The 30th Greek Film Festival of Sydney will welcome acclaimed Greek director, writer, and actor Renos Haralambidis for a special retrospective of his work, running from October 24 to 27, 2025.
Audiences will have the rare opportunity to experience all five of Haralambidis’s feature films on the big screen, presented across various Sydney venues during the festival, which runs from October 14 to 26.
Haralambidis, a pioneering figure in contemporary Greek cinema, is known for playful and inventive films that blur the line between reality and fiction. His career, spanning nearly three decades, began with the groundbreaking No Budget Story (1997)—the first digital feature in Greek cinema. Written, directed, and performed by Haralambidis himself, the film won him the state award for first-time director and the prestigious FIPRESCI international critics’ award.
His films, often marked by sharp wit and humour, explore the struggles of contemporary Greek men grappling with career, culture, and identity, while finding joy in life’s simple pleasures. His most recent feature, Athens Midnight Radio (2024), will close the 30th Greek Film Festival of Sydney on Sunday, October 26.
Nia Karteris, Chair of the Greek Festival and the Greek Film Festival of Sydney, described Haralambidis as “a true visionary of modern Greek cinema.”
“His retrospective is a testament to the enduring power of his storytelling, and we are honoured to share his unique cinematic universe with Australian audiences.”
Haralambidis said he was deeply moved to have his work screened in Sydney.
“My films are being shown on the big screen for the first time, so far from where they were shot—the heart of Athens and, in a few cases, the surrounding region of Attica. I’m moved to be talking about the mythical southern hemisphere, beyond the horizon.
“The capital of New South Wales, the city of Sydney, feels to my childlike imagination like an ancient Greek colony of brave Ionian seafarers who arrived on their triremes, alongside the dugout canoes of the indigenous seafarers.”
Reflecting on the cultural and emotional connection between Athens and Sydney, Haralambidis said that
“The time has now come for ‘the other side of the world’ to become the centre of my cinematic universe”.
“I hope the audience of my films in Sydney will see Athens on the big screen not as a corresponding ‘other side of the world’ but as some otherworldly centre of Sydney, since the authentic Greek world resides in people’s hearts and is always a centre, never a side, no matter which hemisphere it is in. Greece has always existed beyond geography. As has cinema.”
Event details
What: Retrospective and visit of Renos Haralambidis, 30th Greek Film Festival of Sydney
When: 24 – 27 October 2025
Where: Palace Cinema Norton St, 99 Norton St, Leichhardt, NSW 2040
