The
Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, was founded by the
Athens Film Society (a Non-Profit Organisation) with the intention of highlighting lesser-known aspects/genres of independent cinema, introducing audiences to some of the best productions of the year and establishing itself as the ideal opening of the upcoming movie season. The Festival was launched in S
eptember 1995 and this year is having its
19th edition from
September 18th to September 29th with a very rich program.
The program includes the Greek-Serbian co-production
The Tree And A Swing by
Maria Douza. The film is based on a true story and as the director has stated “recounts how three characters of the same family, after being separated for years (by force, desire or necessity), come together during an Easter holiday, in a homecoming that to each means something different. Homecoming has been in the centre of Greek thought and culture from the times of Homer. This is the country of Ulysses, the centre of a diaspora nation - ever migrating and ever returning.”
The Tree And A Swing
Another film from the Balkans is the Bulgarian
Alienation by director
Milko Lazarov, starring
Cristos Stergioglou. The film tells the story of a Greek man who is traveling to Bulgaria to buy an unborn child and has to spent the night in a secluded house in the mountains together with the mother, her deaf-mute brother and the midwife.
Alienation
Ofcourse Greek films have a strong presence in the festival, in various sections, from documentaries to works in progress and premieres. The complete list with the Greek feature films to be screened is as followed.
Voices From The Greek Underground – Giannis Haritidis
Last but not least we have to mention the German films Echolot by director Athanassios Karanikolas and India Blues by George Markakis, the Canadian Happy Slapping by Christos Sourligkas and the German-Greek The Pillow by Constantinos Kakoyannis.
This year`s Palme D`Or, Blue Is The Warmest Color by director Abdellatif Kechiche will be the closing film of Opening Nights 2013 and awarded actress Adele Exarchopoulos will be present at the festival.
Additional information about the festival as well as the complete film program can be found
here.