Greek Film Festival 2012

Overview

The 19th Annual Greek Film Festival opens at the Palace Cinema on Norton Street, with more than 30 films being shown over a two-week period. With the hefty selection ranging from drama, comedy, and action to documentaries and short film, it can be hard just to pick what to watch. Here's a selection of five to get you started.

1. Dead Europe
A deep and intense drama based on Melbourne writer Christos Tsiolkas's novel and from the producers of Shame and Animal Kingdom, Dead Europe sees the old continent plagued by the virus of death. An Australian of Greek descent, Isaac (Ewen Leslie), takes his father's ashes back to his ancestral home in Greece, where he uncovers a buried family secret. Drawn far down into the underbelly of Europe, he discovers a cemetery of dark revelations, set to tear his family apart.

2. J.A.C.E.
In the terrifying, chaotic, wacky, and eye-opening J.A.C.E., a seven-year-old orphan witnesses a massacre that wipes out his entire family then falls into the hands of a gang of ruthless child traffickers. Taken to Athens, Jace spirals into a dark world of abuse, murder, and fear as he desperately seeks out a sense of belonging.

3. Paradise
Amid the chaos, garish floats and vivid colours of the Patras Carnival, four couples try to find their own paradise. Directed by Panagiotis Fafoutis Paradise has its basis in love and the need for companionship, with its characters reaching out to be real.

4. Tied Red Thread
With Greece’s dark and bitter post-World War II civil war as a backdrop, Tied Red Thread, directed by Kostas Haralabous, is a film about personal pain and sacrifice and the blood that ties families together.

5. Children of the Riots
When 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by police in 2008, thousands of young people took to the streets for a riot that lasted three weeks and turned Athens into a city ablaze in violence and chaos. Children of the Riots sees those that witnessed the boy’s death and resulting conflict reflect on what they saw and how the events changed them.