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Awards from The Greek Film Festival Berlin

For its tenth edition the Greek Film Festival in Berlin presented thirty-three feature films. This included six international premieres, eighteen German premieres and three Berlin premieres. Following five days, three competitions, special screenings and side events was the award ceremony. The award category prizes were for the main competition, documentaries and short films.

Winners

The winner of the main Emerging Greeks Competition award was Meat by Dimitris Nakos. The three-person jury also gave a motivation for the award. Part of it read, “…a feature debut which kept our attention throughout…” Director Dimitris Nakos was present to pick up the award.

Meat by Dimitris Nakos at The Greek Film Festival Berlin

The same jury also awarded the prize for the Documentary competition. The winner was Tack by Vania Turner. Within the jury motivation it read, “The filmmaker closely follows two victims of sexual abuse in their struggle…” Furthermore, they commended the animated sequences in the courtroom that could not be filmed. The use of silence and subtitles heightened the eerie court atmosphere. Director Vania Turner was also present to receive her award.

Honeymoon by Alki Papastathopoulos won the Short Film award. The film is a serious plea from the transgender community to support inclusion. The jury said, “What could have been a story about victims became a story about heroes.” Lead actress Nassia Sydeta picked up the award for the absent director. A Special Mention was awarded to the short Scorched Earth by Markela Kontaratou. The jury justified how, “…the female gaze turned a simple story of a stay by the sea into a thriller…”

Honeymoon by Alki Papastathopoulos at The Greek Film Festival Berlin

This year’s closing film was Athens Midnight Radio by Renos Haralambidis. An Athens late-night radio producer turns fifty and realizes he’s no longer young. On air he reminisces about his life so far with creeping regret. The solitude feels ghost-like, complimented by the beautifully filmed Athens night. For its German premiere, main actor and director Renos Haralambidis introduced the film. Joining him for the Q&A after the screening were producer Angelos Venetis and main actress Margarita Amarantidi.

Following the closing ceremony, a party was held in Berlin to sign-off on this special tenth edition. In the presence of guests, the festival team cut the commemorative birthday cake.

By Steven Yates   

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Documentary Competition

Aside from the main Emerging Greeks Competition, the festival features other competitions and prizes. The Documentary Competition has six films competing for the prize, just like the main competition. Two featurettes are screening together in one program. First Milk, by Panagiotis Papafragkos, takes a more poetic stance for its expression. Farewell: And Suddenly Memory Began to Remember, by Ada Pitsou, looks at creativity after dementia. The subject here is the renowned Greek psychotherapist Toula Vlachoutsikou.

Stray Bodies by Elina Psykou looks at choices and laws regarding the body and dignity. Abortion, IVF and euthanasia now benefit from the trans-national salvation of the increasingly popular “medical tourism”. The film therefore becomes a medical road trip through Europe. Panellinion, directed by Spyros Mantzavinos and Kostas Antarachas, is set in a central Athens chess coffeehouse. It is also the setting for ghosts, obsession, solitude and madness.

#MeToo

Tack at the The Greek Film Festival Berlin
TACK

Continuing the theme of personal health challenges is Loxy by Thanasis Kafetzis and Dimitris Zahos. Young Loxandra, who has Downs syndrome, signs an acting contract with the National Theater of Greece. In this, she becomes the first disabled person to do so. Leaving her city and everyday life behind, she travels to Athens to fulfill this ambition.

Finally, Tack by Vania Turner, is a documentary on the Olympian who pioneered Greece’s #MeToo movement. Sofia Bekatorou, the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist for Sailing, was a victim of abuse. In this film she helps a young athlete Amalia through her own ordeal. Amalia is seeking justice for the systematic abuse she endured at the hands of her coach. This happened when she was just eleven-years-old, and with Sofia’s help she has finally come forward.  

The Documentary Jury is the same one as for the main Emerging Greeks Competition. It comprises of: Simone Baumann (Germany), Nikos Smpiliris (Greece) and Dr. Martin Blaney (UK).

To showcase new talent, there is also the Short Films Competition, divided into two screening programs. Complimenting this is a Student Shorts Competition.

The Shorts Jury is: Pierpaolo Festa (Italy), Karen Cifarelli (USA) and Marios Gavrilis (Greece-Germany).      

The award ceremony on 30th March is followed by Athens Midnight Radio, the Closing Film.  

~ By Steven Yates  

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My Greek Film Notes

As always with any major, small, or niche festival, all eyes are on the big events. The main competition is also conspicuous, and then there are the other sections. At this year’s Greek Film Festival Berlin, the reception for Stelios justified it as the Opening Film. Many of the audience stayed behind for the hour-long Q&A with director Yorgos Tsemberopoulos.  

Return of the Creeps
Night of the Creeps

Stelios also belonged to an out of competition section called Tribute: Notes on Film. The section pays tribute to the makers of music in Greece throughout the last century. The other four films in the section assimilated retrospective Greek offerings with more recent films. It also balanced documentary with fiction films. Edge of Night by Nikos Panayotopoulos was released in 2000 and draws allusions to Stelios. In particularly, it harks back to the age of seedy bars in remote Greece. The narrative tells of an aspiring singer who leaves Athens, hoping for her big break. The film’s score is by renowned Greek composer Stamatis Kraounakis.   

Made in 2019, Eftihia is a celebration of the life of Eftihia Papagianopoulou. The film portrays her struggles and dreams to become a poet and lyricist. In 1919, before the Greco-Turkish War, she escapes from Smyrna to Greece with her mother and two children in search of fame. Eftihia is further recognition for the poet, who did not become famous until after her death.     

Yani Spanos: A Life behind the Marquee, by Aris Dorizas is an intriguing documentary. Made in 2023 it portrays the humble life of the Greek composer, born Ioannes “Giannis” Spanos. It also follows his collaborations in Paris and fame in his homeland. All this is seen through the eyes of a fan, with rare interviews and documents. The use of animation and collage is also enhancing.     

Nikos Chantzis’ Return of the Creeps (2024) celebrates the famous Athens-based record label. An energetic documentary, it prominently looks at the life of Creep Records founder Babis Dallidis. Despite lasting only four years (1982-1986), Creep Records created a legacy of the Greek New Wave scene. This included the Post-Punk and Dark Wave genres. The featured label artists includes Art of Parties, Clown, Cpt Nefos, and Headleaders.

The Greek Film Festival Berlin runs until March 30th.

~ By Steven Yates  

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Greek Cinema Arrives in Berlin

For its tenth anniversary, the Greek Film Festival in Berlin offers another five days of screenings. The innovative program has benefitted both German and international audiences alike. Once again the screenings take place at Berlin’s legendary Babylon Mitte Cinema. Originating in 2016 the festival was initially known as Hellas Filmbox Berlin. Festival director Sofia Stavrianidou and her team rebranded to its current name in 2020. Since 2022 the festival has also travelled to Frankfurt and from 2023 in Cologne too.

This year the Opening Film is Stelios, directed by Yorgos Tsemberopoulos. It showcases the life of legendary singer Stelios Kazantzidis. Coming from a Pontic refugee family, his immense talent helped him overcome social and personal challenges. With his “Laiko” (a Greek folk-pop music genre) songs he won the hearts of a nation. For an opening film on the festival’s tenth edition, Stelios has an appropriately Greek celebratory factor.

Another intriguing main competition section features this year. Six films are competing for the best prize award in the section called Emerging Greeks Competition. All films are Berlin, German or International Premieres. Brando with a Glass Eye is directed by Antonis Tsonis. Set in the Greek capital, Athens, it concerns a heist that goes wrong and subsequent redemption. Killerwood by Christos Massalas blends fiction with perceived notions of reality. The premise of a young director’s film is a list of unsolved murders in Athens. However, could they be the work of a real-life serial killer?

Aside from Athens, images of Greece that come to mind are the countless Islands. In Kyuka: Before Summer’s End by Kostis Charamountanis, the island of Poros is the setting. It is summer and a single father and his adolescent twin children sail to the island. By chance they will meet their mother, who abandoned them when they were babies. More remote exotic islands are the setting for Maldives by Daniel Bolda. This time the family is a man and his dog in the secluded mountains. However the man’s world turns upside down when the dog disappears.

Back to Greece and domesticity again is Riviera by Orfeas Peretzis. When her mother announces they will leave, Alkistis contemplates one final summer living on the Athenian Riviera. Finally, Meat, by Dimitris Nakos is set in a village in the Greek countryside. After opening his butcher shop, Takis is confronted with truth and loyalty. When his son kills a neighbor who claimed part of their land there is one witness. Trouble is that he is also a long-term employee of Takis.

The 2025 Competition Jury is: Simone Baumann (Germany), Nikos Smpiliris (Greece) and Dr. Martin Blaney (UK). They are also the Documentary Jury.  

~ By Steven Yates   

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Cinema Travel

Nosferatu’s Wismar

Nosferatu

The 2024 film version of Nosferatu has placed the Northern German municipality of Wismar, population 44,000, on the radar. The former Hanseatic League city with a Gothic Quarter, narrow cobblestone streets, towering cathedrals and shaded sky feels like a place where a vampire would reside.

Wismar and Nosferatu
Wismar and Nosferatu
Wismar and Nosferatu

Wismar is located on the Baltic Coast, a two and half hour drive from Berlin.

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Berlinale Round Up

The 75th Berlinale is coming to a close. Did the film festival make a sharp turn upward? For this Chat Cinema podcast round up discuss the cinema event under new leader head Tricia Tuttle.

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McKellen’s Critic

The Critic: Strong performance from McKellen  

Finally released in German cinemas, The Critic stars renowned stage and screen actor Sir Ian McKellen. It is London, 1934, and McKellen is an infamous theatre critic called Jimmy Erskine. For fifty years Erskine has written biting theatrical reviews for respected national newspaper The Daily Chronicle. When the newspaper proprietor dies, his son David Brooke (Mark Strong) takes charge. However, Brooke wants to implement immediate changes to compete with its rival The Daily Mail. He also advises Erskine to tone down his writing style, and public proclivities.

Ian McKellen  in The Critic

Meanwhile, struggling theatre actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) also admires Erskine’s work. Therefore, she is upset by his cruel reviews of her performances, and this also infuriates Brooke. When Erskine is arrested for drunken and lewd behavior, the editor issues him a final warning. This will soon culminate in Brooke ending Erskine’s contract with one month’s notice.  

Needing to save his job, Erskine watches Nina’s performance in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Brooke is also in the audience and Erskine notices him emotionally moved.  Therefore he writes Nina the glowing review she has always wished for. However, this praise for Nina will come at a cost. In return, she must do him a favor and seduce the already besotted Chronicle editor.

The Critic is McKellen’s film, he almost singlehandedly saves it from oblivion. Although Arterton and Strong give excellent supporting performances, no other characters are foregrounded or resonate. Patrick Marber’s previous scripts for Closer (2004) and Notes on a Scandal (2006) had tangible sensitivity. However, in The Critic witticisms take precedent over progressive characterization.

Anand Tucker is multi-talented and experienced in all aspects of film production. Here, however, the effect is counter-productive. There is no conspicuous director imprint and so the trajectory becomes jarring. Indeed, The Critic premiered at Toronto IFF in September 2023 to mixed reviews. It was considered that the dark ending was unpopular with the audience. Therefore, the film’s distributor requested re-shoots. The September 2024 general release had a new cut and a new ending. 

By Steven Yates

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The Club

Anamorphic Club Cafe

Once again the Anamorphic Club Cafe opened for two days during the Berlinale. A place to meet and greet filmmakers while looking over the filmmaking goods from Sony cameras, Hawk lens and Vantage Films. Directors, producers and cinematographers came together for chats and seminars on the latest filmmaking trends.

Anamorphic Club Cafe
Anamorphic Club Cafe
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Anamorphic Club Cafe
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Berlinale 75th

For this episode of Chat Cinema we talk about the Berlinale. The 75th edition starts February 13th. Has the film gathering event turned a major corner with a new head? The Honeymoon period was pleasant. Now comes the hard part. Turning the Berlin gathering into a true “A-List” festival.

But, beneath the mixed headlines, we also found some gems that will screen over the course of ten days.

Check out the podcast with co-host Steven Yates.

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TALKING DIRTY DANCING

At the Anamorphic Club Cafe Berlin we talked to Cinematographer Jeff Jur about Dirty Dancing on enduring quality of the 1987 film.

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