Los Angeles Greek Festival ends on High Note

Orpheus’s spirit was abound at the Awards Ceremony presentation at the 4th annual Los Angeles Greek Film festival with the fabulous, Alexia Vassiliou enchanting us with lyrics from classic films such as ,” Boy on a Dolphin”, “Never on Sunday”, “Phaedra”, and others with film stars Melina Mercouri,Alan Ladd and Anthony Perkins.
The beautiful Patricia Kara, of the TV show Deal or No Deal hosted the award ceremony which included Academy Award winners Alexander Payne and George Tsakiris, and other well known industry names such as Alexis Georgoulis, Penelope Spheris, Costas Mandylor, Demetri Martin, Jim Gianopoulos, and John Aniston.

The brilliant director/cinematographer, Phedon Papamichael was honored with the career achievement award presented to him by his good friend, Alexander Payne. who shared anecdotes about him. Phaedon was very emotional when he recalled his start in the film business with his mentor John Cassavetes. He also mentioned that members with crew had gone on to win academy awards so he is a good luck charm., His feature film “Arcadia Lost” as a director/cinematographer screened at the festival and his latest film as a cinematographer .”Knight and Day” with super star, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz opens this week.
Renos Haralambidis’s film “Four Black Suits” won our hearts with his comedic flair and also the audience award which for him, he said it was like winning an Oscar on his first trip to Hollywood
Director, ilippos Tsitos arrived just in time by plane from Greece, to pick up his award for best feature “Plato’s Academy” which screened following the presentations. His film is about Greek man who suddenly discovers that his mother actually came from Albania
“”Colossi of Love. the delightful film about the kamakis won best documentary and “Plunder From A Bleeding Land” won best short film.
The gala was followed by delicious Greek food and fine wines from Athenee importers