altcine - 2018 Hellenic Film Academy Awards

The 9th Iris Awards ceremony of the Hellenic Film Academy presented on Monday April 23rd 2018 at the Onassis Cultural Centre.

The ceremony opened by the president of the Academy, Vasilis Katsoufis who welcomed the attendants, thanked the Onassis Cultural Centre for the hospitality and talked about the positive signs of the year like the cash rebate initiative and emphasized that there is the need for an overall plan for Greek cinema by the Ministry of Culture.

Consequently, the hosts of the night, Makis Papadimitriou and Yorgos Pirpassopoulos picked up the torch and commentated with sarcasm, humor and love, the intricasies of the greek cinematic world. Alongside, Spyros Grammenos and his band accompanied them with their music.

Six films out of eighteen that competed in the final nominations earned awards: two co-productions (The Son Of Sofia, Dolphin Man) and four national productions (Polyxeni, The Last Note, Do It Yourself, Copa Loca).

Elina Psykou΄s drama Son of Sofia, produced by Heretic (Greece), Kinoelectron (France) and Chouchkov Brothers (Bulgaria), was the big winner at the Iris Hellenic Film Academy Awards, winning five prizes from 13 nominations, including Best Feature Film, Best Film Director, Best Screenplay for Psykou, best supporting actor for Thanassis Papageorgiou and Best Production Design for Penelope Valti.

Dora΄s Masklavanou΄s Polyxeni, produced by Blonde Audiovisual Productions won four prizes. Best Actress for Katia Goulioni, Best Supporting Actress for Lydia Fotopoulou, Best Supporting Actor for Thanasis Papageorgiou and Best Cinematography for Claudio Bolivar.

The Last Note from the legendary director Pandelis Voulgaris, produced by Black Orange Productions, won four awards. Best Actor for Andreas Konstantinou, Best Costume Design for Youla Zoiopoulou, Best Sound for Stefanos Efthymiou and Best Makeup for Evi Zafiropoulou.

Lefteris Haritos’ Dolphin Man, a documentary about the legendary French free diver Jacques Mayol. Produced by Anemon Productions in co-production with France, Canada and Japan, it won best first film and best feature documentary.

Do it Yourself by another newcomer, Dimitris Tsilifonis, produced by View Master Films, won the Best Editing Award and the Special Effects Award.

Christos Massalas΄ Copa Loca, produced by Christos Massalas and Heretic (Greece), won the Best Short Film Award.

This year’s honorary prize was given to the composer of greek descent, Alexander Desplat. The two times Academy Awards Winner began his speech in greek saying “I am half a Greek”. “Greece is always inside me and her music. I would not be a good composer if I did not listen to Greek music or if I did not see Greek films,” he said and noted that he felt that people should see Greek films and that is why he encouraged greek directors to bring their films to the world.