Greek film centre stage at SFF

Greek films Alps and L will be shown at the Sydney Film Festival, which opened last week. Dead Europe, based on the Christos Tsiolkas novel of the same name, has been selected to make its premiere at the festival.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos returns with another warped vision of lives on the periphery of a society in decay in the movie Alps. Co-produced by Tsangari and co-starring Attenberg's Ariane Labed, Alps follows a secret club whose members are paid to act as replacements for the recently deceased - going into their homes, impersonating them, getting uncomfortably intimate with the bereaved. It's part therapy, part theatre, with more than a hint of prostitution.
Aggeliki Papoulia plays a young member who takes her awkward role playing too seriously perhaps, while quietly rebelling against the group's sadistic leader (Aris Servetalis). Though the morbid transgressions at the film's heart are presented with characteristically clinical detachment, and acted in a deadpan way that's both amusing and creepy, Lanthimos finds a strange kind of beauty and haunting undercurrents of grief amidst the absurd. Alps posits a surreal world where human connection is a commodity, but real, painful emotion lurks between the lines. It's a disturbing imitation of life, but a fascinating one. Alps screens on Monday 11 June at State Theatre and Wednesday 13 June at Event Cinemas George Street 4.
The drolly funny L is, like SFF official competition film Alps, very much part of the Greek 'Weird Wave'. The story follows a 40 year-old driver referred to as 'the Man' (played by Aris Servetalis, who also co-stars in Alps) who lives in his car. The man does not have much free time due to his job, which is to locate and bring the finest honey to a 50-year-old narcoleptic who spends much of his time sleeping on his lawn. Occasionally the Man meets his wife and two children in a car park - but never elsewhere. When a new driver appears on the scene, the Man is fired, and he loses all sense of purpose and the respect of those around him. However a biker gang just might offer the sense of community the Man has always longed for. L screens on Tuesday 17 June at Dendy Opera Quays Cinema 3.
Dead Europe will make its world premiere at SFF on Thursday night. The movie - screening at the State Theatre - is based on the novel by the same name from author Christos Tsiolkas. Australia's Tony Krawitz (Jewboy, The Tall Man) is the director of this award-winning novel adaptation, a searing film about history, guilt and secrets. Dead Europe will also screen on Friday 15 June at Event Cinemas George Street 4.
For more information on the Sydney Film Festival and for tickets visit www.sff.org.au or call 1300 733 733.