Welcome to the 2005 Greek Film Festival of Sydney.

Now in it’s 13th year, the Festival will run between 8 and 25 September 2005 at the Palace Norton Street Cinemas in Leichhardt.

As previous years, the Festival, which is an initiative of The Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOC), will continue to highlight the best in contemporary Greek Cinema by presenting the most exciting films produced in Greece over the last 12 months as well as retrospective titles.

Our opening night features the Australian premiere of the highly acclaimed Brides directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, who will be there on the night. This visually beautiful film, executively produced by Martin Scorsese and starring Damian Lewis and Victoria Haralabidou, has been a huge hit in Greece and received 10 awards, including Best Feature Film at the 2004 Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

The Festival features another 19 Greek films from accomplished and emerging young directors. Festival highlights include Theo Angelopoulos’ stunning cinematic achievement Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow, which sold out at this year’s Sydney Film Festival and Constantine Giannaris’ Hostage, which was officially selected at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Festival pays tribute to auteur Pantelis Voulgaris, whose inspiring filmography is a poignant insight into ordinary people confronted with extraordinary circumstances. This retrospective offers a rare opportunity to view The Engagement of Anna, Stone Years and It’s a Long Road, as well as the historical masterpiece Eleftherios Venizelos and the soccer inspired The Striker with the No. 9.

This year’s program also includes the two favourite Greek Cinema classics The Counterfeit Coin and closing night film, America America. Directed by controversial Academy Award winning Elia Kazan, it depicts the struggles of a young man whose family, after many trials and tribulations, reaches America - their land of hope and opportunity.

The Festival would like to thank our partners Palace Cinemas and The Greek Film Centre, and all of our sponsors and supporters for their generous support.

We hope you enjoy the selection and wish you a good Festival!

All Festival films are restricted to persons 18 years of age and over unless specified. This relates not necessarily to the content of the films, but to the legal requirements of holding the Festival, as set by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). As such, no exceptions will be made.

Note: Brides is classified is PG
Stone Years is classified MA 15+

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

An Initiative of the
Greek Orthodox Community of NSW 
http://www.goc.com.au