The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?

The Greek film “Kapetan Mihalis” is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel “Freedom or Death” chronicling the struggle of Cretans for independence in their Ottoman occupied Crete in the late 19th century. To transform this epic novel onto the screen requires guts! “Tampering” with a national treasure is risky business. However the filmmakers here haveContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?”

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Behind the Haystacks”: Reality Trumps the Façade

If you travel through farmland you often see haystacks. They can be domed, square or circular and pleasing to look at, almost artistic. Behind the perfect structure what is hiding? In “Behind the Haystacks” could it be that the haystack is the public persona and the private person is what hides behind the haystack. ItsContinue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Behind the Haystacks”: Reality Trumps the Façade”

The 4th Annual Greek Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Operation Star”

“Operation Star” is a WW II film set in Northern Greece. British planned Operation Star mission fails. Eight men, 5 Greek and 3 British, are sent to blow up a mountain railway bridge but are ambushed by the Germans leaving two survivors Major Vasilis Kostakis (Konstantinos Lagos) and Seargent Pavlos Linos (Lefteris Dimiropoulos). They mustContinue reading “The 4th Annual Greek Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Operation Star””

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

“The Promotion” could only have been made by a film director about a film director who is himself! It rolls along like a traditional film. In 1973 Nikos (Alexandros Logothetis) and his father Mr. Andrikos (Vasilis Kolovos) take the train from Athens to Thessaloniki. Mr. Andrikos wants to see where his son Nikos is livingContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Promotion””

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Strangers’ Case”

“The Strangers’ Case” was filmed in Jordan, Turkey and Greece. It recounts the journey of several refugees from Aleppo in Syria to the island of Lesvos, Greece in the Eastern Aegean Sea. Amira is a successful pediatric radiologist working in a hospital that is running short of supplies but is never short of blood andContinue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Strangers’ Case””

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Lost on Kythera”

“Lost on Kythera” is a comedic spoof not afraid to jab here and there. It carries on a spoofing and satirical streak like Greek cinema of the 1960’s and 1970’s and at times verges on slapstick. Louie (Louie Betton) and Maria (Nancy Boukli) both university students are twenty months into a romantic relationship and haveContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Lost on Kythera””

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Murderess” (Fonissa)

One of the very special films showing at the upcoming 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) (GIFFT) showing in 11 Canadian cities 1-31October2024, Fonissa, had the highest box office sales in Greece for 2023. It is based on an Alexandros Papadiamantis novel of the same name published in 1912. Set in a small villageContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Murderess” (Fonissa)”

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 25July1971: Crete, Greece: Beef in a Pancake!

Dearest Barbara: Both Robert and I do not like Crete. We find Cretans surly and grasping not at all like the other islands. So we will take the first boat out of here in three days. It is terribly humid here. We went to a beach some twenty minutes from the pension we are stayingContinue reading “Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 25July1971: Crete, Greece: Beef in a Pancake!”

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 22June1971: Rhodos, Greece: Such Kind and Pleasant People: Two Can Live For $5 a Day!

Dear Barbara: Rhodes is a heavenly place. It is so clean, the Greeks so kind and pleasant. The fruits and vegetables are lovely. The tomatoes and cucumbers are something else. We have a few melons and oranges in our room. On Monday we are going to the island of Symi for a week stay. ItContinue reading “Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 22June1971: Rhodos, Greece: Such Kind and Pleasant People: Two Can Live For $5 a Day!”

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 9July1971: Rhodes, Greece: Being in Greece is Like Being in Another World and I Love It!

Dear Andy: We returned from Symi yesterday and tomorrow we leave for Karpathos which is seven hours by ship. I am sitting in a restaurant at the market square waiting for Robert. It is very hot here and thank goodness for a continual breeze. The market is full of fruit and Robert can eat hisContinue reading “Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 9July1971: Rhodes, Greece: Being in Greece is Like Being in Another World and I Love It!”