Greece Through
Pictures and Words

By Katerina Georgiou

When James DeMetro was a boy he spent most weekends at The Cameo, a quirky theater on the southwest corner of 44th and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. A popular venue for “girlie” films, it doubled as a foreign film house on weekends. It was the 1950’s and he hadn’t yet discovered literature and the path that would lead to his 39-year career as an English professor.

Instead, it was in this darkened theater, beneath the sculpted cameos of women draped in diaphanous robes - one holding a spool of film, the other a camera - that he discovered the magic of storytelling and connected with his Greek roots.

“There’s no difference to me between a good novel and a good film,” said DeMetro, Director of the second annual New York City Greek Film Festival opening on October 3rd in Manhattan. “Film is as vital as literature,” he says. “It deals with issues and ideas of a culture or people. It reveals concerns, life issues.”

Screenings will take place at Cinema Village, Manhattan (October 3-9) and Cinemart Forest Hills (October 10-16). The festival, sponsored by the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce, is being overseen by its President John Stratakis and Executive Secretary, Stamatis Ghikas. Following in the footsteps of The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, The New York City Greek Film Festival is non-competitive. This design suits the organizer’s simple philosophy: to pair worthwhile Greek filmmakers with New York audiences.

“More than anything else we want to show the audience movies that are worth seeing—that will make them think,” said DeMetro. “We have a nice balance from light, commercial films to serious, provocative ones. People are going to be very surprised at the selection, especially those who haven’t seen Greek films before.” Even seasoned enthusiasts of Greek cinema will find the slate of new and award-winning films refreshing. “Many people have recollections of older films that are very different from what we’re showing today,” said DeMetro.

This year’s roster includes: “Eduart”—a Dostoevskian tale of crime and punishment that was Greece’s submission to The Academy Awards last year; “I Epistrofi” (The Homecoming) a film about marital infidelity and betrayal which won the International Film Critics award at The Thessaloniki Film Festival in 2007; and the family oriented “Proti Fora Nonos” (Little Greek Godfather) based on an autobiographical short story by Nicholas Papandreaou, son of the former Greek Prime Minister, about a Greek-American boy sent to Crete to baptize a baby in order to win votes for his father’s political party. Two award-winning documentaries are also in the lineup: “The Lovers from Axos”, detailing the enduring romance of a septuagenarian couple in the mountains of Crete; and “Resurface,” a portrait of a quadriplegic competitive swimmer.

Adding a retrospective touch, this year’s programmers have unearthed a cinematic gem, Michael Papas’ “The Private Right”

(1967) an independent film about a Cypriot EOKA fighter who travels to London seeking vengeance on the collaborator who betrayed him. A special tribute is also planned for recently departed director, Jules Dassin, featuring a screening of his classic, “Never on Sunday” using an original archival print provided by MGM. Another tribute is scheduled for Greek American filmmaker Richard Ledes, whose neo-noir thriller “The Caller,” starring Frank Langella and Elliott Gould premiered in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. Despite the strong selection of films, given the challenges of distribution it’s harder than ever for foreign films, particularly those from Greece, to surface this side of the Atlantic. In the last seven years only two Greek films were commercially released in New York: Theo Angelopoulos’ “The Weeping Meadow” and Penny Panayotopoulou’s “Hard Goodbyes: My Father.”

The New York City Greek Film Festival is hoping to fill this void by giving artists of Hellenic descent the opportunity to depict the evolving landscape of Greek cinema. At the same time, festival organizers are hoping audiences will connect with Greece through pictures and words.

“Watching films in a shared communal experience is important,” said DeMetro. “Greek movies can stand on their own and appeal to any audience. But for us Greeks, these films are a statement of our ethnicity."

For more information on the New York City Greek Film Festival, including a complete screening schedule visit: http://www.hellenicamerican.cc/FilmFest2008.htm

©2008 NEOCORP MEDIA

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