For cinephiles of Greek cinema, summer in Melbourne is synonymous with the Hellenic Museum’s Summer Cinema Program, and it’s back for 2018.

This year’s selection honours stage and screen talent, Zoe Laskari who passed away in August last year, with a line-up of films from Greece’s golden age of cinema.

Taking place each Saturday evening through February to the beginning of March, attendees will have the chance to enjoy Stella (1955), Some Like It Cool (1963), The Blue Beads (1967), O Astrapogiannos (1970), and The Trojan Women (1971). There will also be subtitles, so any fills being shown in the Greek language will be accessible to all.

Films will be screened at sunset on the stunning grounds of the Museum, with food and drinks from Grounds of Arcadia – think wood-fired oven and mouth-watering aromas – available before and during the screening.

The program kicks off at the start of next month:

3 February: Stella (1955)
Recipient of the 1956 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, Stella directed by Michael Cacoyannis stars Melina Mercouri in the leading role. A fiercely independent woman, Stella loves passionately but refuses to be tied down. All this changes when she meets football player Miltos (Giorgos Fountas) and faces a decision: her freedom or his love?

10 February: Some Like It Cool… (1963)
Directed by Giannas Dalianidis and starring Ntinos Iliopoulos, Zoe Laskari and Rena Vlachopoulou, Some Like It Cool… is a musical comedy that follows Lakis (Ntinos Iliopoulos) in his quest to find husbands for his three sisters under mounting pressure from his own fiancée and her four brothers.

17 February: O Astrapogiannos (1970)
Directed by Nikos Tzimas, upon his return home from the War of Independence a folk hero (Nikos Kourkoulos) fights against corrupt landlords who have taken over his village.

24 February: The Trojan Women (1971)
Directed by Michael Cacoyannis, an adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy. After the fall of Troy, Hecuba (Katherine Hepburn), Cassandra (Geneviève Bujold), Andromache (Vanessa Redgrave) and Helen (Irene Papas) end up as the captives of the victorious Greeks lamenting their misfortune and the heavy hand of fate.

3 March: The Blue Beads (1967)
Directed by Giannis Dalianidis, The Blue Beads starring Zoe Laskari was one of the most commercially successful films of the time. It sees Laskari as a rich girl who causes problems in a traditional, folk neighbourhood of Athens when she opens a shop that plays modern music.

Screenings take place at the Hellenic Museum (280 William St, Melbourne, VIC) every Saturday from 3 February – 3 March. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit hellenic.org.au/summercinema2018