GREEK CINEMA

after the 2 successful Greek entries and unexpected small victories in Cannes and Locarno film festival programs,i was really wondering….what do people know of Greek cinema abroad?
is the distribution a problem that needs examination so that more Greek films can reach countries like Japan,Canada,U.S.A. or even India?is it possible that the publishing companies haven’t searched the Greek industry well enough in order to fill in their “box sets” or respective collections with new discoveries?or perhaps Nia Vardalos has given the worst of impressions thanks to her garbage?

the Greek film industry actively started making films ever since the first silent picture named “Golfo-Girl of the Mountains” in 1915.in spite of the political and military turmoil from the 20’s till the mid-70’s,Greek cinema went from silent films to Neorealist influences to the commercial and disputed Golden Age of 60’s,to the Greek New Wave of the 70’s and to the new hopes from the 90’s and on…
unfortunately,it never was inside the circles of cinematic culture,either festivals or box office,no matter how exotic was once for a period for U.S. and French producers…

so i’d like to welcome all of you to offer thoughts and arguments on what you know or would like to know about Greek cinema and its “unknown” course early in the century till now…
what’s your knowledge on Greek films?which directors do you know of?any actors/actresses,cinematography,music?even a Costa-Gavras or an Agnes Varda is a start due to their Greek heritage…

I hate to say it, but I am completely ignorant to Greek cinema. I intend to keep an eye on this thread, as i’d love to increase my knowledge regarding this country.

Carry on.

Dimitris, what are your thoughts on the films by Nikos Nikolaidis? I though about checking out his film Morning Patrol which seems to be kind of similar to Tarkovsky´s Stalker.

Going Greek (2001) was pretty bad.

I’m pretty sure they’re all like that.

a Justin Zackham film

sorry Dimitris but my entire knowledge of greek cinema was covered in your closing paragraph. And while I don’t want to upset you (I’ve read many of your posts and know how protective you are of your Greek heritage) I always considered Agnes Varda more a french director, however if I was mistaken I apologize for that.

The only Greek film I’ve ever seen is Young Aphrodites which I really didn’t care for.

Don´t forget about Elia Kazan(joglous), Chris.

yeah im with RUS my big fat greek wedding sucked too

I have seen 4 films by Angelopoulos but the rest of his work is hard to track down in english, for me. I am looking forward to Dust of Time.

Apursanzar, I have MAJOR issues with individuals who rat on their co-workers just so they can keep their own career alive, I didn’t forget him I just chose to ignore such bastards.

forget it.

I personally managed to see eight films by Angelopoulos, and the ones I would consider genuine masterpieces are “Alexander the Great” and “The Travelling Players”.

And Chris, one can dislike Kazan´s political behaviour, but respect him as a filmmaker, I think there´s no problem with it. One can even admire Leni Riefenstahl´s cinematic innovations, and what she did was far worse.

Morning Patrol is an utterly bleak portrait of a post-modernist society where Nikolaidis infuses it with U.S. noir elements and definitely partial Tarkovsky emotions but he’s more interested to show the decadence of an apocalyptic city (or waste land in our case),Nikolaidis’ approach is ice cold and it requires a lot of patience but not all of his films are like that.he balances between the perverse in Singapore Sling and the pessmistic like in Sweet Bunch,2 similar elements but with gradually alternative results…
U.S. cinema and pulp fiction were his primary focus but he had inherited a Pasolini/Tarkovsky/ bravado,i really do hope that he will become more well-known after his recent death…

in Morning Patrol by the way,the 2 leads Takis Spiridakis and Michelle Valley are highly important acting talents…

Young Aphrodites is a spectacular Greek film and i’m sorry you didn’t like it but Koundouros has plenty of films to choose from,arguably one of the most prolific Greek directors since he was the one who brought the Neorealist movement in Greece from Italy…

i’ve forgotten of Kazan but i’m not sure if he was born in the Turkish colonies back then?

and of course there’s no need for apology,plus…i mentioned Varda because of her heritage,Gavras for instance has Greek roots but he’s never made a Greek film,Cassavetes as well….

p.s.: it’s true that Angleopoulos’ early work is difficult to obtain,Days of ’36 for example was finally available only 2 years ago in Greek DVD stores…

kazan was born in then Constantinople to greek parents.

Apursansar, I don’t want to sidetrack Dimitris thread ( I may actually learn something about which I am way to ignorant on) but I am unwilling to separate the mans actions from his work. He and his kind stole Jules Dassin and many other great talents from us and that is a completely unforgivable crime.

funny thing that you’ve mentioned it Chris but Dassin fled back to Europe only to find his Eden in Greece post-McCarthy era….
a somehow famous for tourist reasons but a charming comedy anyhow is Dassin’s Never on Sunday starring his wife up until her death,Melina Mercouri,a superb Greek actress who was also awarded at Cannes…

all i can say here is that there wasn’t any word-of-mouth in Greece about Kazan’s actions for the main reason that Kazan wasn’t really considered part of the industry…

My Life In Ruins was also pretty terrible.

Connie and Carla was shit too. I’m glad that I didn’t pay to see that movie.

i think i already made myself clear with one phrase about Vardalos’ despicable commercialism,tell me again why do i need 2-3 individuals to remind it to me and all the rest?

i do hope this doesn’t become a mockery because of a Vardalos reference or because one new thread is uninteresting to a lot of people…

Give Dimitris a break. Talking about Vardalos on a thread about Greek cinema is as relevant as talking about Scorsese on a thread about Italian cinema. Sadly, we Canadians will have to take credit for her.

Who else besides Angelopoulos and Nikolaidis is worth checking out?

And “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”? I call it “My Big Fat Joke of a Film That Somehow Made me Millions of Dollars so that I Could Make any Lame-ass Project that Pops Into My Vacant Head”. Was that too harsh? Probably. I’m sure Vardalos is a very kind and nice woman, who doesn’t deserve to be personally mocked. Her films, on the other hand, do deserve it.

Nathan – Dimitris thinks we’re being redundant.

Pot. Kettle. Black?

Man it’s so funny to go on a thread and shit all over it like you two are doing. God, you guys are just hilarious… what children.

How about this… Dimitris started this thread in earnest. He wants to have a serious discussion about Greek cinema. We should applaud him for it. This forum has gone down the tubes, and one of the reasons why is there are a certain few people that refuse to take anything serious, and even worse mock anything they see that is serious. If you have nothing to contribute don’t post. It would make these threads a thousand times better.

That’s all I’ll say on it.

I haven’t seen anything, really, from Greece. Two Angelopoulos films Landscape in the Mist, and Weeping Meadow. Weeping was sort of a disappointment, but Landscape is a masterpiece. I’ve seen Young Aphrodites, too. Such an amazing film.

one can start with the new blood of Greek cinema from 2000 and onwards,especially the ones who began working late 90’s yet they managed to collect the necessary funds by Greek FIlm Center to control their own projects…some examples are:

Constantine Giannaris: From the Edge of the City,One Day in August (immigrant and spiritual issues)
Nikos Grammatikos: Truants,The King (isolation and social racism)
Yiannis Economidis: Matchbox,Soul Kicking (Greek underground and family decadence)

there’s more to come but any questions you need about the themes of these guys above,welcome aboard!

you know,Vardalos might be a nice,sweet lady….such sweetness that she managed to persuade stupid Greek gonverment to give her permission to shoot inside the Acropolis whereas when Woody Allen asked the same thing for Mighty Aphrodite,they replied to him with a straight NO..

p.s.: i haven’t seen Weeping Meadow but the 2 parts of his new trilogy were met with with a heavily mixed reaction…

“If you have nothing to contribute don’t post.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAH – I believe I’ve said this to you about a thousand times, DuShane! I’m glad to see you take my advice!

“Dimitris started this thread in earnest.”

If this is indeed true, Dimitris I apologize. Nearly everything comment I’ve seen from Dimitris has been anything BUT earnest so I was going off of his history. But if indeed he wants to now be taken seriously, I’d be more than happy to acquiesce. Or if he wants to be taken seriously just on threads he creates, I’ll make a mental note of that as well.

Dimitris, let´s take about classical Greek cinema from the 50s and 60s before Angelopoulos emerged, I think it´s a period few people are aware of. As you know am I very fond of A Girl in Black and A Matter of Dignity by Mihalis Kakogiannis. Which other directors from that time would you recommend?

“but Dassin fled back to Europe”

Dassin was born in Connecticut and raised in New York City, how could he go back to Europe?

I want in on this thread! Please teach me more about Greek cinema, other than Angelopoulos and Costa-Gavras. :)

CAZ – I would agree with your assessment of mine and Fredo’s behavior, except for the fact that Dimitris has shat on a hundred threads or more with tangents in a few select categories. 1. “This is What Foreign Should Mean”. 2. "I’m tired of U.S. centric cinema discussions. 3. “Awards are Just Commercial Propaganda”

Now that Dimitris has started a serious thread, it’s hard for me to take is seriously. At any rate, I’m not terribly familiar with Greek cinema. I guess it’s because I’m an American. Whoops.