Grab your popcorn and head to Athens as the 27th Athens International Film Festival launched Wednesday (22/9) in Athens, Greece and will run till 3rd October 2021.
With an exciting line up of shorts and features from both Greek and international filmmakers, the festival promises audiences a memorable cinematic experience.
International Sizzlers
Only a short while after their first global screening and their subsequent triumphant victory at the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival respectively, the much-talked-about and highly-anticipated “Titane” by Julia Ducournau and “Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn” by Radu Jude will make their Greek debut at the 27th Athens International Film Festival.
Greek Short Films
Having presented a total of more than 510 films in the previous nine years, this year the lively and exciting Greek Short Stories - In Competition section celebrates 10 years of great short films which have told contemporary, funny, scary, poetic, romantic, metaphysical, dark and light stories in a special, imaginative and exciting way.
10 years of Greek Short Stories, which started in Athens and travelled to Europe and the rest of the world competing for awards and aiming to resonate globally, showcasing Greek film as an emerging narrative and relevant force.
This year’s 27th event has 273 participations which indicates that Greek film is present and active but also that new Greek directors trust the presentation of their work to the Festival and its audience.
The Festival’s film curation team has completed the film selection process. 40 films have been selected to compete for the awards of the 27th event.
The films of the Competition section
The films which will be competing (in alphabetical order based on their title) are:
"A La Carte": Taxiarxis Deligiannis, Vasilis Tsiouvaras
"A Summer Place": Alexandra Matheou
"After Noon": Alexis Koukias-Pantelis
"Alaska": Michalis Giagkounidis
"Amygdala": Maria Hatzakou
"Apallou": Niko Avgoustidis
"At The Airport": Michalis Mathioudakis
"Beauty": Thanos Liberopoulos
"Bluebird": Stergios Dinopoulos
"Brutalia, Days of Labour": Manolis Mavris
"Cortázar": Argyris Germanidis, Katerina Strauch
"Creatures of the Night": Memi Koupa
"Every Sunday": Keti Papadema
"Experience of Goodness": Eleni Alexandrakis
"Exploitation": Marina Symeou
"First Swim": Alexandros Kostopoulos
"Friends & Benefits": Maria Katsikadakou
"From the Balcony": Aris Kaplanidis
"Girlhood": Vania Turner, Maria Sidiropoulou
"Horsepower": Spyros Skandalos
"I, the house": Eleni Vergeti
"If you Were a Movie, you'd be a Short Film": Georgia Marangouli
"In Beauty it is Unfinished": Greko Sklavounos
"Lost & Found": Vivian Papageorgiou
"Luxenia": Dimitra Kondylatou
"Motorway 65": Evi Kalogiropoulou
"Reflections": Fotis Skourletis
"Sacralisons": Olia Verriopoulou
"Soul Food": Nikos Tseberopoulos
"The Beauty of Stigma": Helias Doulis
"The Giraffe": Connie Zikou
"The Night I Left America": Laki Karavias
"The Silver Mask": Thanos Topouzis
"The Student": Vasileios Kalamakis
"To Vancouver": Artemis Anastasiadou
"Umbilical": Elpida Stathatou
"Vathikofto": Ioanna Kryona
"Vidisova": George Panagopoulos
"Water on Mars": Nicos Panayotopoulos
"Zabeta": Elissavet Sfyri, Sofia Sfyri
The Jury
The Jury for the Greek Short Stories - In Competition section of the 27th Athens International Film Festival consists of the President, Sofia Exarchou, screenwriter and director as well as the following members: Neritan Zinxhiria, director, Spyros Kribalis, screenwriter, script editor and creative producer, Penelope Tsilika, actor, and Iosifina Grivea, entertainment editor, film critic and podcast host.
Key People
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Loukas Katsikas
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Tatiana Pappa-Betrosian
GENERAL COORDINATION AFS
Andy Dimopoulou
HEAD OF PROGRAMME SELECTION
Kostis Theodosopoulos
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME SELECTION, NEW VOICES
& INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS
Nektarios Sakkas
GREEK SHORT STORIES IN COMPETITION SELECTION COORDINATOR
Panos Gkenas
For updates and more information tune into the sites of aiff.gr and cinemagazine.gr and the relevant social media pages: Facebook AIFF, Instagram, Twitter.
The 27th Athens International Film Festival is affiliated with the PEP Attiki 2014 – 2020 and is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
The 27th Athens International Film Festival takes place under the auspices of and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
The Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, was founded by the Athens Film Society (a Non-Profit Organisation) with the intention of highlighting lesser-known aspects/genres of independent cinema, introducing audiences to some of the best productions of the year and establishing itself as the ideal opening of the upcoming movie season. The Festival was launched in September 1995 and continues successfully until now.
According to a CINEMA magazine survey, the Festival audience roughly consists of 60.000 film-goers, who are interested in learning about the latest movie trends from all over the world and watching the most successful productions of the season before anyone else. Our goal is to present them with a handpicked selection of independent productions from all over the world.
For the full screening schedule visit: http://en.aiff.gr/
