The Edinburgh Greek Festival is a festival of Greek film and one of the cultural festivals in Edinburgh. Its organisation involves individuals from

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern regions of Europe, region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countrie ...

. It is an international festival that features mostly Greek films or films about Greece.

History and collaboration

The Edinburgh Greek Film Festival was launched in 2001. It has subsequently run almost on an annual basis until 2018 except for 2012 and 2013. It has been run in collaboration with

Edinburgh Filmhouse The Edinburgh Filmhouse was a cinema located in Edinburgh, Scotland, which opened in 1979. It was home to the world's oldest continually running film festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival. The cinema closed in October 2022 when its pare ...

, which has been its venue from the beginning. Because of organisational changes a Trust was established in 2010 to run the Festival and registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator

OSCR The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government with responsibility for the regulation of charities in Scotland. OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for more than 24,000 Scottish cha ...

. The 2014 Festival was part-funded by

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...

Activities

The Festival has featured the work of numerous Greek directors. It has presented retrospectives on the work of directors, such as Nikos Panayiotopoulos in 2001,

Theo Angelopoulos Theodoros "Theo" Angelopoulos (; ; 27 April 1935 – 24 January 2012) was a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. He dominated the Greek art film industry from 1975 on, and Angelopoulos was one of the most influential and widely re ...

in 2006,

Michael Cacoyannis Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, produce ...

in 2009 and

Pantelis Voulgaris Pantelis Voulgaris ( el, Παντελής Βούλγαρης; born 23 October 1940) is a Greek film director and screenwriter. His first feature film ''To proxenio tis Annas'' in 1972 won the first prize in Thessaloniki International Film Festiv ...

in 2011. A series of historical films were shown addressing the 1930s-1950s, including '' Little England'' in 2015 or ''

The Last Note ''The Last Note'' ( el, Το Τελευταίο Σημείωμα, translit. To Teleftaio Simeioma) is a 2017 Greek drama film directed by Pantelis Voulgaris. It is based on the execution of 200 Greek political prisoners in reprisal for the ...

'' in 2018, both directed by Pantelis Voulgaris. Similarly, the Festival screened ''Cloudy Sunday'' by

Manousos Manousakis Manousos Manousakis ( el, Μανούσος ΜανουσάκηςΜανουσάκης, Albanian: Manush Manushaqja) is a well-known Greek director, producer, writer and actor. He was born in Athens, Greece on 14 January 1950. He studied at the Lon ...

in 2016. The film refers to

Salonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

in 1942, when the city was under German occupation. It addresses the love story of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

woman and a

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

man. In 2014, films such as

Jules Dassin Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, whe ...

’s '' The Rehearsal'' on the Athens Polytechnic Uprising were programmed alongside films on contemporary issues. Examples of the latter films were the ''Enemy Within'', directed by Yorgos Tsemperopoulos and

Alexandros Avranas Alexandros Avranas (born 1977) is a Greek film director best known for such films as '' Miss Violence'' and '' Dark Crimes'' starring Jim Carrey. At the 2013 Venice Film Festival Avranas won the Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'arg ...

’ ''

Miss Violence ''Miss Violence'' is a 2013 Greek psychological thriller film directed by Alexandros Avranas. The film was nominated upon its release for 8 Hellenic Film Academy Awards, winning 2: for Best Actor (Themis Panou) and Best Supporting Actress (Renni Pi ...

'', both of which criticise patriarchal norms. The Festival also screened in 2014 ''All Cats are Brilliant'' by Konstantina Voulgaris, a family drama situated in a society in crisis. Similarly, in showing films addressing contemporary problems in Greece, the Festival screened in 2017 the film entitled Amerika Square, directed by Yannis Sakaridis, which addresses contemporary racism in Greece.{{Cite web, title=ARTS NEWS: Greek Film Festival, Muriel Spark event at EIBF, Cunningham's Christmas, new Kelvingrove festival {{! Glasgow Times, url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/15685139.amp/, access-date=2021-07-20, website=www.glasgowtimes.co.uk The work of the recent New Wave had already been featured through the work of

Yorgos Lanthimos Georgios "Yorgos" Lanthimos ( el, Γιώργος Λάνθιμος, Giórgos Lánthimos, ; born 23 September 1973) is a Greek film director, film producer, screenwriter, photographer, theatre director and former professional basketball player. Sin ...

and was prominent in the 2015 programme. Some directors have attended and delivered seminars on their work. For example, Yorgos Tsemperopoulos held a 2-hour seminar at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 2014 as part of the Festival activities. Similarly, some directors participate in Q&A sessions after the screening of their films. For instance, in 2016, Argyris Papadimitropoulos did so after his film '' Suntan'' was shown. At the 2016 Festival, a Q&A session also followed the screening of ''Short Fuse'' and involved its co-screenwriter Kostas Skiftas and producer/co-screenwriter Konstantinos Moutsinas. In that year, director Ken McMullen and producer

Martin McQuillan Martin McQuillan (born 1972) is a Scotland, Scottish-born Literary theory, literary theorist, cultural critic and journalist currently employed at Edge Hill University. He was Professor of Literary Theory and Cultural analysis, Cultural Analysis ...

took questions after the screening of their film ''ΟΧΙ: An Act of Resistance''.

External links

* http://www.edinburghgreekfestival.com/

References

2001 establishments in Scotland Cinema of Greece Film festivals established in 2001 Film festivals in Edinburgh