26th Athens International Film Festival: Friday 2nd October [Daily schedule]

The 26th Athens International Film Festival will take place between 23rd September and the 4th October 2020,  presenting a total of 138 films from around the world, three competition sections, special tributes, documentaries, Greek premieres, selections from the cancelled Cannes Film Festival and Greek short stories. For the online screenings of the 26th Athens International Film Festival visit online.aiff.gr.

Download the daily schedule HERE.

Buy tickets online: www.viva.gr/tickets/cinemas/nyxtes-premieras-2020.

CANTO SI TÚ CANTAS
DIRECTOR: Nikos Kornilios

Giannis and Paris are celebrating Day of the Dead, as well as their anniversary, at the Latin-American themed café-teatral: a crossroads where loved ones meet with solitary souls and strange travellers. All the stories become entangled, the past meets the present, music and dance transform reality and as night falls and the celebration reaches its rapturous peak, the café becomes a small Ark, filled with memories, desires and revelations. With the participation of 50 actors, musicians and dancers, Nikos Kornilios presents this year’s dark horse of Greek cinema: a Dionysian celebration of community and life as a never-ending dance of joy and sorrow.

2/10/2020, 19:15, AEGLI ZAPPIOU

GREEK SHORT STORIES - IN COMPETITION IX
Duration: 86'

Dakar
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ / DURATION: 12’ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΣΙΑ / DIRECTOR: Stelios Moraitidis

1978, on his birthday, Stavros was set to get engaged to Matula. Instead, he was forced to embark on his first big journey. 2020, on his birthday, Stavros wanders around the city alone. It is the day that he doesn’t like to talk. It is the day that he reflects on his past considering how things would have been if he had made other decisions.

Τέρμα / Bourn
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ / DURATION: 17’ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΣΙΑ / DIRECTOR: Dimitris Moutsiakas

Anestis is waiting at a rural bus stop. Once it arrives, he embarks at an unusual journey to the end.

Goads
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ / DURATION: 15’ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΣΙΑ / DIRECTOR: Iris Baglanea

Ira lives with her family at a remote location within Greece. She will face one of the strongest experiences of her childhood during a “training” session with her father, who has a very specific view for life.

Ίσκιωμα / Iskioma
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ / DURATION: 15’ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΣΙΑ / DIRECTOR: Kostas Gerampinis

A veterinarian is called in to treat a mysterious disease in a remote farm. He examines the first victim of this disease, a ram, and he advises the owner to put down all his livestock as a precautionary measure. A freak storm, though, forces him to spend the night at the farm.

Το Νόημα του Αυγούστου / The Meaning of August
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ / DURATION: 27’ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΣΙΑ / DIRECTOR: Manos Papadakis

Andreas has to take care of the boss’s house and dog. The dog is mad. The house is luxurious. His co-workers are jealous. The neighbor is stalking close by. The dog is called Leben. The dog has its own plans. 

2/10/2020, 19:30, ANESIS

OTHER, LIKE ME
DIRECTORS: Marcus Werner Hed, Dan Fox

In the second half of the 70s, an anarchist collective of British artists turned into pioneers of industrial music and destroyers of conservative values. Terrorising with their music along with their nihilistic stance they disregarded every taboo to do with sex, violence, pornography and exceeding limits resulting in their being described as “Wreckers of Civilization” by a shocked politician of the time. This is the tempestuous story of Throbbing Gristle, told for the first time, on camera, by the members of the group including the recently deceased Genesis P Orridge.

2/10/2020, 19:30, ATHINAIA

IN THE STRANGE PURSUIT OF LAURA DURAND
DIRECTOR: Dimitris Bavellas

Antonis (Makis Papadimitriou) and Christos (Michalis Sarantis) are two unemployed friends who share a small apartment in Athens. Aside from the house, the two also share a reverence for Laura Durant (Anna Kalaitzidou), a legendary 90s porn star who has mysteriously disappeared. When things get really bad, they decide to try their chances and set off in pursuit of Laura, in a Rock’n’Roll odyssey (with Lotus-eaters, Cyclopes and Penelopes) where the occurrences of cinematic Clichés gradually increase to the point where they become the protagonists of the plot. Enjoyable supporting roles by Alexandros Logothetis, Danis Katranidis and Ivonni Maltezou.

26/9/2020, 19:30, AEGLI ZAPPIOU

SOUND OF METAL
DIRECTOR: Darius Marder

A former drug-addicted drummer tours US states as part of a sludge metal duo he and his girlfriend have formed. Their nomadic lifestyle is cut short when he suddenly realises that he is losing a big part of his hearing. The screenwriter of “Place Beyond the Pines” uses the initial intensity, the gradual distortion and eventual silencing of the music band to portray the heartbreaking transition of a musician from the world of sound to that of silence, delivering a visceral study on the narrow line between self-destruction and self-acceptance. Riz Ahmed (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, and “The Night Of”) in the leading role gives the best performance of his career.

30/9/2020, 22:30, AEGLI ZAPPIOU

IN A SILENT WAY
DIRECTOR: Gwenaël Breës

​A film crew crosses England with the aim of unravelling the mystery behind an album released 32 years ago and that of its composer. Intimate and unique (as is fitting for the unconventional biography of the frontman of Talk Talk, Mark Hollis), “In a Silent Way” respectfully examines the legacy left behind by an utterly introverted genius, from the revival of new wave to the establishment of post rock and the haunting recordings of the exquisite “Spirit of Eden”.

2/10/2020, 19:45, TRIANON

HAROLD AND MAUDE
DIRECTOR: Hal Ashby

In 1971, the not yet established director of “Shampoo” and “Being There”, believed so much in the crazy love between a depressed young man and a kooky 80-year old woman that he decided to capture it in one of the most controversial films of that decade. However, “Harold and Maude” is not just a dark comedy or a brave love story but a nonconformist and ultimately refreshing tribute to moral laxity and the joie de vivre. A timeless cult movie, an alternative love story for those who hate romances and a film with the power to stir emotions to this day. Introduction by Niki Tzouda who selected the film.

2/10/2020, 19:45, RIVIERA

DINNER IN AMERICA

An outspoken punk band singer, who hides his identity behind a mask and is persecuted by the police for his drug dealing, meets a naive young woman who is crazy about him. Together they embark on a journey of personal insurgence, set against the backdrop of the utterly stagnant American suburbia.

2/10/2020, 22:15, ATHINAIA

ANDREY TARKOVSKY. A CINEMA PRAYER
DIRECTOR: Andrey A. Tarkovsky

Never-before released photographs, scenes from filming, poetry and accounts from the personal diary of Andrey Tarkovsky relate the experiences and ideas of the leading Russian director to his films. The most brilliant pages from “The Diaries” come to life in a prayer for cinema and art. Through references to his life, reactions to his unparallelled work and through his favourite artists, Tarkovsky formulates (though he himself denies this) a cinematic equivalent of Kazantzakis’ “Ascesis”, thus elevating a deeply personal documentary (which is lovingly put together by his namesake son) to a compelling visual supplement of the director’s career. Producer in attendance.

2/10/2020, 22:30, ANESIS

THE EVENING HOUR
DIRECTOR: Braden King

An isolated community in the Appalachian Mountains experience their own distinctive reality through the economy of coal mines and drugs. Trapped in this suffocating environment, the kind-hearted Cole maintains his own morals, in a paradoxical manner, by selling illegal substances for worthy causes. However, the fragile order of things in his life is about to be overturned by the arrival of a friend from his past, who is also a criminal.The film is defined by its old-style solid narrative, the magnetic lead found in Philip Ettinger and the performances of Lili Taylor, Stacy Martin and Tess Harper - three actors from three different generations - who manage to pierce through the tough male dominance of the film with the use of emotion and temperament.

27/9/2020, 22:30, GREEK FILM ARCHIVE

TOTAL RECALL
DIRECTOR: Paul Verhoeven

Arnie and Stone align on a trajectory that secured their fame and career, in Verhoeven’s futuristic sci-fi extravaganza which shot everyone’s earnings to Mars. That is the supposed destination of the protagonist’s virtual vacation, where nothing is what it seems, and which results in his involvement in a fierce manhunt full of interplanetary secret agents, venomous women and a working class of mutants. This first-class specimen of a 90s Hollywood blockbuster received an Oscar for visual effects and two more nominations (Best Sound, Sound Effects Editing). Introduction by Nikos Xydakis who selected the film

2/10/2020, 22:45, AEGLI ZAPPIOU

BAD TALES / FAVOLACCE
DIRECTORS: Fabio D'Innocenzo, Damiano D'Innocenzo

One hot and fateful summer, in a suburb of Rome, four kids suffocate as they try to weather the torpor of their parents’ world. But when adults are proven to be susceptible to violent outbursts and uncontrollable impulses you can’t expect anything different from their children. There is nothing innocent about this new film by the D'Innocenzo brothers who through a genuine explosion of talent compose grotesque vignettes which showcase the moral decline behind the shiny exterior of blissful family-makers. Winner of the Silver Berlin Bear.

28/9/2020, 22:15, AEGLI ZAPPIOU

BARTON FINK
DIRECTORS: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

A top metaphor about the greedy world of Hollywood. A trippy satire of a struggling scriptwriter at a creative impasse with John Turturro in the role of his life supported by the equally skilled John Goodman and Judy Davis. A never-ending neo-noir mindfuck featuring headless bodies, mysterious boxes and a myriad of other enigmas. Written and directed by the Coen brothers at the peak of their creativity, this film swept the board at the Cannes Film Festival receiving, for the first time in the festival’s history, all the big awards (Palme d'Or, Best Director, Best Actor), only to be followed by three Oscar nominations (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design).

24/9/2020, 22:15, ANESIS

AMERICAN RAPSTAR
DIRECTOR: Justin Staple

The ultimate documentary on SoundCloud Rap is a provocative look into the lives of underage millionaires. Kids that manage to combine an aggressive punk attitude with a blind allegiance to the dollar, who are compelled to share their life on social media, purchase their drugs from pharmacies, dirty their faces with tattoos and dye their hair all the colours of the rainbow. At the edge of the rainbow, however, there is a portrait of a cynical generation who not unlike XXXTentacion or Lil Peep have no qualms about going out as a firework as long as they do so as brightly as possible in the little time they have.

27/9/2020, 19:30, STELLA