"Bugonia": Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film triumphantly opens the 31st Athens International Film Festival!

With great respect for its history and an eye toward the future, the special 31st Athens International Film Festival embarks on its cinematic journey in the most dazzling and fitting way, with the year’s most eagerly anticipated film.

BUGONIA (USA, 120’)
A Universal Pictures International film
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone

About the film:

One of Yorgos Lanthimos’ most enjoyable and skillfully directed films, with a wonderful Emma Stone in the lead role, “Bugonia” is inspired by the contemporary numbness of an entire planet manipulated by fake news, endless eschatology, and a general paranoia further exacerbated by COVID. Successfully balancing comedy and drama, the film initially recounts the kidnapping and hostage-taking of a managing director of a powerful pharmaceutical company by two men who have fed their minds with so many conspiracy theories that they are convinced the cold and ruthless CEO is in fact an alien entity who has come to our planet to insidiously lead it to its destruction. Starting off deliriously with a plot that questions the dangers of misinterpreting the truth in a world which insists on constantly distorting it, Lanthimos rolls his story towards a delirious third part that attempts to answer with sardonic humor the same burning question that has been posed so frequently in cinema: Does humanity really deserve to be saved, and allowed to perpetuate itself, after the sins and wrongdoing it has serially committed?

We extend our sincere thanks to Tanweer for generously providing the film.

The 31st Athens International Film Festival, with the great support of the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center Creative Greece, (EKKOMED), major sponsor Nova, in cooperation with the The City of Athens Culture, Sports and Youth Organization (OPANDA) and under the auspices and financial support of the Ministry of Culture, will take place from 1st to 12th October.

The venues hosting this year’s edition are: DANAOS Ι, CINOBO OPERA Ι, ASTOR, ASTY, TRIANON, ATHENS CONCERT HALL (MEGARON), OLYMPIA MUNICIPAL THEATRE “MARIA CALLAS”, ONASSIS STEGI.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT & ADVANCE TICKETING

The full program will be announced on Wednesday, September 24th, on the websites aiff.gr and cinemagazine.gr, while advance ticket sales (online at www.aiff.gr and more.com) will begin on Thursday, September 25th for special season passes, and on Friday, September 26th at 12:00 PM for the general public.