Greek docos gain momentum

Substance doesn't always require a big budget. Penny Kyprianou explains why you should consider a documentary at this year's Greek Film Festival


While perusing the Delphi Bank 22nd Greek Film Festival program, it’s easy to get caught up in all the comedy and drama of the feature films.

But continue flicking through the pages and you’ll stumble upon the documentaries, a section of the festival line-up that director Penny Kyprianou is particularly proud of.

“What we found this year, more so than previous years, was that there’s an abundance of documentaries,” which she partly attributes to the Greek financial crisis.

The fact that docos can be made on a much lower budget makes the format a cost-effective way for filmmakers to have their stories told.

The only challenge, she says, is narrowing down the choices.

“It’s quite tough for us to select three or four documentaries, so when looking at what to include in the program we do like to have a bit of a mix.”

As crippling as the crisis has been for the nation, there’s no doubting its inspiration for many Greek creatives.
One such example is Agora: From Democracy to the Market by director Yorgos Avgeropoulos.

The award-winning film delves into the Greece of soup kitchens, unemployment, homelessness and fascism – a contrast to what was once the birthplace of democracy.

Then there’s the socio-political documentary Burning From the Inside.

In 120 minutes, director Marsia Tzivara examines the rise of the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, from fringe dweller to serious player in the Greek political landscape.

But it’s not all about crisis and turmoil.

Sam Roma: We Are Gypsies is an intimate look into the lives of the Roma communities of Attica, Argolida and Ilia.

People who often live outside the law and social acceptance, Marina Danezi gives the Roma a voice and the viewer an insight into what is often an inaccessible world.

But when it came time to curate the program, there was so much choice that for the first time this year, the documentaries are split into two categories to include works filmed and directed Down Under.

“Those local documentaries found their way to us through the short film festival, our co-curators. We thought it was timely that we include a couple of local docos as well to sort of complement the short-fiction films as part of the program,” Ms Kyprianou explains.

“What we’ve realised is that there’s such a pool of incredible filmmakers here in Australia and there’s so much creativity, that I think we would be doing the festival a bit of a dishonour if we didn’t include local content.

“With A Family Affair (directed by Angeliki Aristomenopoulou), there’s sort of a cross-country story, looking at the connection of the Xylouris family here and in Greece. Those sorts of connections are really great when we find them, so it’s important that we’re able to program them.”

Featuring alongside A Family Affair is Maryanne Christodoulou’s Family, in which she explores the story of two estranged sisters.

After years, the pair come together once again, demonstrating their conflicting notions of familial love and forgiveness.

Also screening are two shorter documentaries, one on the history of South Melbourne Football Club titled Fields to Dream by Aleece McComb, along with Natalie Cunningham’s Homesong, following contemporary musician Sophie Koh as she records her latest album.

While the festival director admits that anything other than a feature film can be “a harder sell” with audiences, she says they are seeing more and more people interested, particularly as audiences start to diversify and expand beyond the Greek Australian community.

“Scanning the audience of A Family Affair and Burning From the Inside on the weekend, there was certainly more of a non-Greek representation there. What we’re finding – and I don’t want to generalise too much – but I think our non-Greek audiences tend to support the documentaries a lot more,” Ms Kyprianou observes.

As the often informative and educational format gains momentum amongst filmmakers and audiences, the festival director and her team are aware of the opportunity a platform such as the Greek Film Festival provides to filmmakers, and so are looking to expand their screening schedule beyond the national event.

“In actual fact, there are so many documentaries that I think we will look at running more screenings.

“We want to able to showcase a lot of these documentaries down the track in either a mini-festival or maybe have some screenings at the Greek Centre [in Melbourne],” she tells Neos Kosmos.

When deciding on which films to catch over the next two weeks, Ms Kyprianou has some parting words of advice:

“The Greek Film Festival, and all film festivals, are a chance to take a few risks; watch something that you ordinarily wouldn’t see and probably wouldn’t have the chance to see on a big screen anyway.

“A good documentary is pretty impressive, you can learn so much. Audiences should come out and support local and Greek filmmakers.”

Delphi Bank’s 22nd Greek Film Festival has opened nationally and is on until November 1, 2015. For more information, visit www.greekfilmfestival.com.au