Apples
M
Greece, Poland, Slovenia, 2020
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: Greek
Director: Christos Nikou
Starring: Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Anna Kalaitzidou, Argyris Bakirtzis, Kostas Laskos, Babis Makridis, Kimon Fioretos, Costas Xikominos, Alexandra Aidini
What's it about?
Executive produced by Cate Blanchett, writer-director Christos Nikou’s debut feature is a surreal, touching and enigmatic exploration of identity, memory, loss and one man's story of self-discovery. Amidst a worldwide pandemic that causes sudden amnesia, Aris (Aris Servetalis) finds himself enrolled in a recovery program designed to help unclaimed patients build new identities. He is prescribed daily tasks on cassette tapes so he can create new memories and documents them on camera. This film is full of melancholy and you are completely spellbound and drawn into Aris' world through the sad and empathetic eyes of actor Aris Servetalis. It will stay with you long after the credits role and you may shed a tear or two when you look at an apple.
M
Greece, 2021
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: Greek
Director: Giorgos Gousis
Starring: Elena Topallidou, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Nikos Spanides
What's it about?
This charming and quirky little film about unexpected connections was filmed almost guerrilla style during Covid lockdown with much of the film improvised over a 15 day shoot on the beautiful island of Kefallonia. While travelling alone in her car, Elena (Elena Topalidou) decides to change course on a whim and finds herself on a ferry. Antonis (Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos) is on that same ferry, on his way to the island cemetery where he hopes to bury a metallic box. When his car breaks down, Elena offers him a ride to a hotel and then again, the next day to the cemetery, where they are told the box can’t be left there. The eccentric strangers decide to drive around together in search of a good place to bury the box and as an audience you happily go on the ride with them. This film has been well awarded winning 6 awards including Best Film at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards and 6 awards at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, including Best Greek Film.
M
Greece, France, 2021
Genre: Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Jacqueline Lentzou
Starring: Lzaraos Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Nikos Hanakoulas
What's it about?
Written and directed by Jacqueline Lentzou this film is an intimate and touching story about a father and daughter reconnecting. 20-something Artemis (Sofia Kokkali), who after years of distance, tentatively returns to Athens to care for her father, Paris (Lazaros Georgakopoulos), due to his frail health. Her mother declines to help, Paris is clearly embarrassed and Artemis witnesses first-hand how Paris' own self-involved yet controlling family treats him. As she cares for her stoic, near-wordless father, she tries to understand this man she never really knew and when she discovers a well-kept secret from her father’s past, she finally begins to not only better understand a complicated man, but the underlying love coursing through a complicated relationship between father and daughter.
M
Greece, France, Serbia, 2018
Genre: Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Nikos Labôt
Starring: Marisha Triantafyllidou, Dimitris Imellos, Maria Filini
What's it about?
37-year-old Panayiota (Marissa Trianatafyllidou) leads a quiet, modest life with her out-of-work husband Kostas (Dimitris Imellos), her rebellious teenage daughter, and her sensitive younger son. Sacrificing and nearly illiterate, Panayiota is trapped within a domestic environment that prevents her from achieving independence. When she sees an ad for cleaners at a new mall she jumps at the chance. For some it may seem like a tolerable job but Panayiota becomes a model employee, gains a sense of independence and forms friendships with her co-workers. But with her limited literacy skills and the way workers are treated during the socioeconomic crisis in Greece, how long will Panayiota get to explore her freedom? Winner of 3 Hellenic Film Academy Awards Best First Film Director and Best Actress for Trianarafyllidou who gives a subtle and touching performance that makes you really root for Panayiota.
MA15+
Greece, Albania, Serbia, 2021
Genre: Crime, Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Dimitris Kanellopoulos
Starring: Dimitris Lalos, Aris Servetalis, Giannis Vasilottos
What's it about?
Dimitris Kanellopoulos' first feature film is like a Greek modern western that's all about crime, money and toxic masculinity in a small town. Thanasis (Dimitris Lalos) can't pay off his debt to loan shark Stelios (Giorgos Valais). When he finds out that Apostolis (Aris Servetalis) is in the same position, he asks him to join with him to try and make a better deal with Stelios. While Thanasis tries to put more players in the game to apply pressure on Stelios, two young gangsters (Lefteris Polychronis & Giannis Vasilotto) arrive in town to push over the local loan sharks and the tense battle for power begins.
MA15+
Greece, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: Greek, English, French
Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Starring: Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randou
What's it about?
Stuck in her boring factory town, twenty-three-year-old Marina (Ariane Labed) is at the mercy of both her father's impending death and her distaste for other humans. She would prefer to watch Sir David Attenborough documentaries and her sex education comes from her only friend, Bella (Evangelia Randou). A stranger (Yorgos Lanthimos) comes to town and she starts a relationship with him. Caught between two men and her friend Bella, Marina investigates the mystery of the human fauna. Erotic and eccentric this is a new spin on the arthouse coming-of-age drama told through the eyes of a female director.
M
Greece, 2015
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Starring: Yiorgos Kendros, Panos Koronis, Vangelis Mourikis, Makis Papadimitriou, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Sakis Rouvas
What's it about?
In her directorial feature follow up to Attenberg, Tsangari examines the modern male dynamic in this high concept, slow burn dark comedy. Six competitive men (all-star cast featuring Yiorgos Kendros, Vangelis Mourikis, Panos Koronis, Makis Papadimitrou, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos and Sakis Rouvas -) play a series of bizarre games while taking a luxury yacht on a fishing trip in the Aegean Sea. Winner of the Best Film at the London Film Festival, "Tsangari has managed to make a film that is both a hilarious comedy and a deeply disturbing statement on the condition of western humanity." Everything can spark a fierce competition; but, only one can wear the precious chevalier. Who will it be?
M
Greece, 2019
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Zacharias Mavroeidis
Starring: Michalis Sarantis, Thanasis Papageorgiou, Giota Festa
What's it about?
This film will make you want to go and talk to your papou and give him a big hug. Thirty-something Aris (Michalis Sarantis) is handsome but a bit arrogant and he is in financial trouble (he's not great at business). Which means he needs to move back to the town he grew up in and into his papou Aristides’ house, a WW2 veteran, who has passed away and who Aris bears a striking resemblance to. He reunites with childhood friends and befriends an old comrade and friend of Aristides, Vassos (Thanasis Papageorgiou), who people whisper about in town. His quest to live up to Aristides legacy, will redefine both the family hero and Aris. We don't want to spoil anything, but this touching film unfolds beautifully and looks at family, love, friendship, identity, WW2 and the Greek Civil War.
MA15+
Greece, 2019
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: Greek, Japanese
Director: Giorgos Georgopoulos
Starring: Omiros Poulakis, Vangelis Mourikis, Kora Karvouni
What's it about?
Directed, produced, co-written and edited by Giorgios Georgopoulos, this film has the Greek Weird Wave elements of dark comedy, drama and a hint of science fiction. Womanizer Aris (Omiros Poulakis) finds out he is a carrier of a sexually transmitted virus, lethal only for women. But he is also the only hope for a curing vaccine, if he finds which one of his ex girlfriends had the first viral strain. Meeting each one of his ex-girlfriends (hopefully before the virus takes hold) each day of an entire week, he must face the consequences of his past choices and actions.
MA15+
Greece, France, Canada, USA, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: Greek, English
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Aggeliki Papoulia, Ariane Labed, Johnny Vekris, Stavros Psyllakis
What's it about?
It wouldn't be a Greek cinema collection without the King of the Greek Weird Wave. Alps is Lanthimos' third feature film and follows a secret club whose members are paid to act as replacements for the recently deceased – going into their homes, impersonating them and getting uncomfortably intimate with the bereaved. It's part therapy, part theatre and all a little, dare we say, weird. A young member (Aggeliki Papoulia) takes a recent roleplay a little too seriously, while also quietly rebelling against the group's controlling leader (Aris Servetalis). Alps posits a surreal world where human connection is a commodity, but real, painful emotion lurks between the lines.
