23rd Athens International Film Festival – The Poster
The most important film festival in Athens, the Athens International Film Festival, will be returning for its 23rd year, keeping its time-honoured autumn date, from the 20th September to the 1st October 2017.
The centre of Athens will be transformed into a ten-day cinematic fest, with the most notable film premieres of the year, unique tributes, highly anticipated music-related films, the annual crop of the best documentaries as well as complimentary events such as concerts, parties, special screenings and other surprises.
This year's schedule will be released at the Festival's Press Conference, which will take place on Wednesday 13th September 2017, at 12:00 pm in the function room of the Friends of Music Society of the Athens Concert Hall. Until then we take a sneak peak behind the curtain of the 23rd Athens International Film Festival with the announcement of this year's poster.
The poster for this year's Athens International Film Festival was exclusively created by Vassilis Mexis, a graphic designer-illustrator. A graduate with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design from the AKTO school of Art and Design, he has been working in advertising since 2012 and as of summer 2014 has worked as Art Director at Bold Ogilvy & Mather. The work he and his team have produced, has earned them the Ermis and Young Lions awards. His work has been published in magazines and on websites. Six of his typography portraits adorn the Nirvana cinema while he has also designed the front covers of wide circulation magazines. During 2016 and 2017 he created the posters for the 6th and 7th Athens Open Air Film Festival and the 22nd Athens International Film Festival.
The poster for the 23rd Athens International Film Festival as described by the creator himself:
“Imagine yourself at home on a September night with your post-summer blues having peaked. You've nothing to do but somewhere out of the darkness a warm light invites you to follow it. Don't be alarmed, it's the brightest cinematic light of Athens, which , fortunately for you, I have managed to capture and design in this year's poster for the Athens International Film Festival. You will of course realise this is what it is about, as through its classical architecture you will discern the figure of a timeless, Athenian, nocturnal creature. It is searching for other like-minded creatures to accompany them at a ten-day cinematic party in the centre of town. It's up to you to follow it and help switch on the Festival spotlights, brightening your autumn evenings with a unique cinematic glow”.
The revelation of this year's poster was made at a celebrated surprise screening of the 7th Athens Open Air Film Festival at Technopolis in the city of Athens as a surprise gift to the viewers who have religiously attended all of our summer festivities and who responded to the revelation with great awe and applause!
Stay tuned for the detailed schedule for the 23rd Athens International Film Festival which will take place at DANAOS screens 1 & 2, ODEON OPERA screens 1 & 2, IDEAL, Onassis Cultural Centre and the Athens Music Concert Hall.