A Virtual Event
OUR 17TH ANNUAL EVENT
The 17th annual San Francisco Greek Film Festival took place online October 3-10, 2020. All screenings were available free of charge due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In person viewing was not safe so we decided to bring Greek and Cypriot films from around the world into everyone’s homes.
Feature Films
VIEW THE TRAILERS BELOW
Digger
Directed by Georgis Grigorakis
Greece, France, 2020, 101m
A contemporary Western about a native farmer who lives and works alone in a farmhouse in the heart of a mountainous forest in northern Greece. For years, he has been fighting with an expanding industrial monster, which has been digging up the forest, disturbing the lush flora and threatening his property. Yet, the greatest threat comes with the sudden arrival of his young son, after a twenty-year estrangement. The two become enemies under one roof and confront each other head on, with nature as their only observer. To keep the muddy ground from being pulled out from under their feet for profit, father and son must dig deep into it.
Awards
- Berlinale 2020: World Premiere; CICAE Art Cinema Award
- Sarajevo International Film Festival 2020: Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Actor
Entwined
Directed by Georgis Grigorakis
Greece, France, 2020, 101m
A contemporary Western about a native farmer who lives and works alone in a farmhouse in the heart of a mountainous forest in northern Greece. For years, he has been fighting with an expanding industrial monster, which has been digging up the forest, disturbing the lush flora and threatening his property. Yet, the greatest threat comes with the sudden arrival of his young son, after a twenty-year estrangement. The two become enemies under one roof and confront each other head on, with nature as their only observer. To keep the muddy ground from being pulled out from under their feet for profit, father and son must dig deep into it.
Awards
- Toronto International Film Festival: World Premiere
Markos
Directed by Nikos Skarentzos
Greece, 2020, 93min
Composers, musicologists and artists from all around the world bring out Markos Vamvakaris’ important musical heritage into the 21st century.
My Name is Eftihia
Directed by Angelos Frantzis
Greece, 2019, 122min
Inspired by the life of the most prolific Greek female poet and lyricist, Eftihia Papagianopoulou, an extraordinary woman and artist who has created a massive volume of timeless and popular songs. She got married when she was too young, and she quickly became a mother of two little girls. She travelled from Smyrna to Greece, with only one little pillow clutched between her arms. On board the ship that took her away from her home for ever, she decided she would never let life pass her by. She vowed to live on her own terms.
Her name means Happiness, but destiny made sure she knew very little of it. She challenged death every day of her life, hoping to ward off its cold, ruthless grip.
Awards
- Hellenic Academy Award Winner for Best Feature Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best Sound and Best Make-Up
Siege on Liperti Street
Directed by Stavros Pamballis
Greece, Cyprus, 2019, 88min
Austerity took everything but the roof over their heads, and today it will come for that too. But this time, they will finally fight back, like a family with nothing left to lose… Set beside the UN Buffer Zone that divides the city of Nicosia, SIEGE ON LIPERTI STREET tells the story of one bankrupt family’s struggle to hold on to their home, no matter the price.
Awards
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival: Winner of the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award, Greek Federation of Film Critics Award, Audience Award (Greek Section) and ERT (National Broadcaster) award.
When Tomatoes Met Wagner
Directed by Marianna Economou
Greece, 2019, 72min
Do tomatoes taste better when they listen to the music of Richard Wagner? Elias, a small farming village in central Greece, is dying out. But two cousins team up with the village grannies to cultivate tomatoes. With a little help from Wagner’s music, the villagers export their little jars with organic tomato recipes across the world. The film follows the protagonists of this unlikely story, as they struggle to make their dream come true. Humorous and bittersweet, this surreal story speaks to us about the importance of reinventing oneself in times of crisis and the power of human relationships.
Awards
- Berlinale: World Premiere
- Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Documentary
Window to the Sea
Directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez
Spain, Greece, 2019, 105min
Faced with life changing news, Maria, a fifty-five year old Spanish woman from Bilbao, chooses to take a trip to Greece with her closest girlfriends against the advice of her son and doctors. A spontaneous decision leads her to the island of Nisyros, a tiny haven of peace and calm that immediately feels like home. While exploring the beautiful island and soaking in its hidden treasures, she meets Stefanos and finds herself falling in love against all odds. What seemed like a brief escape from reality soon turns into an unexpected chance at happiness, in a luminous story of a woman, who takes a leap of faith and dares to live for the moment on her own terms.
Awards
- San Sebastian International Film Festival: World Premiere
Short Films
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Confession
Directed by Andreas Sheittanis
Cyprus, 2019, 22min
The film takes place in 1957, during the Cypriot Revolution against the British Crown.
A guerrilla fighter, who has been hiding in a monastery, needs to pretend to be a priest in order to evade capture when soldiers come into the monastery and start looking for him.
Awards
- Drama International Short Film Festival: World Premiere; #ThisisEU Award
Electric Swan
Directed by Konstantina Kotzamani
Argentina, France, Greece, 2019, 40min
Buildings are not supposed to move. But on Avenida Libertador 2050, a building moves and the ceiling shivers, causing a strange nausea that devours its residents. Those who live on the top are afraid they’ll fall – the ones who live beneath are afraid they’ll drown.
Awards
- La Biennale di Venezia: World Premiere
- Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Short Film
Hippo
Directed by Theofylaktos Argyrou
Greece, USA, 2018, 24min
Sotiris is an overweight boy with a special talent in drawing who receives daily psychological and physical violence in school. Joy, one of the school’s biggest troublemakers, will help Sotiris to get out of his shell.
Awards
- Drama International Short Film Festival: World Premiere
In the Room
Directed by Yeorgia M. Sotirchou
Greece, 2019, 14min
When God is absent, someone has to take his place. In a modern day urban environment, three characters come together: an old ill man, the young woman who looks after him and his unemployed middle-aged daughter, all face the fine line that separates ethics and freewill.
Awards
- Drama International Short Film Festival: World Premiere; Greek Film Center Motivation Award
- Tirana International Film Festival: Special Mention, Balkan Short Film
It’s a Greek Thing
Directed by Arianna Papalexopoulos
USA, 2020, 5min
In Episode One, a Greek-American woman and her superstitious Greek aunt are running late to an appointment when their car breaks down.
In Episode Two, a Greek aunt tells her Greek-American niece her fortune by reading her coffee cup.
In Episode Three, the frustration of Greek birthdays: Greek Americans must accept that they are one year older than they actually are.
Last Stop
Directed by Christos Zeniou
Cyprus, 2019, 6min
Trying to find his way back to where he belongs, the stimulus for the outside world is a bus stop.
Olla
Directed by Ariane Labed
France, 2019, 27min
Olla answers an ad on a dating website for Eastern European women. Shortly thereafter, she moves in with Pierre who lives with his elderly mother, and things don’t go as expected.
Awards
- Cannes – Quinzaine des Réalisateurs: World Premiere
- Clermont International Short Film Festival; Grand Prix, Youth Jury Award and SACD Award
Postcards from the End of the World
Directed by Konstantinos Antonopoulos
Greece, 2019, 23min
Trapped in their marriage, Dimitra and Dimitris try to endure their summer vacation with their two daughters on a remote island. Unexpectedly, human civilization collapses.
Awards
- Sarajevo Film Festival: World Premiere
- Qualified for Academy Award consideration in the Live Action Short category
Rouge
Directed by Kostis Theodosopoulos
Greece, 2019, 18min
A sexist violent incident fires tension in Danai’s friendship with Ilona and Toufa. Torn between theory and practice, the three friends realize that patriarchy won’t die with bottles (only), and they now have marks to prove it.
Awards
- Drama International Short Film Festival: National Premiere; Best Newcomer Director, Best Screenplay, Best Make-Up
- International Film Festival Rotterdam: International Premiere
The Distance Between Us and the Sky
Directed by Vasilis Kekatos
Greece, France, 2019, 9min
Night, national road. Two strangers meet for the first time at an old gas station. One has stopped to gas up his bike, while the other is just stranded. Lacking the 22.50€ he needs to get home, he will try to sell him the distance that separates them from the sky.
Awards
- Cannes: World Premiere; Short Film Palme d’Or and Short Film Queer Palm
The Dude
Directed by Alexandros Kakaniaris
Greece, 2019, 17min
Stratis, a 12-year-old boy, is the greatest dude in his ‘hood. He is such a great dude, that everybody calls him The Dude. Almost everybody, that is. All he has to do is prove himself. To those who don’t believe him. Almost everybody, that is.
Awards
- Drama International Short Film Festival: World Premiere
The House in the Suburbs
Directed by Konstantinos Gerakis
Greece, 2018, 15min
In a house not far from Athens, there is an isolated family with an unusual lifestyle. Katerina and Yannis are a young couple who live in Yannis’ family home with his mother Ariadne. They both try hard to comply with Ariadne’s anachronistic rules, but this is quite hard. Yiannis and Katerina face a crisis in their relationship due to Ariadne’s rules. They seek a solution to change their lives for the better, but their secret plan to send Ariadne to an elderly care home is revealed too early.
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