The 2020 San Francisco Greek Film Festival will feature virtual screenings and a drive-in event this year due to the pandemic.
The virtual + drive-in event is taking place between October 3-10.
The online film screenings are offered free, as a gift to the community.
Started in 2004, the San Francisco Greek Film Festival (SFGFF) is the first and longest-running Greek film festival in the U.S. SFGFF is dedicated to recognising, supporting, and promoting the best film work by Greek and Cypriot filmmakers from around the world.
With screenings of new, innovative, and highly acclaimed films and different events around the annual film Festival week, the SFGFF seeks to inspire, engage, and entertain its diverse audience. Throughout its history, the Festival has also featured screenings of classic films.
Through the powerful medium of film, the Festival sustains, elevates and promotes Greek culture, history and language in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
The online film screenings are offered free, as a gift to the community.
Drive-in screening of 'Topkapi' in tribute to Melina Mercouri, will play on Sunday, October 4, 7:00 pm, at Par 3 at Poplar Creek in San Mateo, allowing for a completely safe in-person moviegoing experience. All ages are encouraged. Admission is $30 per car entry fee. Food and beverage will be available to pre-order. Tickets can be purchased here.
The entertaining heist comedy-adventure stars legendary Greek performer Melina Mercouri, and this event celebrates the 100th anniversary of her birthday. In addition to Mercouri’s success as an actress and singer, she was an important Greek politician and public figure, who was always devoted to her country and culture, and famously said "I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek.” Among her many legacies is her steadfast commitment to the effort to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. The Greek Culture Ministry honours this culture champion by having declared 2020 the “Year of Melina Mercouri.”
Topkapi’s all-star international cast also featured Greek actors Titos Vandis, and Despo Diamantidou, along with Peter Ustinov, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, and Akim Tamiroff. The film’s score was composed by renowned Greek composer Manos Hatzidakis (Oscar-winner for Never On a Sunday), and Greece is among the multiple countries where the film’s action takes place. Director Jules Dassin spoofed his own heist classic Rififi for Topkapi, which was one of many of his films featuring his wife Mercouri.
The SFGFF has showcased some of the most highly regarded Greek/Cypriot films produced over the past 17 years. Since its founding, the film festival has showcased nearly 320 movies, hosted nearly 50 filmmakers as guests, and inspired, engaged and entertained over 9,000 attendees from San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.
MORE INFO: grfilm.com and virtual ticket platform sfgff2020.eventive.org.