4th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) Announces 2010 Line-Up

Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) has announced the 2010 line-up of films for its 4th annual Festival, which runs June 10 – 13 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. LAGFF is excited to present 7 feature films, 4 documentaries and 5 shorts, including 1 world premiere, 12 US premieres and 3 LA premieres during the 3-day Festival.

Los Angeles Greek Film Festival continues to celebrate its passion for the arts, cinema and culture while gradually bridging the gap between Greece and Hollywood. “As LA Greek Film Festival celebrates its fourth year, we are proud to be the driving force behind the Greek film culture in Hollywood. We enjoy the opportunity to showcase amazing Greek cinema, content, filmmakers and talent to the entertainment industry and the Southern California communities,” said Angeliki Giannakopoulos, Festival Co-Founder.

“This is a prolific time for Greek film and has allowed for many filmmakers to create projects that raise questions about identity whether that is individual, cultural or national. Within the current crisis there is great opportunity, and we are extremely excited to see the fresh talent emerging out of Greek artists today,” said Ersi Danou, Festival Co-Founder.

Opening night of the Festival is the US premiere of director Vardis Marinakis’s BLACK FIELD (Mavro Livadi), starring Sofia Georgovassili. This 1650‘s based love story of Anthi, a young nun, and an Ottoman warrior, truly tests boundaries and delves into matters of identity, loss and restoration. This thought-provoking and visually stunning film reveals Anthi’s real hidden secret.

LAGFF is pleased to present the LA Premiere of multi-festival winner DOGTOOTH (Kynodontas) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni and Hirstos Passalis. The darkly comic fable is about three siblings who are confined to their parents sprawling estate. DOGTOOTH will also be receiving a special prize for an achievement in filmmaking at this year’s Orpheus Awards on Sunday, June 13.

The Festival comes to a close Sunday, June 13 with a Gala event and US premiere of PLATO’S ACADEMY (Akadimia Platonos), directed by Filipos Tsitos and starring Antonis Kafetzopoulos and Anastasis Kozdine. In this poignant, often comical story is a portrait of Greek attitudes to the immigrant influx in what used to be a homogeneous society. Immediately following the feature LAGFF will host its closing night Orpheus Awards ceremony and Gala with sumptuous Mediterranean food served by La Fogata, Metaxa bar serving traditional Greek cocktails and exquisite Grecian wines.

The 4th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) runs from June 10 – 13 at Egyptian Theatre, located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, CA 90028. Screening Passes go on sale May 21. For more information, including how to purchase Screening Passes and Gold Passes (VIP Access to all Events and Films), please visit www.lagreekfilmfestival.org.

FULL SCHEDULE PROGRAM:

FEATURES

ARCADIA LOST

USA/Greece, 2009, 90 min, LA Premiere

Director: Phedon Papamichael

Producer: Kelly Thomas

Executive Producers: Scott Chambers, Dan Giustina

With a coming of age theme of metaphysical undertones, the film follows the spiritual journey of two teenagers in the aftermath of a devastating car accident in the hidden terrain of Greece. Papamichael picks unseen before images of Greece that reveal the youths’ gradual psychological awakening.

BLACK FIELD (Mavro Livadi)

Greece/Russia, 2009, 104 min, US Premiere

Director: Vardis Marinakis

Producers: Yorgos Lykiardopoulos, Nikos Nikolettos

Set in 1650, this is the love story of Anthi, a young nun, and an Ottoman Janissary warrior. Yet the story is only just beginning after they escape Anthi’s convent, for the nun has a secret: ‘she’ is in fact a ‘he’. Thought-provoking and visually stunning, this film transcends gender and delves into matters of identity, loss, and restoration.

THE BUILDING MANAGER (O Diaheiristis)

Greece, 2009, 92 min, US Premiere

Director/Producer: Periklis Hoursoglou

Pavlos is a master at helping other people; his wife and children, his mother, and now the tenants of the residential block he has inherited. He tends to everyone’s needs except one: himself. All that changes when he meets Gianna, a beautiful woman half his age, and for a brief time Pavlos feels something he hasn’t felt in years: satisfied.

FIPRESCI’S prize, 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

DOGTOOTH (Kynodontas)

Greece, 2009, 94 min, LA Premiere

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Producer: Yorgos Tsourgiannis

Intense and unyielding, this darkly comic fable spins around issues of control and power. Three siblings are confined to a sprawling estate where their parents have created a world with its own twisted rules and vocabulary. But when the eldest daughter questions the absolute authority of her father, she sets into motion a series of events that could rend their fragile world.

Winner, Un Certain Regard, Festival de Cannes, 2009

EVRIDIKI’S CASE (I Periptosi Evridiki)

Greece, 2009, 74 min, US premiere,

Director: Freddy Vianellis

Producer: MODIANO

Working through four cinematic themes at once, this engaging and unconventional film charts the life of Evridiki, who, after years of drug addiction and suffering, is now fighting to control her life. Interspersed with her chronicle of events is the development of a stage play, which provides a rich counterpoint to a personal account of the terrible lows of addiction.

FOUR BLACK SUITS (Tessera Mavra Koustoumia)

Greece, 2010, 90 min, US Premiere

Director: Renos Haralambidis

Producer: BOO Productions

Two down and out undertakers, an actor, and a convict get together in a desperate – and hilarious – attempt to change their trajectory of failure. The scheme: fulfill a rich dead man’s last wish to be transferred from Athens to his village in his coffin… on foot. But when the promised reward begins to appear as elusive as their final destination, things get complicated.

PLATO’S ACADEMY (Akadimia Platonos)

Germany/Greece, 2009, 103 min, US Premiere

Director: Filipos Tsitos

Producer: BAD MOVIES

Stavros’s days are spent caring for his senile mother, idling at his small Athenian shop, and harassing passing Albanians. But when he finds out that he has a missing brother who is Albanian, his Greek pride crumbles. Filled with comic moments, this poignant portrait of racial tension examines Greek attitudes to the immigrant influx in what used to be a homogeneous society.

Leopard for Best Actor, Ecumenical Jury Prize, Youth Jury Prize

Locarno International Film Festival 2009

Best Feature Award, Tirana International Film Festival 2009

Silver Taiga Award, Spirit of Fire, International Debut Film Festival 2010

DOCUMENTARIES

COLOSSI OF LOVE

Greece, 2010, 59 min, US Premiere

Director: Nikkos Mistriotis

Producer: XYZ Productions

Unique to Greece of the 70s and 80s, the story of the ‘Kamaki’ men whose mission was to court and conquer female tourists, is funny and revealing at once. One marvels at the precise and benevolent code of the ‘Kamaki’ culture and, at the same time, is reminded of a society with strict and unyielding ethics that exists no longer.

PLUNDER FROM A BLEEDING LAND (Leilatontas mia Matomeni Hora)

Greece, 2009, 83 min, World Premiere

Director: Takis Papayiannidis

Producer: Republic of Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, GREEK FILM CENTER, ERT

Thirty-five years after the Turkish invasion in 1974, a Greek archaeologist visits Cyprus and is faced with the cultural ravages and looting in the island’s occupied territory. For the first time in these years, there is a joint effort by Greek and Turkish scientists to restore the disasters and preserve the rich heritage of Cyprus.

SUGARTOWN: THE DAY AFTER (Sugartown, I Epomeni Mera)

Germany/Greece, 2009, 68 min, US Premiere

Director: Kimon Tsakiris

Producer: Rea Apostolides, Yuri Averov

The Mayor of Zacharo or Sugartown is a man on a mission. A self-proclaimed hero, he is set on developing the town after devastating wildfires burned his constituency to the ground in 2007. Will his plans to maximize the burned land’s profitability and his indifference to the rule of law destroy what is left – a delicate ecosystem and a population bereft of homes and possessions?

WORDS OF RESISTANCE (Logos Kai Antistasi)

Greece, 2010, 78 min, US Premiere

Director/Producer: Timon Koulmasis

An intelligent look at the Greek men and women who were forced into self-exile at the time of dictatorship (1967-1974), and who took it upon themselves to publicly express their ideas of justice through a daily radio program broadcast by the German Deutsche Welle. The filmmaker questions the power of politically engaged speech and redefines its necessity today.

SHORTS

THE BOY AND THE TREE (Ena Dentro Mia Fora)

Greece, 2009, 29 min, LA Premiere

Director: Panagiotis Rappas

Producer: TIME LAPSE PICTURES, Hellas

A tender fairy tale centered on the friendship between a withering tree on the sidewalk and a homeless little boy.

Best Animation Film, 5TH Animfest Athens, 2009

2nd Best Production for Children, European Broadcasters Union, 2009

CATS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD (Gata Ex Ouranou)

Greece, 2009, 21 min, US Premiere

Director: Dimitra Nikolopoulou

Producer: Haris Padouvas

Katerina never says no to anyone or anything. The unexpected arrival of a cat with her litter of kittens in her life becomes an eye-opener and forces her to rethink her priorities.

2nd Prize, Drama International Short Film Festival, 2009

THE CHARMER OF GRAMMOS (O Planeftis tou Grammou)

Greece, 2009 27 min, US Premiere

Director/Producer: Vangelis Efthymiou

Follow an aging, part hunter, part philosopher charmer as he searches for honey, one bee at a time, and explore the impact humans have on some of the most important players in our environment – the honeybees.

2nd Prize, 11th International Documentary Film Festival Thessaloniki

MESECINA

Greece, 2009, 30 min, US Premiere

Director: Sofia Exarchou

Producer: GUANACO, ERT

A very ill boy escapes his gloomy life at the hospital into the bustling streets of Athens, and gets a sweet taste of love.

1st Prize, Greek Association of Film Critics (PEKK Award), Greek Film Center Award, 2009

N’ ME FOR MYSELF (Ke Ego Gia Mena)

Greece, 2009, 20 min, US Premiere

Director: Georgis Grigorakis

Producer: Costas Lambropoulos

This energetically charged story reminds us that true love comes in all shapes and forms.

1st Prize, Drama International Short Film Festival, 2009