Greek box office blitzer to open the Greek Film Festival

The Greek Film Festival of Sydney will open on September 8 at Palace Norton Street, Leichhardt with the Greek box office hit ‘Brides’, director by Pantelis Voulgaris with executive producer Martin Scorsese.

Brides, winner of 10 awards at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival including Best Feature Film, is a bittersweet love story set against the tribulations of a 1922 Atlantic crossing of 700 proxy brides, aboard the SS King Alexander, on their way to America to meet their destined husbands.

The Festival will showcase award winning Greek cinema, screening 19 feature films from renowned Greek directors including FIPRESCI award winner Theo Angelopoulous’s Trilogy-Weeping Meadow and Golden Globe winner Elia Kazan’s 1963 classic America America.

The Festival will feature films across three strands – Contemporary Greek Cinema, Classic Greek Cinema and a retrospective strand that will pay tribute to the works of Greek Cinema great Pantelis Voulgaris.

“We are delighted with the program for 2005 with the films selected demonstrating the breadth and diversity of talent in Greek cinema both as filmmakers and actors. The films relate to a wider Greek, Australian and multicultural audience,” said Festival Director Helen Goritsas.

The Greek Film Festival began in 1991 and has been screening the latest in Greek cinema for 14 years, of which the last four years have been held at the Palace Cinemas, Norton Street, Leichhardt. The Festival also travels to Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide allowing all Australians to see the best that Greek cinema has to offer.