Greek Film Festival
The 26th Greek Film Festival comes to Sydney with a program which boasts 15 feature films, three documentaries, and one Australian short film.
Australian film director Alkinos Tsilimidos, who has had films previously screened at this festival, is thrilled that his black comedy The Taverna will close the festival. “The plot of this film is essentially what happens when you substitute a waitress for a belly dancer and the repercussions which include a brawl and a final confrontation between quite a few of the characters.”
Tsilimidos explained that the idea of this film was to have a bit of fun. “The guidelines I set for this film were that I wanted it all set in a Taverna (Greek restaurant) and I wanted to put a bunch of characters that are based on people who I know personally and throw them into this equation. The plot then came once I placed all those people in this place.”
The film stars Vangelis Mourikis a Greek actor who is well known amongst the Greek community in Australia. “A lot of his films have reached the Sydney Film Festival so he would be known to cinema-going audiences, not just Greeks I would say, the more arthouse cinema. This is a much lighter and different sort of role for him.”
And is this film festival the perfect launchpad for the world premiere of your film? “It seemed like the natural place for the film to find its audience. Normally I’ll do the larger film festivals, but it felt right giving this film its birth in a predominantly second-generation Greek audience.” (MMo)
Oct 8–20. Palace Norton St. $17-$80+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.greekfilmfestival.com.au
HOT PICKS
THE BACHELOR 3: Madness and mayhem continue in the third installment of this hilarious franchise.
WHEN TOMATOES MET WAGNER: This documentary details how a small village revives business by selling organic tomatoes.
MELTEM: A lady’s holiday plans in the Island of Lesbos are disrupted when she finds a Syrian refugee separated from her mother.
