on the

THE ROYAL CINEMA

608 College St, Toronto, Ontario FRIDAY JUNE 24TH, 2011 SATURDAY JUNE 25TH, 2011 SUNDAY JUNE 26TH, 2011

All these things have thus come to an end. But you must listen now to what I say a god himself will be reminding you. First of all, youll run into the Sirens, who seduce all men who come across them. Whoever unwittingly encounters them and hears the Sirens call never gets back. His wife and infant children in his home will never stand beside him full of joy. Homers The Odyssey - Book 12, The Sirens

SIRENS ON THE COAST Greek songs of loneliness and separation provided some of the healing to bridge the distance between the Greek Immigrants and their birthplace. The movies that played in the small cinemas in the Fifties and Sixties helped ease the pain also. These were austere black and white films that resembled Italian Neorealist Cinema but were submerged in Greek characters and social issues of the day. Some of these films in our retrospective are rife with nostalgia. Some may prove spikes in memory or harbingers of a bittersweet past; especially a few from Fifties and 1979-82. These films were spawned from a creative collective that confirms a great cinematic legacy to the world over the past 55 years. (Two of our films were consecutive GOLDEN GLOBE BEST FOREIGN FILM Nominees/Winners) This summer it will be safe to be seduced by beautiful sirens from a faraway coast. The first annual Toronto Greek Film Retrospective at The Royal Cinema is packed with eclectic pieces of Greek Cinema that have arrived this summer to inspire us. We welcome you to the superb Royal Cinema in Little Italy for a memorable weekend. DANNIS KOROMILAS: DIRECTOR TORONTO GREEK FILM RETROSPECTIVE

TORONTO GREEK FILM RETROSPECTIVE SIRENS ON THE COAST

*All films (with the exception of Ena Gelasto Apogevma) will be screened with English subtitles.

FRIDAY JUNE 24TH 7:00 P.M. Stella (1955) 9:30 P.M. A Matter of Dignity (1958) SATURDAY JUNE 25TH 1:15 P.M. Crystal Nights (1992) 4:10 P.M. The Striker With Number 9 (1989) 7:00 P.M. Girl in Black (1958) 9:15 P.M. Learn how to Read and Write, Son (1981) SUNDAY JUNE 26TH 1:30 P.M. Stone Years (1985) 4:30 P.M. Ena Gelasto Apogevma (1979) 7:00 P.M. Invincible Lovers (1988) 9:15 P.M. Tighten Your Belt Thanasis (1980)

STELLA 1955 DIRECTOR: MICHAEL CACOYANNIS

At the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, there was such uproar that Melina Mercouris performance did not win Best Actress, they created a special award for her, the ISA MIRANDA for her starring role as Stella, a firecracker nightclub singer. STELLA deals with a nightclub singers volatile life as she gets caught up in a lovers triangle. Like a wild horse, Stella seems to trample over anything in her way if she feels cornered or judged. After hooking up with soccer star Miltos (George Foundas) immediately after dumping a sensitive, good boy, Stellas new passions are the catalyst to her ex-lovers temptation to take his life once again. After hearing Stellas afternoon laughter from underneath her window her discarded lover succeeds in killing himself. In this tale of visceral emotions and defiant sensibilities several lives are destroyed as Stella attempts to author her own life choices. STELLA is a brave and robust film masterfully directed by Greek-Cypriot Master Storyteller MICHAEL CACOYANNIS, who blends the melancholy power of love songs, cigarettes, and late night whiskey into cinematic angst and furious emotion. This is a staggering piece of work from a filmmaker that really did not have much of a budget, but instead did like the greats of that era and fashioned a powerful film with all that he had. A simple comparison between Melina Mercouris STELLA and the desperate, drunken Marlon Brandos wail of STELLA at the end of Elia Kazans A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, is that Kim Hunters Stella comes back to hold him and forgive him and nurture the beast. Kazans film was shot it in 1951. By 1955, Cacoyannis Stella has no interest in healing wounds from drunken brutes, be they in New Orleans or Athens. The Greek Stella is as vicious and virile as any male on screen and she defiantly leaves the soccer star at the altar and sends him to a drunken rage. Instead of a honeymoon there is a crime of passion in the deserted dawn of an Athens neighborhood. Stella is a swearing film that had a profound impact on Greek audiences and would go on to win the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. A flood of enormously talented men and women launched their careers from this film, especially the director Cacoyannis, and lead actors Mercouri and George Foundas.

A MATTER OF DIGNITY- 1958 DIRECTOR: MICHAEL CACOYANNIS

Michael Cacoyannis 1958 film, A Matter of Dignity, is an intoxicating morality play that revolves around the beautiful young Chloe Pella (Ellie Lambeti), the daughter of wealthy Athenian industrialists, who enjoys a carefree and glamorous social life. Chloe is about marrying age, but she only flirts with suitors until her mother, Roxanni (Athena Michaelidou) tells her the family will be bankrupt within a month. Chloe fancies herself mature, tells her mother she is not a child anymore and agrees to accept the advances of a wealthy Greek-American suitor, Dritsas (Minas Christidis), whom she does not love. As they wait for Dritsas to finalize their engagement, the family sell their jewels and paintings one by one in secret to stock the liquor cabinet for social gatherings and keep up appearances, all the while neglecting to pay their devoted housekeeper, Katerina (Eleni Zafeiriou), whose own five year-old son is sick in hospital.

Review written by ALESSANDRA PICCIONE

Chloes life spirals faster and faster the more she holds on to her lie. Most poignantly, her best friend Markos (Dimitris Papamichael) tells Chloe that all of Athens is talking about her. When she asks him if the gossipers feel sorry for Dritsas, Markos explains in a poignant moment that it is she they feel sorry for. In fact, Chloe is the real victim here and discovers, perhaps once it is far too late, that she has allowed herself to become enslaved by her own lies and the expectations of her family, all for the sake of their good name. Most strikingly, however, is the fact that the plight of the Pella family is all too familiar to us in our own post-recessionary, debtridden world, where living beyond our means is for so many still a matter of dignity.

CRYSTAL NIGHTS 1992 A FILM BY TONIA MARKETAKI

Review written by ALESSANDRA PICCIONE

Crystal Nights, director Tonia Marketakis final film, is an expansive tour-de-force that explores the big themes: good versus evil; love versus hate; mortality versus the transcendental; and political ideology and the futility of war versus an extremely private struggle between two lovers. Set against the contentious political backdrop of pre-WW2 Europe, Crystal Nights focuses on the journey of star-crossed lovers, Isabella (Michele Valley) and Albert (Francois Delaive), a married German woman and a young Jew, who fall madly and hopelessly in love with each other. But this film is no Casablanca. Unlike Rick and Ilsa, who make the ultimate sacrifice to give up their love for the sake of the greater good, Albert and Isabella are totally, completely and unapologetically consumed by a love that extends beyond mortal existence and therefore takes precedence over the temporary conditions brought about by politics and war. Through the character of Isabella an old world clairvoyant and pagan witch Marketaki presents a darker interpretation of the nature of the human spirit, blurring the lines between good and evil and exploring the intense and destructive nature of passion. Ultimately, however, Isabella and Alberts twisted obsession personifies the relationship between Germany and its Jews. With her dark, Mediterranean appearance and magical rituals reminiscent of the ritualistic symbolism used at Nazi rallies Isabella longs to posses what Albert a strong, fair-haired man who looks more like a member of the Hitler Youth than a stereotypical Jew has. The closer she comes to owning him, the more he retreats into the perceived safety of earthly possessions, status and marriage as a social institution. As the story takes us through time, space, dimensions and even multiple lifetimes, Marketaki plays with the imagery of film itself, using speed, black and white, sepia and full colour footage throughout, while haunting folk music punctuates its themes. Presented at the prestigious Un Certain Regard section of the 1992 Festival de Cannes, Crystal Nights is a unique and layered attempt to illustrate the deeper issues of our world and the nature of our very existence, and it is sure to be the subject of a long and interesting post-screening conversation with friends.

STRIKER WITH THE # 9 JERSEY (1989) A FILM BY PANTELIS VOULGARIS

The opening shot of children playing in a gravel field to a rhythmic 80s synthesizer sound would make Miami Vice fans proud. Even the first close look at our hero reveals a classic acid-wash jean jacket as he sleeps on a train. Needless to say the mullets are in full force in Striker with the #9 Jersey. This end of the Eighties Era film captures the fanatical nature of soccer and its grip on the Greek fans. Clarinets blare in the stands and the throngs of fans chant their heros names with intense passion. Even though the lead character Bill Seretis plays in a second tier division in the northern city of Thessaloniki, when he scores a game-winning goal it is like hes driven home a World Cup winner. The Actor Sotiris Tzortzoglou (eerie resemblance to Tom Cruise from his Rain Man era) does an excellent job in this film, as do the supporting cast. Not one character in STRIKER fails to impress upon us that the game and business of soccer is integral to their lives. STRIKER WITH THE #9 JERSEY deals with the pitfalls and traps that lay in wait for Vasilis Seretis, a promising star in the world of professional sports, in this case Soccer in Greece. He ends up being traded to Volos, but is determined to play in Athens. Seretis rise to minor fame is furious. His name changes from Vasilis to chants of BILL, BILL, BILL.... With so much unbridled talent and even more ambition chewing away at it, Bill ends up back in Athens, playing in front of crowds of 40,000. Bill continues his juggernaut to the top of the league and somehow we see what he does not; Bill has possibly killed Vasilis. Agony comes in the form of a vicious knee hit and Bill is carried off in on a stretcher before a stunned crowed. STRIKER WITH THE #9 plays out on many levels, the main theme however is how an individual, in this case an aspiring soccer knocks down one obstacle after another, only to find he has possibly shed his love for the game and obliterating his own humility. Soccer in Europe is a gargantuan business. This poignant work from master filmmaker Pantelis Voulgaris makes some piercing observations about Greeces national sport right at the close of the greediest decade. Strike that, the 2nd greediest decade in modern history.

A GIRL IN BLACK 1956 DIRECTOR: MICHEAL CACOYANNIS

Review by EVAN GEORGIADES
The Girl in Black represents a true landmark in Greek national cinema, marking the first occasion on which a Greek film enjoyed international recognition in the form of a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and a Palme dOr nomination at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. As the follow up to his popular directorial debut, Stella, the film also affirmed director Michael Cacoyannis standing as a bona fide master of cinema. Set upon the small, archetypically quaint island of Hydra, the story centers around the title character of Marina and her blossoming romance with the young Athenian writer staying in her familys home while on vacation. Marina doesnt appear to wear her black clothes very comfortably. In fact, nothing about Marinas life is comfortable. But if actress Ellie Lambetis enchanting eyes appear to fill the screen with more sadness than any one woman could possibly carry in her soul, so too does her black dress feel as though its being worn for all of womankind--not to mention a country that chooses to live in a perpetual state of mourning. Cacoyannis uses all his powers as a filmmaker to paint a stark picture of the debilitating double standard that comes between men and women on the island, and balances his story delicately upon the line between realism and melodrama. Likewise, in the hands of cinematographer Walter Lassally, the black and white image effectively sets the stage for a battle between the forces of light and darkness. Its a battle we can only hope our two lovers will ultimately transcend. The Girl in Black is not a film one watches to simply reminisce about a bygone era in Greeces history. Indeed, if the opening shots feel as though they might carry us away on flights of nostalgia, those feelings come crashing down the moment we begin to witness how the island and its people are being torn apart by jealousy, small-mindedness and outmoded traditions. In this regard, The Girl in Black seems as relevant today as it must have when it was released more than 50 years ago, and this is most certainly as much a reflection of how forward-thinking director Michael Cacoyannis is as a man, as it is a testament to his level of sheer artistry. In The Girl in Black, all the elements of a powerful, well-crafted story come together to create a rare masterpiece of world cinema, worthy of being honored alongside other such neorealist classics as Vitorrio De Sicas Bicycle Thief.

MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA 1981 DIRECTOR: THEODOROS MARAGOS

One of the two films in this retrospective from Director Theodoros Maragos, MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA is surely one of the funniest films to ever come out of Greece. The beauty of the this film is that Director Maragos manages to straddle comedy and young romance with heavy handed satire and thinly veiled venom at the failure of the Greek Government to acknowledge the efforts and sacrifices of the Partisan Movement during the Nazi Occupation. SOCRATIS, played with incredible genius by Nikos Kalegeropoulos is a testosterone filled yet gentle teen with a penchant for Boney Ms 1979 hit Rasputin and dark green leather half boots. (Most of the world remembers at least three people from this era if not more.) This is perhaps one of the great works from Greece in the 80s and fittingly ran roughshod over any other productions at the Thessaloniki Film Festival that year. It is a charming film that managed to disarm even the most fervently politically motivated Hellenes of the time to agree that the charm and humanity of MATHE PAIDI MOU GRAMMATA was deserving of every accolade and award, then and now. (A side note: MATHE PAIDE MOU GRAMMATA translated into English means LEARN HOW TO READ AND WRITE MY SON, a mantra delivered by Greek Parents and Greeks of the Diaspora for over four decades.)

STONE YEARS (1985) A FILM BY PANTELIS VOULGARIS

THE STONE YEARS is a heartbreaking story about two political dissidents that spend most of their adult lives in prison or on the run for their political convictions. In 14 years from the Greek Civil War, they manage to spend only three days together, but manage to have a child together and get married while in prison. Stone Years manages at its own pace to reflect on the ridiculous but truly harsh nature of the regimes that followed World War Two in the ravaged country. The Government Officials are portrayed as relentless Fascists that seem forever paranoid of the Communist threat. Historically, one could argue that Director Pantelis Voulgaris is convinced that the regimes aggression and fear might has been spawned by the guilt manifested by the fact that thousands of partisans exiled, jailed or killed actually carried on the brunt of resistance against the Nazis. Eleni Fanti is the other ELENI here, who unlike her counterpart Eleni Gatsogiannis, immortalized in Nick Gages heartfelt and best-selling book ELENI, (later adapted to film) is not murdered at a young age, but is instead hunted for decades and forced to live in the shadows. STONE YEARS juxtaposed directly with Director Peter Yates 1985 ELENI, is a perfect example of how two different versions of equally atrocious crimes can be treated cinematically in so polarizing terms. STONE YEARS possesses a music score that is achingly beautiful and this film is invested with palpable sorrow and pathos. Emotions creep up on the viewer near the end of the film, which offers a gentle nod to the triumph of conviction and spiritual endurance in the face of oppression.

ENA GELASTO APOGEVMA 1979 DIRECTOR: ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS (In Greek Only)
Nikos Kourkoulos stars in this superb film about political upheaval and a passionate marriage that keeps eroding after the autopsy. Kourkoulos is riveting as Dimitris Venieris, a near-burnt out political party leader who embodies the strength and ideals of a generation a dozen years earlier, but now is saddled with celebrity. There is widespread momentum for his potential to make changes, but fatefully he has garnered the attention of the ruling Party and their thugs. This film is a perfect time capsule of 1979 and some of the prevalent viewpoints of the era, albeit prominently antiJunta with a tinge of anti-American sentiment. Most of GELASTO APOGEVMA plays out at an Athens Airport bar and relies consistently on flashback to inform us of who these two broken lovers are. BETTY LIVANOU portrays Eleni and delivers a perfect rendition of a woman snared between her bourgeois upbringing and its trappings, and her inevitable escape from it which was Dimitris Venieris, Rebel Folk hero and novelist. It seems obvious in their intense exchanges in the bar that neither knew Dimitris was about to go mainstream. Keeping in mind that this film was shot in 1979, just the use of the flashbacks and time capsule shots of the Athens Airport goes a long way to seduce the viewer with memories of how magical and impulsive a romance can flare up the Greek seaside. Anyone lucky enough to have experienced this moment of twilight in the middle of the day after leaving Greece will understand the feeling. When Director Andreas Thomopoulos brings us back to the present however, things are a bottle of wine away from disaster. Elenis flight is perpetually postponed and Dimitris has become drunker and a lot nastier with her and anyone within a ten feet span of the bar. For years I have wondered how no one has ever remade this film in Hollywood, or at least updated in similar fashion, considering the advent of divorce and failed political heroes since that hazy summer in 1979.

INVINCIBLE LOVERS (1988) A FILM BY STAVROS TSIOLIS

(QUOTES FROM GREEK JOURNALIST PARAPRHASED FOR ENGLISH) The boy, through his silence and stubbornness returns to his home which is in ruin. Even if the village has emptied of its inhabitants, a small ray of hope for some reverse countdown regarding desertion or flight lingers? A hint of hope permeates, maybe somewhat absurdly, but it suggests to the generations to come about a gigantic matter which those who have gone before either trapped and forced were betrayed? Tsiolis leaves the question-mark hanging in the air purposely and very austerely. COSTAS PARLAS, 1988 In the opening scenes of this magic film you are lured into a thought that this is a wonderfully played out student film. The opening scenes have already seduced you into a spare but intriguing framework of shots that follow a young hero Vasilaki, who in this day and age, would be scooped up by the police. The story though breathes quietly and gains our affections in perfect and realistic increments. This film may have cost the same as a current Los Angeles Short Film budget in 2011, but in 1988, Writer/Director Stavros Tsiolis shed the budgetary constraints and gently engages us with masterful storytelling. The budget disappears and the affection for the characters propels a genuine story about love and heartache and adolescent confusion. The rest of the details of this legendary film will resonate with first time viewers this summer, or cause further discussion as to why cant films like this thrive once again. INVINCIBLE LOVERS is a spare, almost silent film where an ancient Renault hatchback and a gorgeous Arcadian landscape in the background filled mostly with gravel dust and the sound of crickets shape the mood and tone of this film as much as our two thrown together by chance travelers During the film we see little Vasilaki dwarfed in wide shots, walking alone through pastures and dirt roads. This is a lonely film but yet there is a sense of purpose and conviction in the 13-year-old protagonist that makes you feel he will keep forging on no matter what lays ahead on his solitary journey.

TIGHTEN YOUR BELT THANASI (1980) DIRECTED BY THEODORE MARAGOS

THANASI VEGGOS, Greeces most brilliant comedic actor died one month ago in Athens, after a long battle with a brain tumor. One day one of these retrospectives will be focused just on his career. In this social satire, Veggos portrays a classic everyman, Thanassis Maganas, a Tax Collector who is fired from his job for being too thorough. He embarks on a hunger strike to get the attention of the public and succeeds in regaining his position within the civil service. The irony is unshakeable in this film, as we watch Maganas rail with desperation, absolutely at the end of his wits and skill to improve his life and work circumstances. In a pivotal scene where he asks for a raise from his supervisor, the cost of living increases in relation to the tiny raise he has been given over 8 years take on an ominous prophecy in TIGHTEN YOUR BELT. Veggos was considered always as O KALOS ANTHROPOS (THE GOOD MAN)and in this biting condemnation of capitalist greed and lament for the workingman, the essence of every role he ever played in comes to life full force. Veggos sheer brilliance and pathos comes through every burst and twitch in his physical comedy, although in this film the angst and heartache somehow makes it hard to laugh at. The genius of Director Theodoros Maragos and this legendary performance from Veggos leave an ominous time capsule from 1980; all was not well in Greece and the future was not bright. In TIGHTEN YOUR BELT THANASSI, VEGGOS is trying to figure out how to pay for food each week for his children, and finally his wife agrees to a night shift-day shift schedule for the family. What unfolds is equal parts comedy and tragedy, set in the world of shift work in 1980s Greece. This is the most ironic and perfectly timed film for this Retrospective, as it proves some filmmakers were way before their time 31 years ago, in the earliest of Greeces struggles. Director Maragos was definitely not a banker or politician, but he nurtured actors and crafted a film to warn his beloved nation about the road they were going down.

TORONTO GREEK FILM RETROSPECTIVE THE CREW:

FOUNDER: TED MANZIARIS DIRECTOR: DANNIS KOROMILAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER: ALESSANDRA PICCIONE CONTRIBUTING WRITER: EVAN GEORGIADES GRAPHIC DESIGN & WEB DEVELOPMENT: KONSTANTINE ARNOKOUROS MARKETING DIRECTOR: THEODORE NANOS SUBTITLES/TRANSLATION: DEVI ODISHO GREEK FILM CENTER LIASON: LIZA LINARDOU MICHAEL CACOYANNIS FOUNDATION REP: ALEXANDRA GEORGOPOULOU CONTRIBUTING DIRECTOR: THEODOROS MARAGOS - MARAGOSFILMS.GR CONTRIBUTING DIRECTOR: ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS GREEK CONSULATE GENERAL: DIMITRIS AZEMOPOULOS GREEK CONSULATE OF TORONTO LIASON: EFSTRATIA KARAGRIGORIOU GREEK CONSULATE OF TORONTO LIASON: ANYA SHEPELEVICH EVENT COORIDINATOR: ARGIE ELIOPOULOS-KAMBOURAKIS FILM TRAILER MONTAGE: DANNIS KOROMILAS & THEODORE NANOS FILM TRAILER MUSIC: DIMITRIOS BOGRIS SPECIAL LIASON TO ATHENS: ANTONIS MICHALAIDIS PUBLISHER: DIMITRIS GEKOPOULOS, GEKO GRAPHICS SPECIAL THANKS TO: MR. GEORGE TRIALONIS OF OMNI TVS LIGA LOGIA NATASSA HARALAMBOPOULOU OF ODYSSEY TELEVISION NETWORK