Discoveries from Greece World Cinema

After their boss disappears, wanted for murder, the staff of a fading nightclub take part in a documentary that forces them to confront the events of that fateful night.

Skala Eressos, Lesbos, has long been a mecca for queer women as they trace the steps of Sappho, the poetess who gave lesbianism its name. Residents hold a week-long festival in May celebrating the island's queer spaces and community, encouraging the younger generation to claim the space as their own. The documentary follows residents and visitors and those who are a part of it - attendees, organisers and performers as they discuss the generational handing-of-the-baton to the younger queers who are starting to visit the island.

A collaborative film by Ellie Pistofidou, Triantafylli Theodoropoulou, Iris Theochari.

A man discovers he is under suspicion for a crime he has no knowledge of. This revelation will radically change his life.

Filmed in Israel and Palestine during the 2023-24 genocide, the documentary presents the events in Israel and Palestine (both Gaza and the West Bank), as well as the movement and the oppression of the anti-occupation/ anti-Zionist Israelis, with the parallel narrative of Sahar Vardi, an Israeli activist in Jerusalem and conscientious objector, who was imprisoned for refusing to serve in the Israeli army.

The film is dedicated to the centennial of cinema and, through a pastiche of excerpts from Balkan silent films, pays tribute to a cinema that has been almost completely forgotten. Old photographs and a modern- day train trip through the Balkans highlight the coincidences, the similarities, and the affinities that link Balkan filmmakers. A film about all the things that unite the neighbouring countries of the peninsula, which, perhaps, are many more than the things that divide them.

Vasilis, a passionate film fan and keen critic, is determined to convince his friends and environment that Leni Riefenstahl, the filmmaker of the Third Reich, was not a great woman of the seventh art, but rather a non-talented beast.Vasilis dissects Riefenstahl’s landmark film, The Triumph of Will, meticulously examining every aspect to uncover any aesthetic errors. However, things take an unexpected turn when he analyses a specific sequence that begins at the 1 hour, 26 minutes, and 54 seconds mark of the film.

When the origami world of Foldara crumples and unfolds out of control, three unlikely friends must journey into a treacherous maze that shifts into strange realms to stop the mysterious force reshaping their world before it's too late, and finding their purpose along the way.

A man has trouble figuring out what to do with a thing hanging on his wall and a friend is trying to help him.

“Never leave me… because I will hurt you”

The film follows 5 computer science students as they talk about their experiences in the Department Of Computer Science of the University Of Ioannina.

The story of Ikaria's renowned charcoal makers, who traveled Greece and Asia Minor. Elderly burners recount hardships, while women recall life on the island. Descendants share memories of relocation. Guided by historian Themistocles Katsaros and excerpts from The Charcoal Burners (1977), we revisit a bygone era, during which charcoal fueled Greece's industry.

short film by Sylvia Robin Gionti

short film by Sylvia Robin Gionti

a short film by Sylvia Robyn Gionti

In an underground garage, a voice message becomes the testament of a love left in limbo, while fleeting images allude to the moment that led to it.

With no trace of the whereabouts of his beloved children, a dejected expatriate returns to Athens in high hopes of finding them. As things take a turn for the unexpected, only a miracle will save him. Will the family be complete again?

During the German occupation, Greek commandos secretly disembark on an Aegean island, planning to eliminate the German guard.

An elite team of hand-picked saboteurs arrives in German-occupied Greece to complete a dangerous mission.

280 Constantinople St., Thessaloniki is the first episode of Docville, a cinema-verite documentary series about urban life in Greece today, during a time of crisis: The people working at Zygos, a seedy cabaret in Thessaloniki, are all poor and have to struggle for their everyday survival. Waiters, bouncers, dancers and singers create a micro-society with its own rules on the margins of “respectable” society. They work hard at night trying to cope with the financial crisis. Aris is one of them. He is the “agent,” the traditional “male hero” of the Greek city. He is macho, but with kindness, humor and fine manners. There is hope within him, but at the same time he has the feeling of a void, a sense that he has wasted his life working at night. An endless night that vacillates dangerously between bravery and misery...

Following an assassination attempt on a political figure, the lead investigator faces unexpected consequences.

This short documentary film explores a traditional spiritual phenomenon that has undergone a lot of changes the last years in Greece, in terms of belief and practice. The "evil eye" and all the myths and stories around it can be approached and perceived through many different perspectives.

In a bustling city square, a lonely mime captivates passersby with silent charm.

A group of four robbers open a house and are surprised to see that the occupant of the house was already tied up. What they don't know, however, is that a police officer was in the bathroom at the time, preparing for a sexual power play with the bound resident. While Clinty is looking for money in the house, the clueless cop appears out of nowhere and startles Donnie, Michalakis and Patsidis. One of the three of them freaks out and shoots him. The robbers turn into fugitives overnight and Clady, who was not present at the incident, must now interrogate his friends and solve the crime while being forced to listen to their silly excuses. Who knows if Clydee has a much more personal motive for solving the case?

Nikos gets Nefeli a pet goldfish to keep her company in their anniversary while he is gone for work. Nefeli is left with the goldfish reflecting upon her identity and relationship.

Somewhere between realism and magic, ordinary people long for the miracle. They instinctively dive into acts of redemption and pursue a moment of freedom so addictive, that they want to experience it again and again. It is this moment of ecstasy that they cease thinking and simply live! An ecstatic experience of Greek paganism, struggling against modern conformity.

Olympias, a princess of royal blood, married King Philip II, gave birth to Alexander the Great, and ended up ruling the kingdom of Macedonia. Raised in a male-dominated society, she prevailed against her opponents and imposed her will. How is it that such a powerful woman faced such a horrible death in the end?

“The difference between a computer and people is absurdity”: this phrase, one of the first heard in Matheo Yamalakis’s film, is the key to a documentary that unfolds like a joyful revelation. Yamalakis was a sensitive filmmaker whose oeuvre is still largely unfamiliar to the inquiring viewer. His camera wanders around Ios in the summer of 1976, freely, almost associatively recording aspects of a Greek island perched on the cusp between a traditional, pre-modern world and a sweeping shift in mores. Therein lies the absurd, bitter comicality of this perceptive portrayal of the island’s microsociety, which covers everyone: grotesque local dignitaries, storytelling taverna jokesters, cunning small shopkeepers, naïve tourists, young women crushed by the small-mindedness of provincial life. All are woven together in the most effortless, tenderest way, crafting a kaleidoscopic portrait of the Greek archipelago, timeless in its conception and power.

Denisa, Dimitris, Stefania, and Orestis, children and grandchildren of Albanian immigrants from the 1990s, were born and raised in Greece. They share their experience on camera – not the experience of immigration itself, but rather their own stories, stories that are neither only Albanian nor only Greek but Albanian and Greek together.

Following an open call by director Yannis Misouridis, filmmakers, artists and other interested parties gathered on 22-24 December 2023 at Elaionas where a makeshift hut was constructed and a symbolic stay was made. While sleeping many of us had strange dreams which were recorded in this documentary.

short film by Kristina Konchits & Eirini Tampasouli

This is a melancholic story of land. The mountains are accompanied by white clouds, while dots of trees and bushes are welcomed in the feast, somewhere in the south of Greece.

An eco-feminist piece about two women who begin forming a dialogue with mother nature so as to find their inner strength and femininity. Mimicking several of her different qualities and elements they come closer to reaching womanhood.

tavari memory is a series of short videos that revisits my teenage memories from summer vacations in Tavari, Lesvos. It's an ode to summer boyhood, filled with peak unleashed energy. In search of something pure, borderline violent, in search of the past. The footage is captured from my first ever camera, a Canon PowerShot A590 IS 2021

The artist invited the puppeteer Emin Senyer to reconstruct the demolition of the Russian monument for the fallen at Ayastefanos, referring to three photographs, the diary of the lieutenant who supervised the procedure, and the relevant announcements in the era’s press as his primary sources. On the left screen, the current view of the site where the monument stood is displayed, while on the right screen, we can see Emin Senyer in action. Kamma appropriates the tools of the old art of shadow-puppet theatre, addressing critical issues of the history and culture of the wider Greek geopolitical territory in an amusing manner.

A bloodthirsty virgin cocktail.

The last days of a young farmer on a Greek island as he prepares to leave for mandatory military service, navigating the expectations of his community. The island’s landscape mirrors his internal shift, marking a quiet moment of transition.

Four true stories set in Greece today, who for various reasons have not told their parents about their sexual preferences. So they send them anonymous letters expressing their thoughts.

A film about the beauty of being accepted no matter what you wear.

Animated Music Video for Kalte Nacht's 'Humans Are Mistakes' from their self titled album.

Claire travels to a Victorian Era ballroom through a magic mirror that she found in an antique shop. There she meets Edward. Edward connects the past with the present.

This is a tragic love story. The two protagonists of this video are Mina and Kelsey who come head to head with their biggest fear, death. Kelsey is terminally ill and realizes that her remaining time is so precious. On this journey, Mina stands by her spouse’s side and both of them are trying to spend as much time together as possible, even while knowing about their unavoidable separation.

A party of ten small crabs finds ten small candies, and happily sits on a rock to eat them. But what happens when the octopuses come to steal them? Ten small crabs (Δέκα καβουράκια) is the animated music video for the homonymous Greek song.

Once in a Lifetime

Rain, as circular shapes of memory imprinted on the fast paced celluloid or as liquid moving sculptures of the present in digital form, documents a verbal interaction between two people.

A joyful processing of traumatic school experiences.

A university student goes walking.

The documentary begins with a reference to the views and achievements in astronomy up to the present day, followed by a presentation of the mechanical planetariums built from 287 BC until today, including the Greek one that was built in 1963 and is the first in the Balkans. The camera of the show records the Director of the Planetarium, Dionysis Simopoulos and the astrophysicist George Georgopoulos, preparing a projection of the Planetarium, thus presenting to the audience the way of working for the creation of each program, while then the former talks to us about what is really the Planetarium and what it offers to society.

Small human-like creatures devour nature’s flora, thus defecating the building blocks which they use to create a human-controlled tower. The tower destroys nature. In response, nature gives birth to their adversary; a huge flower, which engages in a boss fight with the tower.

By recording snapshots from the daily life of the people of Tsai Mahala, we take a journey into time and explore a way of life that fades away.

From the suburbs of Moscow and the working class, to the glitz of the city centre, where at the break of the new day the revolution is launched. With the use of artificial intelligence, I build a utopia, a city I have never visited.

Summer of 1992 in a typical Greek village. Nine-year-old Pericles is at the frontline of the eternal war between boys and girls. The battle comes to a screeching halt when a rock is landed on his head. When he comes to, he is faced with Phaedra, a twelve-year-old Amazon. It is love at first sight for our hero. Now all he has to do is win her…

Athens. The city council announces the reconstruction of Omonoia, a rundown square at the heart of the capital. In the span of a few months, a streak of violent incidents break out around the square. Filming with a v-log camera, the director follows three inhabitants of the area, now threatened by the shadow of redevelopment.

A lost short film.