Filmcenter's range of activities

A series of screenings and events divided into zones that cover the entire spectrum of film genres are included in the new program of Filmcenter, the GFC's alternative distribution network, at the Apollo Filmcenter Cinemax Class.

The GFC gives priority to the support of Greek films while Filmcenter's main program will include selected quality films from global cinema.  Emphasis will be given to reviving the children's program Cineac and to after-midnight screenings.

The Apollo becomes the movie theater that will attempt to house a range of activities not only reinforcing already existing ideas, but also renewing others and adding new initiatives.

The basis for the new policy it is attempting is the strengthening of the cultural, educational and contemporary character that such an initiative must have.  In the belief that there have been insufficient screenings of Greek cinema in recent years, GFC's management will showcase Greek cinema with the aim of countering the lack of credibility that exists among Greek audiences when it comes to Greek films.

Analytically, the Filmcenter zones are the following:

• Greek films
  

  premieres of recently produced Greek films as well as three-day retrospectives of Greek directors with films from previous years. Independent Greek productions, that is films not made with the support of the GFC will be screened as well as the new productions presented at the 46th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. After the initial three-day retrospectives of Greek directors, the films to be presented at the Filmcenter are: Rakushka by Fotini Siskopoulou, Face Control by Vangelis Seitanidis. Heart in Mouth by Yannis Economidis, Thodoros Maragos' documentary Black Baa, Spyros Taraviras' documentary Buzz, Sweet Memory by Kyriakos Katzourakis and Marathon by Antonis Kokkinos.

• A little after midnight.
  

  From Friday, 4 November and every Friday and Saturday evening the Apollo movie theater will be. sleepless. A little after midnight it escapes to the uncharted regions of avant-garde cinema providing another dimention to the term film enjoyment. Indicatively, some of the films to be presented in this zone are: Singapore Sling by Nikos Nikolaidis, Dracula by Terence Fisher (1958), Man Bites Dog by Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, The Harem by Marco Ferreri, The Third Part of the Night by Andrzej Zulawski.

• Words and Images
  

  Literature meet the cinema every Sunday at 4 in the afternoon. In collaboration with the National Book Center, selected thematic cycles present films based on a host of literary works. E. C. Gonata's House Calls by Eva Stefani, The Poetry of Andreas Embirikos by Costas Sfikas and Lakis Papastathis' Maria Iordanidou, For the Poet Nikos Kavvadias by the late Stavros Tornes, Places and Images of Costas Hadjis by Takis Hadjopoulos are but a few of the films to be shown in the specific zone.

• First step
  

  the first shorts made by Greek and foreign filmmakers some of which will be screened for the first time in front of Greek audiences. The zone includes the films: Black Amour by Vassilis Yatsis, Skipper Straad by Irini Vachlioti, Chips by Costas Macheras, Pure Youth by Ektoras Lygizos, See No Evil by Aris Bafaloukas, The Attractor by Michalis Galanakis, The Song of the Oranges by Yannis Leontaris, The Dress by Monica Baxevani, The Hawker by Aris Bafaloukas, Pilala by Thodoris Papadoulakis. Every Saturday at 4 in the afternoon.

• Retrospectives
  

  contact with the work of distinguished filmmakers of the 7th Art and thematic cycles. The surprises here will be many and major. One of the retrospectives that will be hosted this winter will be dedicated to avant-garde cinema with the focus on the films of Derek Jarman, but also that of one of the world's greatest contemporary animation directors, Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, etc.).

• Cineac. Again!
  

  The Cineac reopens its doors and awaits young (and adult) audiences.  Every Sunday at 11 in the morning memories of children's cinema are revived.  Comedies, cartoons and fantasy films will envelop youngsters and adults in their magic.  The hilarious comedy Laurel and Hardy: The Kings of Slapstick by James Horne and Charles Rogers.

• What is cinema:
  

  in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, morning screenings of classic films that will initiate students into the history of global cinema.  Some of the films that have been selected for the program are:  400 Knocks by Francois Truffaut, Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, The General by Buster Keaton.

• Finally, the main segment of the screenings will consist of contemporary films from global cinema, outside the blockbuster logic.  The cinema of genres, aesthetic investigation, new techniques.

In charge of the Filmcenter program: Nikos Kourmoulis
Filmcenter office: Marina Konti