

Cast

Andreas Konstantinou, Haris Fragoulis, Christina Hilla Fameli, Vasiliki Troufakou, Yannis Stankoglou, Gerasimos Skiadaressis, Alberto Eskenazy, Maria Kavoukidou, Mihalis Aerakis

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLZ0D-LWWs4

What did the Press say

http://ukjewishfilm.org/film/cloudy-sunday/

A few words about the director

Manousos Manousakis was born in Athens, Greece as Manousos Tatakis. He is a director and writer, known for I Skiahtra (1985), Vartholomaios (1974) and Arhontes (1977). He is nephew of Irene Papas. He is an avid sailor and has won several regattas.

Click 'Read More' for Greek version.