Film Schedule

The Guardian's Son
FRI March 2, 7:00

Greece, 2006, 98 min
Director: Dimitris Koutsiabasakos
Language: Greek with English subtitles

A young aspiring TV 'reporter' discovers his roots in a mountain village of Greece and connects with the history and the kind of simple people he used to despise. A coming of age journey filmed with an evident deep respect for the abandoned villages of Greece. The dilemma between modern life and rural values in a noble, character-driven drama given with a hint of humor even in its most serious moments.

Awards:
Audience Award - 2006 Greek State Film Awards
Best Director's Debut - 2006 Greek State Film Awards
2nd Best Fiction Award - 2006 Greek State Film Awards
Special Jury Award - Los Angeles Greek Film Festival

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Plato's Academy
FRI March 2, 9:15

Greece/Germany, 2009, 103 min
Director: Philippos Tsitos
Language: Greek with English subtitles

Every morning four Greek men in their mid-fifties sit down on the four chairs that kiosk-owner Stavros (Antonis Kafetzopoulos) places in front of his shop. He does this day in day out with an almost ritualistic regularity both for him and his friends. Every now and then they might start kicking a ball about near the junction that is hardly ever very busy. Or they might animatedly discuss, whether “Patriot” - a dog belonging to one of the four imperturbable flag-wavers – only ever barks at Albanians or on occasion might even growl at a Greek. And lo and behold – the dog does in fact make an exception and barks at Stavros – much to the dismay of the others. This dismay soon turns to scepticism when Stavros’ mother suddenly thinks she has found her long lost son in the form of an Albanian labourer and starts speaking to him in fluent Albanian.

Awards:
Silver Leopard for Best Actor to Antonis Kafetzopoulos - Locarno International Film Festival
Youth Award, Universal Award - Locarno International Film Festival
LUX European Parliament Prize, 2010

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The Silent School
SAT March 3, 2:00

Greece, 2010, 48 min
Director: Irini Sarioglou, Marina Leontari
Language: Greek with English subtitles

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the graduation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, from Halki Seminary, the Hellenic History Foundation with Greek and Turkish historians undertook the realization of a documentary on the history of Halki's Theological School. By tracing the historical background of the School through the accounts of its graduates and academic staff, we were taken on a journey through the islands of Kalymnos, Thessaloniki, Athens, Istanbul and Heybeliada (Halki).


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The Guide
SAT March 3, 3:00

Greece, 2011, 94 min
Director: Zacharias Mavroeidis
Language: Greek with English subtitles

The guide is never part of the group. Nine frustrated young architects in an equally frustrated city. A comedy about sexuality, Athens and Greeks. Handsome young Iasonas decides to put together a tour to take people interested in Athenian architecture from Thessaloniki down to the Greek capital and tour them around the city. The trip has hardly begun before he is beset by problems: his mother won't stop calling him, his girlfriend is a done deal and the members of his tour are far more interested in drinking frappe and partying than in actually learning something. Things get a little more threatening when handsome young Olivier joins the party and Iasonas finds himself feeling tense around him.

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Without Borders
SAT March 3, 5:00

Greece, 2010, 92 min
Director: Nick Gaitatjis
Language: Greek with English subtitles

Thanasis, a good-hearted cotton candy vendor from Athens, has been caring for little Melissa since she was a baby when her mother, an immigrant prostitute, thought it best to leave the girl behind while seeking her fortune in America. Her unexpected appearance five years later has traumatic consequences when she takes her child away from Thanasis and leaves. Thanasis, suddenly alone, misses the child who was like a daughter to him and a comfort in his old age. He decides to travel to America to see her again. He does not have a visa. He does not speak English. He does not have much money. But he does have a distant cousin, Plato, a professional gambler, living in Las Vegas, who has offered to help him cross the border. A road movie begins as the two disparate cousins from Greece embark on a cross-country adventure to win the smile of a littler girl.

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Gold Dust
SAT March 3, 7:00

Greece, 2009, 85 min
Director: Margarita Manda
Language: Greek with English subtitles

Athens, today. Three siblings face the prospect of selling their family home. The potential buyers will tear it down and erect a modern building in its place. Alexis defends the sale, documenting his position with the financial benefits that this will bring. Anna reacts negatively. For her their family home is the memory of her childhood. Amalia hesitates in making a decision, trapped between her emotional reservations and the practical needs. The heroes are in conflict with themselves in a city that is in conflict with the memory of its history. The sale of the family home functions as a pretext for the heroes to bring to light their interpersonal relations. The image they have of each other in absentia, the "non dit" that characterizes family ties and reveals raw wounds when the surface of childhood is scratched. A surface sprinkled with gold dust, like a fairytale.

Awards:
Audience Award - Panorama of European Cinema, Athens, 2009
Best Supporting Actress Anna Mascha - Hellenic Film Academy, 2010
Best Fiction Film - International Film Festival of Patras, 2010

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Attenberg
SAT March 3, 9:00

Greece, 2010, 95 min
Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Language: Greek with English subtitles

As an architect suffering from cancer prepares for his impending death, his daughter, Marina, attempts an awkward flight into adulthood. Emotionally stilted at 23, Marina seeks the counsel of her best friend--the promiscuous and instructive Bella--who bluntly guides her through the clumsy physicality of sex. Marina, who prefers to watch the mating rituals of animals on David Attenborough documentaries than to experience them herself, wades through uncomfortable territory for the first time. We glimpse her terse experiments, her fumbles and frank inquiries as she tries to figure out how these things called relationships work. All the while, she shuttles her father to and from the hospital, witnessing his own body deflate. The daily machinations of Marina and Bella unfold against the backdrop of a crumbling mill town wrought firmly in the industrial imagination. Once conceived to be a paradise of production, the town is now a hollow landscape of steel skeletons, deserted construction sites and crumbling "60s mod homes"--a decrepit utopia that Marina's father helped to create. But things still emerge in the wasteland.

Awards:
Coppa Volpi Best Actress Award for Ariane Labed - Venice Film Festival 2010
Lina Mangiacapre Award - Venice Film Festival 2010
New Voices Award for Best Feature - Whistler Film Festival Canada 2010
“Mademoiselle Ladubay” Best Actress Prize for Ariane Labed - Premiers Plans Angers Festival France 2011
Silver Puma for Best Director - Mexico National University International Film Festival (FICUNAM) 2011
Audience Award - Mexico National University International Film Festival (FICUNAM) 2011
Best Director Award - Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Film (BAFICI) 2011
Best Feature Award - International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund/Cologne, Main Competition, Germany, April 2011 Best Actress Award for Ariane Labed - Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2011
Grand Jury Prize - ERA New Horizons International Film Festival 2011
Best Film - Romanian International Film Festival 2011
LUX European Parliament Prize, 2011
Official Selection Sundance

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