sotc#3 review booklet for emailing

8/6/2019 Sotc#3 Review Booklet For Emailing

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on the

THE ROYAL CINEMA608 College St, Toronto, Ontario

FRIDAY JUNE 24TH, 2011

SATURDAY JUNE 25TH, 2011

SUNDAY JUNE 26TH, 2011


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All these things have thus come to an end.

But you must listen now to what I say

a god himself will be reminding you.

First of all, youll run into the Sirens,

who seduce all men who come across them.Whoever unwittingly encounters them

and hears the Sirens call never gets back.

His wife and infant children in his home

will never stand beside him full of joy.

Homers The Odyssey - Book 12, The Sirens

SIRENS ON THE COAST

Greek songs o loneliness and separation provided some o the healing to

bridge the distance between the Greek Immigrants and their birthplace.

The movies that played in the small cinemas in the Fities and Sixties

helped ease the pain also. These were austere black and white flms that

resembled Italian Neorealist Cinema but were submerged in Greek charac-

ters and social issues o the day.

Some o these flms in our retrospective are rie with nostalgia. Some may

prove spikes in memory or harbingers o a bittersweet past; especially a

ew rom Fities and 1979-82. These flms were spawned rom a creativecollective that confrms a great cinematic legacy to the world over the past

55 years. (Two o our flms were consecutive GOLDEN GLOBE BEST FOR-

EIGN FILM Nominees/Winners)

This summer it will be sae to be seduced by beautiul sirens rom a ar-

away coast. The frst annual Toronto Greek Film Retrospective at The RoyalCinema is packed with eclectic pieces o Greek Cinema that have arrived

this summer to inspire us. We welcome you to the superb Royal Cinema in

Little Italy or a memorable weekend.

DANNIS KOROMILAS: DIRECTOR

TORONTO GREEK FILM RETROSPECTIVE


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SIRENS ON THE COAST

*All flms (with the exception o Ena Gelasto Apogevma)

will be screened with English subtitles.

FRIDAY JUNE 24TH

7:00 P.M. Stella (1955)

9:30 P.M. A Matter of Dignity (1958)

SATURDAY JUNE 25TH

1:15 P.M. Crystal Nights (1992)

4:10 P.M. The Striker With Number 9 (1989)

7:00 P.M. Girl in Black (1958)

9:15 P.M. Learn how to Read and Write, Son (1981)

SUNDAY JUNE 26TH

1:30 P.M. Stone Years (1985)

4:30 P.M. Ena Gelasto Apogevma (1979)

7:00 P.M. Invincible Lovers (1988)

9:15 P.M. Tighten Your Belt Thanasis (1980)


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STELLA 1955

DIRECTOR: MICHAEL CACOYANNIS

At the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, there was such uproar that Melina

Mercouris performance did not win Best Actress, they created a spe-

cial award for her, the ISA MIRANDA for her starring role as Stella,a recracker nightclub singer.

STELLA deals with a nightclub singers volatile life as she gets

caught up in a lovers triangle. Like a wild horse, Stella seems to

trample over anything in her way if she feels cornered or judged. Af-

ter hooking up with soccer star Miltos (George Foundas) immediately

after dumping a sensitive, good boy, Stellas new passions are the

catalyst to her ex-lovers temptation to take his life once again.

After hearing Stellas afternoon laughter from underneath her window

her discarded lover succeeds in killing himself. In this tale of vis-

ceral emotions and deant sensibilities several lives are destroyed as

Stella attempts to author her own life choices.

STELLA is a brave and robust lm masterfully directed by Greek-Cypriot

Master Storyteller MICHAEL CACOYANNIS, who blends the melancholy power

of love songs, cigarettes, and late night whiskey into cinematic angst

and furious emotion. This is a staggering piece of work from a lm-

maker that really did not have much of a budget, but instead did like

the greats of that era and fashioned a powerful lm with all that hehad.

A simple comparison between Melina Mercouris STELLA and the des-

perate, drunken Marlon Brandos wail of STELLA at the end of Elia

Kazans A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, is that Kim Hunters Stella comes

back to hold him and forgive him and nurture the beast. Kazans lm

was shot it in 1951. By 1955, Cacoyannis Stella has no interest in

healing wounds from drunken brutes, be they in New Orleans or Athens.

The Greek Stella is as vicious and virile as any male on screen and

she deantly leaves the soccer star at the altar and sends him to adrunken rage.

Instead of a honeymoon there is a

crime of passion in the deserted

dawn of an Athens neighborhood.

Stella is a swearing lm that had a

profound impact on Greek audiences

and would go on to win the Golden

Globe for Best Foreign Film. A ood

of enormously talented men and wom-

en launched their careers from this

lm, especially the director Cacoy-

annis, and lead actors Mercouri and

George Foundas.


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A MATTER OF DIGNITY- 1958

DIRECTOR: MICHAEL CACOYANNISReview written by ALESSANDRA PICCIONE

Michael Cacoyannis 1958 lm, A

Matter of Dignity, is an intoxi-

cating morality play that revolves

around the beautiful young Chloe

Pella (Ellie Lambeti), the daugh-

ter of wealthy Athenian indus-

trialists, who enjoys a carefree

and glamorous social life. Chloe

is about marrying age, but she

only irts with suitors until her

mother, Roxanni (Athena Michaeli-

dou) tells her the family will bebankrupt within a month. Chloe

fancies herself mature, tells her

mother she is not a child any-

more and agrees to accept the ad-

vances of a wealthy Greek-American

suitor, Dritsas (Minas Christi-

dis), whom she does not love.

As they wait for Dritsas to nal-

ize their engagement, the familysell their jewels and paintings

one by one in secret to stock the

liquor cabinet for social gather-

ings and keep up appearances, all

the while neglecting to pay their

devoted housekeeper, Katerina

(Eleni Zafeiriou), whose own ve

year-old son is sick in hospital.

Chloes life spirals faster and faster the more she holds on to her

lie. Most poignantly, her best friend Markos (Dimitris Papamichael)

tells Chloe that all of Athens is talking about her. When she asks

him if the gossipers feel sorry for Dritsas, Markos explains in a poi-

gnant moment that it is she they feel sorry for. In fact, Chloe is

the real victim here and discovers, perhaps once it is far too late,

that she has allowed herself to become enslaved by her own lies and

the expectations of her family, all for the sake of their good name.

Most strikingly, however, is the fact that the plight of the Pella

family is all too familiar to us in our own post-recessionary, debt-

ridden world, where living beyond our means is for so many still a

matter of dignity.


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CRYSTAL NIGHTS 1992

A FILM BY TONIA MARKETAKI

Review written by ALESSANDRA PICCIONE

Crystal Nights, director Tonia Marketakis nal lm, is an expansive

tour-de-force that explores the big themes: good versus evil; love

versus hate; mortality versus the transcendental; and political ideol-

ogy and the futility of war versus an extremely private struggle be-

tween two lovers.

Set against the contentious

political backdrop of pre-WW2

Europe, Crystal Nights focuses

on the journey of star-crossed

lovers, Isabella (Michele Val-

ley) and Albert (Francois De-laive), a married German woman

and a young Jew, who fall madly

and hopelessly in love with

each other. But this lm is

no Casablanca. Unlike Rick and

Ilsa, who make the ultimate

sacrice to give up their love

for the sake of the greater

good, Albert and Isabella are

totally, completely and un-apologetically consumed by a

love that extends beyond mortal

existence and therefore takes precedence over the temporary conditions

brought about by politics and war. Through the character of Isabel-

la an old world clairvoyant and pagan witch Marketaki presents a

darker interpretation of the nature of the human spirit, blurring the

lines between good and evil and exploring the intense and destructive

nature of passion. Ultimately, however, Isabella and Alberts twisted

obsession personies the relationship between Germany and its Jews.

With her dark, Mediterranean appearance and magical rituals remi-

niscent of the ritualistic symbolism used at Nazi rallies Isabella

longs to posses what Albert a strong, fair-haired man who looks more

like a member of the Hitler Youth than a stereotypical Jew has. The

closer she comes to owning him, the more he retreats into the per-

ceived safety of earthly possessions, status and marriage as a social

institution.

As the story takes us through time, space, dimensions and even mul-

tiple lifetimes, Marketaki plays with the imagery of lm itself, us-ing speed, black and white, sepia and full colour footage throughout,

while haunting folk music punctuates its themes. Presented at the

prestigious Un Certain Regard section of the 1992 Festival de Cannes,

Crystal Nights is a unique and layered attempt to illustrate the deep-

er issues of our world and the nature of our very existence, and it is

sure to be the subject of a long and interesting post-screening con-

versation with friends.


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STRIKER WITH THE # 9 JERSEY (1989)

A FILM BY PANTELIS VOULGARIS

The opening shot of children

playing in a gravel eld to

a rhythmic 80s synthesizersound would make Miami Vice

fans proud. Even the rst

close look at our hero re-

veals a classic acid-wash

jean jacket as he sleeps on

a train. Needless to say the

mullets are in full force in

Striker with the #9 Jersey.

This end of the Eighties

Era lm captures the fa-

natical nature of soccer and

its grip on the Greek fans.

Clarinets blare in the stands

and the throngs of fans chant

their heros names with in-

tense passion. Even though the lead character Bill Seretis plays in

a second tier division in the northern city of Thessaloniki, when he

scores a game-winning goal it is like hes driven home a World Cupwinner. The Actor Sotiris Tzortzoglou (eerie resemblance to Tom Cruise

from his Rain Man era) does an excellent job in this lm, as do the

supporting cast. Not one character in STRIKER fails to impress upon us

that the game and business of soccer is integral to their lives.

STRIKER WITH THE #9 JERSEY deals with the pitfalls and traps that lay

in wait for Vasilis Seretis, a promising star in the world of profes-

sional sports, in this case Soccer in Greece. He ends up being traded

to Volos, but is determined to play in Athens. Seretis rise to mi-

nor fame is furious. His name changes from Vasilis to chants of BILL,BILL, BILL....

With so much unbridled talent and even more ambition chewing away at

it, Bill ends up back in Athens, playing in front of crowds of 40,000.

Bill continues his juggernaut to the top of the league and somehow we

see what he does not; Bill has possibly killed Vasilis. Agony comes in

the form of a vicious knee hit and Bill is carried o in on a stretch-

er before a stunned crowed.

STRIKER WITH THE #9 plays out on many levels, the main theme howev-

er is how an individual, in this case an aspiring soccer knocks down

one obstacle after another, only to nd he has possibly shed his love

for the game and obliterating his own humility. Soccer in Europe is a

gargantuan business. This poignant work from master lmmaker Pante-

lis Voulgaris makes some piercing observations about Greeces national

sport right at the close of the greediest decade. Strike that, the 2nd

greediest decade in modern history.


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A GIRL IN BLACK 1956

DIRECTOR: MICHEAL CACOYANNISReview by EVAN GEORGIADES

The Girl in Black represents a

true landmark in Greek national

cinema, marking the rst occa-

sion on which a Greek lm enjoyed

international recognition in the

form of a Golden Globe Award for

Best Foreign Language Film, and a

Palme dOr nomination at the 1957

Cannes Film Festival. As the

follow up to his popular directo-

rial debut, Stella, the lm also

airmed director Michael Cacoyan-nis standing as a bona de mas-

ter of cinema.

Set upon the small, archetypically quaint island of Hydra, the story

centers around the title character of Marina and her blossoming ro-

mance with the young Athenian writer staying in her familys home

while on vacation. Marina doesnt appear to wear her black clothes

very comfortably. In fact, nothing about Marinas life is comfort-

able. But if actress Ellie Lambetis enchanting eyes appear to ll the

screen with more sadness than any one woman could possibly carry inher soul, so too does her black dress feel as though its being worn

for all of womankind--not to mention a country that chooses to live in

a perpetual state of mourning.

Cacoyannis uses all his powers as a lmmaker to paint a stark picture

of the debilitating double standard that comes between men and women

on the island, and balances his story delicately upon the line between

realism and melodrama. Likewise, in the hands of cinematographer Wal-

ter Lassally, the black and white image eectively sets the stage for

a battle between the forces of light and darkness. Its a battle wecan only hope our two lovers will ultimately transcend.

The Girl in Black is not a lm one watches to simply reminisce about a

bygone era in Greeces history. Indeed, if the opening shots feel as

though they might carry us away on ights of nostalgia, those feelings

come crashing down the moment we begin to witness how the island and

its people are being torn apart by jealousy, small-mindedness and out-

moded traditions. In this regard, The Girl in Black seems as relevant

today as it must have when it was released more than 50 years ago, and

this is most certainly as much a reection of how forward-thinking

director Michael Cacoyannis is as a man, as it is a testament to his

level of sheer artistry.

In The Girl in Black, all the elements of a powerful, well-crafted

story come together to create a rare masterpiece of world cinema,

worthy of being honored alongside other such neorealist classics as

Vitorrio De Sicas Bicycle Thief.


9/14

MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA 1981

DIRECTOR: THEODOROS MARAGOS

One of the two lms in this retrospective from Director Theodoros

Maragos, MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA is surely one of the funniest lms

to ever come out of Greece. The beauty of the this lm is that Direc-

tor Maragos manages to straddle comedy and young romance with heavy

handed satire and thinly veiled venom at the failure of the Greek Gov-ernment to acknowledge the eorts and sacrices of the Partisan Move-

ment during the Nazi Occupation.

SOCRATIS, played with incredible genius by Nikos Kalegeropoulos is a

testosterone lled yet gentle teen with a penchant for Boney Ms 1979

hit Rasputin and dark green leather half boots. (Most of the world re-

members at least three people from this era if not more.)

This is perhaps one of the great works from Greece in the 80s and t-

tingly ran roughshod over any other productions at the Thessaloniki

Film Festival that year. It is a charming lm that managed to disarm

even the most fervently politically motivated Hellenes of the time to

agree that the charm and humanity of MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA was de-

serving of every accolade and award, then and now.

(A side note: MATHE PAIDE MOU GRAMMATA translated into English means

LEARN HOW TO READ AND WRITE MY SON, a mantra delivered by Greek Par-

ents and Greeks of the Diaspora for over four decades.)


10/14

STONE YEARS (1985)

A FILM BY PANTELIS VOULGARIS

THE STONE YEARS is a heartbreaking

story about two political dis-

sidents that spend most of theiradult lives in prison or on the

run for their political convic-

tions.

In 14 years from the Greek Civil

War, they manage to spend only

three days together, but manage

to have a child together and get

married while in prison. Stone

Years manages at its own pace

to reect on the ridiculous but

truly harsh nature of the regimes

that followed World War Two in the

ravaged country. The Government

Oicials are portrayed as relent-

less Fascists that seem forever

paranoid of the Communist threat.

Historically, one could argue that

Director Pantelis Voulgaris isconvinced that the regimes ag-

gression and fear might has been

spawned by the guilt manifested by

the fact that thousands of par-

tisans exiled, jailed or killed

actually carried on the brunt of resistance against the Nazis.

Eleni Fanti is the other ELENI here, who unlike her counterpart Eleni

Gatsogiannis, immortalized in Nick Gages heartfelt and best-selling

book ELENI, (later adapted to lm) is not murdered at a young age,but is instead hunted for decades and forced to live in the shadows.

STONE YEARS juxtaposed directly with Director Peter Yates 1985 ELENI,

is a perfect example of how two dierent versions of equally atrocious

crimes can be treated cinematically in so polarizing terms.

STONE YEARS possesses a music score that is achingly beautiful and

this lm is invested with palpable sorrow and pathos. Emotions creep

up on the viewer near the end of the lm, which oers a gentle nod to

the triumph of conviction and spiritual endurance in the face of op-

pression.


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ENA GELASTO APOGEVMA 1979

DIRECTOR: ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS (In Greek Only)

Nikos Kourkoulos stars in this superb lm

about political upheaval and a passionate

marriage that keeps eroding after the au-topsy. Kourkoulos is riveting as Dimitris

Venieris, a near-burnt out political party

leader who embodies the strength and ide-

als of a generation a dozen years earlier,

but now is saddled with celebrity. There

is widespread momentum for his potential

to make changes, but

fatefully he has garnered

the attention of the

ruling Party and their

thugs. This lm is a per-

fect time capsule of 1979

and some of the prevalent

viewpoints of the era,

albeit prominently anti-

Junta with a tinge of

anti-American sentiment.

Most of GELASTO APOGEVMA plays out at an Athens Airport bar and relies

consistently on ashback to inform us of who these two broken lovers

are. BETTY LIVANOU portrays Eleni and delivers a perfect rendition of

a woman snared between her bourgeois upbringing and its trappings,

and her inevitable escape from it which was Dimitris Venieris, Rebel

Folk hero and novelist. It seems obvious in their intense exchanges in

the bar that neither knew Dimitris was about to go mainstream.

Keeping in mind that this lm was shot in 1979, just the use of the

ashbacks and time capsule shots of the Athens Airport goes a long wayto seduce the viewer with memories of how magical and impulsive a ro-

mance can are up the Greek seaside. Anyone lucky enough to have expe-

rienced this moment of twilight in the middle of the day after leaving

Greece will understand the feeling.

When Director Andreas Thomopoulos brings us back to the present how-

ever, things are a bottle of wine away from disaster. Elenis ight is

perpetually postponed and Dimitris has become drunker and a lot nas-

tier with her and anyone within a ten feet span

of the bar.

For years I have wondered how no one has ever

remade this lm in Hollywood, or at least updat-

ed in similar fashion, considering the advent of

divorce and failed political heroes since that

hazy summer in 1979.


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INVINCIBLE LOVERS (1988)

A FILM BY STAVROS TSIOLIS

(QUOTES FROM GREEK JOURNALIST PARAPRHASED FOR ENGLISH)

The boy, through his silence and stubbornness returns to his home

which is in ruin. Even if the village has emptied of its inhabitants,

a small ray of hope for some reverse countdown regarding desertion oright lingers?

A hint of hope permeates, maybe somewhat absurdly, but it suggests to

the generations to come about a gigantic matter which those who have

gone before either trapped and forced were betrayed?

Tsiolis leaves the question-mark hanging in the air purposely and

very austerely.

COSTAS PARLAS, 1988

In the opening scenes of this mag-

ic lm you are lured into a thought

that this is a wonderfully played out

student lm. The opening scenes have

already seduced you into a spare but

intriguing framework of shots that

follow a young hero Vasilaki, who in

this day and age, would be scooped upby the police.

The story though breathes quietly and

gains our aections in perfect and re-

alistic increments. This lm may have

cost the same as a current Los Angeles

Short Film budget in 2011, but in 1988, Writer/Director Stavros Tsio-

lis shed the budgetary constraints and gently engages us with master-

ful storytelling. The budget disappears and the aection for the char-

acters propels a genuine story about love and heartache and adolescentconfusion. The rest of the details of this legendary lm will resonate

with rst time viewers this summer, or cause further discussion as to

why cant lms like this thrive once again.

INVINCIBLE LOVERS is a spare, almost silent lm where an ancient Re-

nault hatchback and a gorgeous Arcadian landscape in the background

lled mostly with gravel dust and the sound of crickets shape the mood

and tone of this lm as much as our two thrown together by chance

travelers

During the lm we see little Vasilaki dwarfed in wide shots, walking

alone through pastures and dirt roads. This is a lonely lm but yet

there is a sense of purpose and conviction in the 13-year-old protago-

nist that makes you feel he will keep forging on no matter what lays

ahead on his solitary journey.


13/14

TIGHTEN YOUR BELT THANASI (1980)

DIRECTED BY THEODORE MARAGOS

THANASI VEGGOS, Greeces most

brilliant comedic actor died

one month ago in Athens,

after a long battle with abrain tumor. One day one of

these retrospectives will be

focused just on his career.

In this social satire, Veg-

gos portrays a classic every-

man, Thanassis Maganas, a Tax

Collector who is red from

his job for being too thor-

ough. He embarks on a hunger

strike to get the attention

of the public and succeeds in

regaining his position within

the civil service.

The irony is unshakeable in

this lm, as we watch Maganas

rail with desperation, abso-

lutely at the end of his witsand skill to improve his life

and work circumstances. In a pivotal scene where he asks for a raise

from his supervisor, the cost of living increases in relation to the

tiny raise he has been given over 8 years take on an ominous prophecy

in TIGHTEN YOUR BELT. Veggos was considered always as O KALOS AN-

THROPOS (THE GOOD MAN)and in this biting condemnation of capitalist

greed and lament for the workingman, the essence of every role he ever

played in comes to life full force.

Veggos sheer brilliance and pathos comes through every burst andtwitch in his physical comedy, although in this lm the angst and

heartache somehow makes it hard to laugh at. The genius of Director

Theodoros Maragos and this legendary performance from Veggos leave

an ominous time capsule from 1980; all was not well in Greece and the

future was not bright.

In TIGHTEN YOUR BELT THANASSI, VEGGOS is trying to gure out how to

pay for food each week for his children, and nally his wife agrees to

a night shift-day shift schedule for the family. What unfolds is equal

parts comedy and tragedy, set in the world of shift work in 1980s

Greece.

This is the most ironic and perfectly timed lm for this Retrospec-

tive, as it proves some lmmakers were way before their time 31 years

ago, in the earliest of Greeces struggles. Director Maragos was de-

nitely not a banker or politician, but he nurtured actors and crafted

a lm to warn his beloved nation about the road they were going down.


14/14


THE CREW:

FOUNDER: TED MANZIARIS

DIRECTOR: DANNIS KOROMILAS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER: ALESSANDRA PICCIONE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER: EVAN GEORGIADES

GRAPHIC DESIGN & WEB DEVELOPMENT: KONSTANTINE ARNOKOUROS

MARKETING DIRECTOR: THEODORE NANOS

SUBTITLES/TRANSLATION: DEVI ODISHO

GREEK FILM CENTER LIASON: LIZA LINARDOU

MICHAEL CACOYANNIS FOUNDATION REP:ALEXANDRA GEORGOPOULOU

CONTRIBUTING DIRECTOR: THEODOROS MARAGOS - MARAGOSFILMS.GR

CONTRIBUTING DIRECTOR: ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS

GREEK CONSULATE GENERAL: DIMITRIS AZEMOPOULOS

GREEK CONSULATE OF TORONTO LIASON: EFSTRATIA KARAGRIGORIOU

GREEK CONSULATE OF TORONTO LIASON: ANYA SHEPELEVICH

EVENT COORIDINATOR: ARGIE ELIOPOULOS-KAMBOURAKIS

FILM TRAILER MONTAGE: DANNIS KOROMILAS & THEODORE NANOS

FILM TRAILER MUSIC: DIMITRIOS BOGRIS

SPECIAL LIASON TO ATHENS:ANTONIS MICHALAIDIS

PUBLISHER: DIMITRIS GEKOPOULOS, GEKO GRAPHICS

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

MR. GEORGE TRIALONIS OF OMNI TVS LIGA LOGIA

NATASSA HARALAMBOPOULOU OF ODYSSEY TELEVISION NETWORK

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