The Greek Festival of Sydney has had to make some changes to the screenings of the films being shown as part of Greek Film Academy initiative Motherland I See You, screening at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney due to unforeseen circumstances.
The screening of Costas Gavras Z on 24 February will be replaced with Dimos Theos’ Kierion. An award-winning film inspired by the well-known Polk murder case, when the American journalist George Polk was found murdered while he was visiting Greece to interview Markos Vafeiadis.
In this political drama, a journalist accused as a conspirator in the murder of an American colleague is released for lack of evidence, and then searches for the true culprits. Inspired by the true events of the murder of American journalist George Polk, this film was shot in 1967 and was banned by the coming military dictatorship in Greece. It had only been shown abroad, until it premiered in 1974 after the dictatorship’s fall .
The screening of Theo Angelopoulos’ The Travelling Players on Sunday 27 February will be replaced by Lambros Liaropoulos’ The Other Letter. This film incorporates Liaropoulos’ two short films, Letter from Charleroi, shot in 1965 when he was still working as Henri Langlois’ assistant at the French Cinematheque, and Athens, a Smiling City, shot in 1967 just before the rise of the dictatorship.
These images are all tied together to form a riveting attempt to talk about the relationship between the director and the country as they try to adjust to a new decade, a new era. His relationship, and ultimately the relationship of all of us with life and with our own country.
The films are being screened in Sydney with the support of MastaPlasta and the National Maritime Museum. All screenings are free however bookings are essential.
To book tickets please visit www.greekfestivalofsydney.com.au
