18th Athens International Film Festival

It is time for the annual pilgrimage to the Athens International Film Festival and this short post is a brief description of the films one has the chance to watch this week in the 5 movie-theaters hosting the festival's projections. For a complete guide to the festival visit the official site and  also check out the Festival's Facebook page.

Official poster of the 18th Athens International Film Festival

The popular "Music & Film" segment will give you the chance to watch films on Bob Marley, Neil Young, Andrew Bird, 1970's disco, former French pop idol Claude François, hip-hop's L.A. scene and more.

There are 9 movie premieres (at least for the Greek market), including Walter Salles' "On the Road" (based on Jack Kerouac's novel),  David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis starring Robert Pattinson and 4 films, from various countries, that touch on the Greek economic crisis. 

There are short films (Greek and international), and a Panorama of films from seemingly all over the world.

Another popular part is the Midnight segment, featuring all kinds of horror movies with sleepwalking cannibals, undead vermin, invading aliens, terrorizing gangs and invisible spirits. Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

Feature films in the Competition segment will present you with a Cuban trying to flee to the US, a Bulgarian trying to do the inverse and go back to her native Bulgaria, the real-life story of an Asian-American being held hostage by a sex-trafficking gang and a humongous body-builder in a surprisingly similar situation, being manipulated by his mom.

Tickets are priced at 6€ and you should buy them beforehand since they tend to go out very fast and many projections are sold-out. A good idea, if you can make it fit with the rest of your schedule, is to go to one of the morning screenings "for the press". The ticket is cheaper (at 4€) and you don't have to worry about the screening being sold-out. Just try to arrive 15-20 minutes before the start. It always makes my day when I attend one of these morning screenings as it makes me feel like part of a select group. You know... the kind who can watch movies at 11:00am or 1:00pm on a weekday and be masters of their own time!

The festival runs till September 30, 2012. The 5 movie-theaters hosting the festival's screening are Odeon Opera 1, Odeon Opera 2, and Ideal (at Athens city center) and Danaos 1, Danaos 2 (at the Ambelokipoi neighbourhood). You can see a map with their locations below.

View Athens International Film Festival locations in a larger map

Why don't you follow me on twitter?