18/09/2006

Only six months ago, officials of the Greek Film Centre were painting a bleak picture for the future of Greek cinema, claiming a lack of "adequate funds" to support it. However, circumstances, or rather faces, changed last spring and the current administrators are offering a completely different overview of things to come.

As the main festival season was about to kick off in Drama (in northern Greece) with its widely acclaimed International Short Film Festival (September 17-23), the president of the Greek Film Centre, Yorgos Papalios, was quoted as saying that he expected "miracles from Greek cinema production" during the recent inauguration of the Centre’s official publication – aptly named Moteur – in Athens.

Of course, it all depends on the finances pledged by the Minister of Culture, Yorgos Voulgarakis, but it is more than certain that Papalios, a veteran producer of Theo Angelopoulos’s early films, would not have raised expectations had he not done the necessary maths beforehand.

His laconic but uplifting statement comes only a couple of weeks after a Greek film, Liubi by Layia Giourgou, was selected as a candidate for a nomination by the European Film Academy for the 2006 Best European Film Award. Liubi is not a favourite to win but its inclusion is what matters, as Greek cinema is trying to shake off criticism of producing dull, poorly written films.

This year’s Greek harvest of films will be further reviewed during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (November 17-26), during which the Greek national awards are also handed out.

Prior to that, film-goers will have an opportunity to check out the very best of recent European and international films at the Athens International Film Festival, also known as Opening Nights (Nyhtes Premieras). The event opens with Pedro Almodovar’s Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile] on September 20.