Whilst the highly anticipated 2023 Greek Film Festival is just around the corner, they’ve announced five unique showings that promise to captivate audiences. With a diverse range of films that explore culture and contemporary themes, this year’s festival is set to be a cinematic journey like no other.
These remarkable films are set to leave an indelible mark on the world of cinema, offering a diverse range of storytelling and cinematic experiences.
Silence 6-9, Directed by Christos Passalis:
Aris and Anna meet one evening in a half-abandoned town surrounded by antennas which emit strange sounds and enable the transmission of human voices. In this bizarre, dreamlike world, where things don’t seem quite right – including people’s behaviour – these two solitary souls gradually start to develop feelings for one another… Aris and Anna are the only outsiders in a town filled with antennas that broadcast the voices of the Disappeared; inhabitants who have unexplainably and suddenly disappeared. Until Anna disappears too.
Black Stone, Directed by Spiros Jacovides:
While filming absent civil servants, a documentary crew stumbles upon Haroula, a desperate, overprotective Greek mother in search of her son. But when her missing son is accused of fraud, Haroula sets out with her other, disabled son and a Greek African taxi driver to bring him back home where he belongs. Even if this means discovering who her son really is.
The film portrays a roller-coaster family journey where motherly fears unfold, hopes are crushed and unexpected events lead to unpredictable revelations.
IMAN, Directed by Korinna Avraamidou, Kyriakos Tofaridis:
Abdallah, an Arab Muslim civil engineer has to come to terms with his own responsibility in the collapse of a building, which causes the death of 7 people.
Having been radicalized, Iman and Leila, are sent to Cyprus on a secret mission.
Michelle, a lonely teenage girl, falls for Angelos, a domineering young man with racist ideals.
Three stories, each involving characters whose actions may mean the difference between life and death, are defined by their search for redemption from their past, their guilt, their loneliness.
Purgatory, Directed by Vassilis Mazomenos:
Seven different stories about love in modern Greece, by people who seek it, find it, lose it. A monk leads a procession to open a temple, which the authorities have closed due to a pandemic. A young girl is rescued from prostitution when her long-lost father reappears. Two college boys become perpetrators of violent incidents. A policewoman convinces an elderly man suffering from dementia that he is her father. A couple tries to recover their broken relationship ending in loneliness. A woman expresses her anger to a civil servant after losing her husband. A middle-class man sneaks his terminally ill best friend out of the hospital to give him a beautiful end by the sea.
Voices in Deep, Directed by Jason Raftopoulos:
In the aftermath of Greece’s refugee crisis that started in 2015, Tarek and Zaeed are orphaned refugees. Unable to secure public housing, Tarek pays for food and board by prostituting himself to his abusive pimp Masi, but when a local refugee girl is murdered, the younger brother Zaeed decides to get them out any way he can. Meanwhile, Bobby, an Australian volunteer worker once dedicated to saving the lives of refugees is holed up in a motel room. Her recurring traumas of a tragedy at sea have left her emotionally crippled. She must sell her illegally harvested shellfish before she gets on a plane back to Australia.
Lost on Kythera, Directed by James Prineas:
Lost on Kythera is a quirky comedy in which mythology, ancient history, and the sometimes-paranormal present are indistinguishable. Hilarious and unexpected, this is a rollicking tale of adventure, love, and the comic belligerence of humans set against the backdrop of one of Greece’s most beautiful and enchanting islands.
The Greek Film Festival is presented in Victoria by the Greek Community of Melbourne playing on the Palace Cinemas group’s screens at Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn Cinema and the Astor Theatre from 19 to 29 October. For more festival details and the full program check: Melbourne Films | Greek Film Festival 2023.
