The Greek Festival of Sydney and Palace Cinemas are delighted to announce that Mary Coustas, aka Effie, will be present at the Palace Norton Street Cinemas in Leichhardt on 28th August to launch the festival as it enters it's second decade as one of Australia's premier foreign language film festivals.

Logie award winner Coustas, who rose to notoriety with her portrayal of Effie in such hits of stage and screen as Acropolis Now, Waiting for Effie and Greeks on the Roof, said, "Greek cinema has such an important place in mainstream Australian culture and it is a great honour to be asked to open such a prestigious event."

Film buffs are in for a real treat with the opening night film HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER. This year the film achieved unprecedented recognition for Greek cinema thanks to its child star, 10 year old, Giorgos Karayannis. Karayannis was awarded the prestigious Locarno International Film Festival's Leopard for Best Actor. The award was granted for his lead performance and was even more amazing considering he contended against such movie greats as Matt Damon, Robin Williams and Gerard Depardieu

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