The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Meetings”: The Madness of Conspiracy Theories?

We often hear about strange conspiracy theories the most prominent these days being the Trumpian fantasy of a rigged election that stole his presidency. Is a conspiracy theory madness or is it those that propound them that are mad?

In “Meetings” we meet the over-the-top intense Aggelos (Elias Valasis) on the telephone trying to convince the victims of his telephone calls of his favourite conspiracy theories such as viruses and vaccines used to control populations, an international conspiracy to benefit from flat tires and invasions of reptilians and a few others.

Aggelos radiates intensity but gets so heated up when his theories are not agreed to by the recipients of his telephone calls he suffers hangups telling the next caller how irrational the previous caller was causing him to hang up on them!

Whether he is preparing dinner in the kitchen or sitting on the toilet he is on the phone ranting about the plots of many.

What is the fine line between skepticism and an obsession with conspiracy theories? Whatever it is Aggelos has crossed it. He is the Rasputin of conspiracy theories but unlike Rasputin has no support of anyone making him a madman?

Now is there a grain of truth in anything Aggelos spouts out? Certainly, but not to complicate matters who controls truth?

A brilliant performance by Valasis. Twenty minutes of the soliloquy of a madman. Should you be smiling watching this short? Should you be thinking about who controls “truth”. Is Aggelos correct about conspiracy theories and just a bit misguided about what they are? Whatever the case Valasis deserves an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Short but as the Academy Awards are controlled by American corporate interests a wild conspiracy theory of course, this Greek actor will not be on the podium. 

Director is Kyriakos Chatzimichaildis.

For screening times and locations for the 11 Canadian cities the festival is playing in https://gifft.ca .

RKS Literature: The Timid Europeans at the Munich Psychiatric Conference (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“At first there would be an American cast to the congress, almost Rotarian in its forms and ceremonies, then the closer European vitality would fight through, and finally the Americans would play their trump cards, the announcement of colossal gifts and endowments, of great new plants and training schools and in the presence of the figures the Europeans would blanch and walk timidly.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender is the Night” (1933)

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Dynamo”: Not Trapped at The Border

Yianni Kioussis wrestles under the name “Asperger Dynamo”. He is not wrestling before crowds at large venues, at least not now but that he is wrestling at all is quite an achievement.

Epileptic seizures started at 6 months and by 1 there were 150-200 seizures a day. His first doctor said he would most likely not live past 2 years of age.

A switch of doctors and a ketogenic diet set him on the right path as seizures ceased. At 7 an Asperger’s diagnosis was made with spatial difficulties and social awareness lagging. He was a big adolescent and timid which fuelled bullying. But breaking boundary after boundary was second nature to Yianni who continues wrestling and attending university.

Yianni says that none of us are perfect and that is what makes us human. You should embrace your flaws as you can learn from them.

A documentary that illustrates impossibility in many cases simply does not exist.

This Canadian short documentary was produced by Alexander Bobby Antoniadis.

For screening information check out https://gifft.ca .

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Fantasia”: A Movie That Sings with Its Heart and Soul

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) screens in 11 Canadian cities 1-31October2024.

“Fantasia” will be one of the films presented and it sings to you with its heart and soul. Like much of the traditional Greek music that is full of suffering and personal agony heard in the film many of the characters are living their personal agony.

Fotini (Rena Morfi) as a child survives a motor vehicle accident that killed her mother whose last words as she lay dying in a field were “Paradise” which is the name of the club ex-Athens where Fotini began to be noticed as a singer.

Fotini rises to extraordinary fame assisted and boosted by her mentor Vlassis Christakis (Stelios Mainas) a close friend with her father. On the rise to stardom, she has an affair with Nikos a popular singer. Nikos is badly beaten and crippled by a beating set-up by Vlassis. A jealous lover? Nikos meets a tragic end and Fotini carries on enduring contract disputes, litigation and the Greek paparazzi.

Fotini’s “father” dies and leaves a shocking letter behind for Fotini igniting a desperate search on her part and culminating with the exposure of a secret when coupled with the last two songs of the film may cause a tear to roll down your eyes.

The music is key to the film as the plot is somewhat predictable so you can revel in the music without becoming entangled in a complicated plot. And the music in the film sings with heart and soul.

That odd scene shot in 1967 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas by the duo” Fantasia” will make sense.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVL_3Ndi6SY  .

Directed and written by Alexis Kardaras.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 82/100.

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “At All Costs”: Pay Attention!

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) will be showing in 11 Canadian cities with some selections being available online. It runs from 1-31 October2024.

“At All Costs” is a stylish and dense Nouveau Film Noir short from writer and director Christos Prantzalos. It has taken me two watches to somewhat understand it and even then I suspect there are no concrete answers as to who did what and why. My advice is pay very close attention as lose your concentration you may be totally baffled. What is on the stolen tablet may be where the Gordian Knot is being untied at least partially.

Achilleas (Agatoklis Gardikis) runs an illegal computerized casino with his father. The casino is busted by the police and his father hauled away. His father says “they” want an initial payment of 10,000 Euros followed by another 8,000. Not having the funds Achilleas scans the bar code of a bus shelter advertisement that offers easy money. A voice on his phone sets forth the challenges if carried out successfully will be rewarded with a payout. One involves breaking into a building and stealing a key and the next is break into a residence using that key and stealing a tablet. It is on the tablet and in Achilleas’ memory the crux of the story reveals itself.

The story contained in video files on the laptop reveals corruption of a high-ranking civil servant and a coverup central to the death of his sister. Pay attention to the police officer questioning Achilleas’ family comforting them saying justice must be done. Is justice finally done on a Thessaloniki rooftop? Just who is the controlling force behind this voice on Achilleas’ phone? Who is the man watching the drama on the Thessaloniki rooftop?

You may difficulty figuring out the conclusion of the film but you will enjoy trying to untie the Gordian Knot.

Justice being achieved is not a certainty. It is a gamble.

For screening of this Hellenic short check out the festival’s website at https://gifft.ca .

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Choice”

The Canadian short film “The Choice” is about the hardest choice or in some case the easiest. It is a final choice when executed.

Watch the film and ask a few questions.

It is the ultimate selfish choice? Is it selfish not to accept that choice?

How would you make the choice?

Once the choice made is there anger or relief or a combination of the two?

How long can you stand your ass being wiped by some other person?

Although Gina (Anna Primiani) and Amy (Nicola Papadopoulos) are fictional characters the story is very real.

Once the final choice is made it may be facilitated by M.A.I.D.

Director is Barb Briggs and the writer Anna Primiani.

To determine showing cities and times check out the festival’s website https://gifft.ca

RKS 2024 Wine: A Grillo from Sicily’s Planeta

A bit of coincidence as tonight using cherry tomatoes and basil from my garden I enjoyed a Sicilian Pesto over fusilli. Now a Sicilian white from the Grillo grape. That is one grape that is used in Sicilian Masala. It is from the Planeta winery one of Sicily’s most respected wineries.

Aroma: Lemon, honey, marzipan and wet stone. A nose of substance to this golden wine.

Palate: A wine of substance. This is no flitty, light and acidic Italian white. It might even put some hair on your chest. You might even say full bodied. Hits the palate initially in a dilute fashion then builds in thickness and intensity. Long finish with a peppery hint. A full-bodied wine with a delightful sensation more than any specific identifiable fruit.

Personality: I suppose I am somewhat stereotypically Sicilian. Forceful, expressive and dramatic.

Food Match: Although Sicilian Pesto is made with cherry tomatoes its Pecorino, toasted almonds and garlic (local please) impart an almost hot character that would be doused….no….complimented by this white wine.

Cellarbility: Will cruise nicely to the conclusion of 2026.

Price: $26 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100. Wine Align 91.

(Planeta 2022 Terebinto Grillo, Sicilia Menfi DOC, Planeta, Menfi, Italy, 750 Ml. 13.5%).

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Coordinates”: The Murder of a Daughter and the Clash of Legal Ethics and Morality

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) will be in 11 Canadian cities both in theatre and in some cases on-line running from1-31 October2024.

In the American short “The Coordinates” husband (Lukas Hassel) and wife (Despina Moraitou) legal team successfully defend the accused murderer of a woman so he walks away with an acquittal.

The victim’s mother appeals to husband and wife to reveal the location of her daughter’s body. Ostensibly the husband is crumbling under guilt as both husband and wife know the location of the body yet the wife sees it simply a case of successfully defending their client. Wife reminds husband a lawyer is bound by ethics to maintain in strictest confidence all information obtained from a client. The husband is off track mentally battling with his inability to disclose the body’s location and we wonder if the vast quantity of scotch he is guzzling and pills in his hand will do him and put his ravaged mind to rest. Before he grabs the pills and scotch to wash them down with scotch he drafts several attempts to explain the coordinates of the body. And then from a most unlikely source true justice is obtained at a most severe cost. Compelling synergy between Despina Moraitou and Lukas Hassel.

Written and directed by Despina Moraitou.

For screening information about this short and other films showing at the festival check https://gifft.ca .

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Cyprus in Winter”: Embroiled in Politics and Fear

Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 effectively dividing the island like Berlin after World War Two into the American, British, French and Russian sectors. In Cyprus the division was the Greek and Turkish sectors with a “buffer zone” patrolled by United Nations peacekeeping forces.

“Cyprus in Winter” is a documentary explaining events leading up to the Greek and Turkish carve out of 1974.

As a gift to Greece for participating with the Allied forces in World War 1 Britain offered Cyprus to Greece a gift rejected by the Greeks demanding the return of Constantinople. The Turks had relinquished Cyprus to the Brits in 1870. A possible gigantic error on the part of Greece in refusing the “gift”.

As many British colonies asserted their independence in the 1950’s and given the strategic importance of Cyprus for British and American naval and petrol supplies England held on to Cyprus.

In 1960 Cyprus gained independence largely due to the efforts of Archbishop Makarios and a constitution guaranteeing the rights of the Turkish Cypriot minority including a requirement that 70% of the Cypriot House of Representatives would be Greek and 30% Turkish. The President (initially Makarios) would be Greek and the Vice President Turkish.

Makarios attempted to limit the rights of the Turks in 1964 and from that point on Greek and Turkish militias and terrorist groups tarried with rounds of terrorism and tit tat violence. The United Nations Security Counsel established the peace keeping force as a result. The Greek military junta in power in Athens had attempted to assassinate Makarios in 1974 in its view that the Greek Cypriot terrorist group EOKA was the pawn of the Soviet Union. The assassination failed causing an enormous backlash of shame and anger in Greece toppling the junta and lead to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Makarios died in 1977. He had played off country after country in his attempt to create a separate nation state without success.

U.N. Peacekeepers in Cyprus

A short documentary covering Cyprus is an ambitious attempt and succeeds in giving the viewer a basic understanding of a point in Cypriot history. A brief description of Cyprus’ territorial military importance would have been appreciated.

The director of this Canadian short documentary is Dannis Koromilas.

For screening information https://gifft.ca .

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Her Best”: Her Well Intentioned Best Creates a Big Bang (A Short)

Niki (Natalie Polisson) is the blushing bride on her wedding day. Aunt Beth and her uncle are over for a glass of celebratory champagne before heading off to church. Aunt Beth (Carolyn Bridget Kennedy) is the domineering older sister giving Anna, her sister and Niki’s mother a bit of a hard time. Ah yes family dynamics.

Well Anna and Aunt Beth’s mother has died and given that Anna reached menopause at 39 she is hell bent on having the marriage go through as this might be Niki’s last chance to be a mother. Anna decides to keep granny’s death a secret from Aunt Beth. After all she is doing her best given the situation.

On a bleak highway in Southern California witness an explosion cutting deep throughout both sisters’ camps. Very high emotions in contrast to the cloudy bleak setting. Was Anna’s best just that or was it simply the worst?

Writer and director is Katerina Kiagia. Keep an eye out for the Greek Orthodox icon.

The Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) runs in 11 Canadian cities from 1-31October2024. To see when the short is screening and with what feature film it will be paired with check out https://gifft.ca .

You can watch the trailer here and for some of her other films https://vimeo.com/user34705431