About the Greek Fim Festival 2004

In a year that has seen the world's attention focused on Athens for the upcoming Olympics, we are proud to add a spicy ingredient to the Hellenic mix by announcing the Greek Film Festival, an eclectic celebration of contemporary Greek cinema presented by the Greek Communities of Australia and Palace Cinemas in conjunction with the Greek Film Centre (Athens), that will take place around Australia from early September to early October.

Spice Up Your Life!

With national attendance figures increasing yearly, the Festival attracts cinema buffs from both within and beyond the Greek community and has emerged as one of the most exciting annual film events in the country.

The 2004 Festival will be launched by the bittersweet epic, A Touch of Spice, courtesy of Village Roadshow Film Distributors. Acknowledged as one of the most successful Greek movies ever made, A Touch of Spice tells the story of a young Greek boy growing-up in Constantinopoulis whose grandfather teaches him that both food and life need a little something to give them flavour; they both require…a touch of spice. The film's writer/director, Tassos Boulmetis, will be the opening night guest-of-honour in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Other Festival highlights include the controversial dramas Hardcore and Oxygen, veteran director Michael 'Zorba the Greek' Cacoyannis' lavish adaptation of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard starring Charlotte Rampling and Alan Bates, the comic R20 from director Lakis Lazopoulos and Matchbox, a searing depiction of family life which serves as an antidote to the domestic cosiness of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The Festival is also delighted to present director Jule's Dassin's timeless Never on a Sunday featuring Melina Mercouri in her most memorable on-screen role, and the political thriller Z from renowned director Costa Gavras.

Festival screening dates around Australia are as follows: 

Melbourne: (Sept 8-21) Palace Cinema Como 
Sydney: (Sept 9-22) Palace Norton Street Cinemas 
Brisbane (Sept 22-26) Palace Centro Cinemas 
Canberra (Sept 16 to Sept 22) Electric Shadows 
Perth (Sept 29 to Oct 3) Palace Cinema Paradiso 
Adelaide (Sept 29 to Oct 4) Palace Nova East End Cinemas

Tickets are very reasonably priced to encourage maximum attendance and the festival is a frequent haunt of the discerning moviegoer in addition to many high profile members of the film and movie The Film Festival currently achieves strong support in Greek language media including print and radio and through the communication and marketing to the Greek community in each region. Over the last few years the festival has been successful in generating publicity, marketing and media exposure in the Greek and Mainstream media with very limited staff and volunteer resources.


 GFF Festival Partners:

               

 

All Festival films are restricted to persons aged 18 years and over [R18]. This does not necessarily relate to the content of the films, but to the censorship laws regulating festivals, as enforced by the Office of Film & Literature Classification. The only exception to this is the film Touch of Spice [M15+]

****Please note that screenings are subject to change.