''Morning Patrol'' ( el, Πρωινή Περίπολος, translit=Proini Peripolos, italic=yes) is a 1987 Greek

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

directed by

Nikos Nikolaidis Nikos Georgiou Nikolaidis ( el, Νίκος Γεωργίου Νικολαΐδης; 25 October 1939 – 5 September 2007) was a Greek film director, screenwriter, film producer, writer, theatre director, assistant director, record producer, televi ...

. It introduced a new iconography to Nikolaidis' work and contains several elements somewhat resembling the thriller genre and

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

science fiction. The film has an elaborate yet simple script of strongly contrasting moods. The film's dialogue contains excerpts taken from published works authored by

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...

, Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler, and

Herman Raucher Herman Raucher (born April 13, 1928) is an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the autobiographical screenplay and novel '' Summer of '42'', which became one of the highest-grossing films and one of the best selling nov ...

. It received the Best Director Award and the Greek National Ministry of Culture Award at the

Thessaloniki Festival of Greek Cinema The Thessaloniki Film Festival started in 1960 and at the beginning comprised exclusively Greek films. The first years (1960-1965) the festival was called "Week of Greek Cinema". From 1965 to 1991 the festival was called Festival of Greek Cinema an ...

in October

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, where

Dinos Katsouridis Dinos Katsouridis (1927 - 28 November 2011) was a Greek Cypriot film director, cinematographer and editor. He had worked in a lot of Greek film sometimes as director, sometimes as film editor and sometimes as cinematographer as well as writer. He ...

also won the Best Cinematographer Award and Marie-Louise Bartholomew also won the Best Art Director Award. The film went on further to be officially selected for screening at

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to fantasy/science fiction/ horror-oriented commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental proje ...

in February

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

where it was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award and it was also officially selected for screening at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in January

where it was nominated for the Grand Prize.

Plot

A lonely and perplexed woman, played by future Nikolaidis mainstay Michele Valley, wanders through the ruins of a destroyed and deserted city in a post-apocalyptic era. She wonders whatever happened and where did all the residents disappear to. She does not remember much about herself, including even her own name, where is she supposed to be going, and whether she ever had any relatives. Her searches throughout the city are not successful and no one can help her. Memories of the past come in the form of dreams and bestow upon her guidance and hope; all alone, in a mysterious and abandoned place, she finds the travel difficult. The windows and doors of the city's buildings are all open and the city is almost entirely silent, a silence violated only by the sounds coming out of a

film theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

in which the protagonist finds herself at one instance. However, the reigning silence is only an appearance, for at times the city comes alive and becomes a dangerous place. Carelessness and gullibility can cost lives. The woman finally meets a lonely man in despair, employed as a guard, eventually finding with him the ultimate link between love and death (a theme which Nikolaidis explored in his later films).

Cast

*Michele Valley as Woman *Takis Spiridakis as Guard *Liana Hatzi as Drunkard *Nikos Hatzis as Tramp *V. Kabouri *Takis Loukatos as Master *H. Mavros *Panos Thanassoulis as Second Guard *Rania Trivela

References

External links

''Morning Patrol''
a
Nikos Nikolaidis (Film Director/Writer/Producer)
*
''Morning Patrol''
at the

Greek Film Archive The Greek Film Archive ( el, Ταινιοθήκη της Ελλάδος, ''Tainiothiki tis Ellados'') is a nonprofit film archive organization located in Athens, Greece, whose goal is to produce and spread Greek and international films. It's a p ...

br>Film Museum:Home PageDigital ArchivesFilmography
a
5 Books, 6 Films, and... Nikos Nikolaidis:
*
''Morning Patrol''
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'
Movies
at ttp://duendemagazine.gr/ ''Ντουέντε Magazine''br>Τεύχος #8, 2011:
{{Films directed by Nikos Nikolaidis, state=expanded 1980s avant-garde and experimental films 1987 drama films 1987 independent films 1980s road movies 1987 films Films based on works by Daphne du Maurier 1980s business films Films about alcoholism Films about amnesia Films about cities Films about death Films about films Films about food and drink Films about homelessness Films about missing people Films about security and surveillance Films about sexuality Films based on multiple works Films based on works by Philip K. Dick Films directed by Nikos Nikolaidis Films set in a movie theatre Films set in abandoned houses Films set in Greece Films shot in Greece Greek drama films 1980s Greek-language films Women and death Greek avant-garde and experimental films