Light installations and urban planning

Even someone ignorant to the intricacies of the art scene -an observant one at least, like myself- can tell that there's been a real renaissance of the arts in Athens and Greece in these past few years. You can see it in the new Greek cinema, with its quirky films, but also in myriads of events / happenings / performances / installations popping up, for a few days or longer in all kinds of places.

A light installation, constructed by the "BeforeLight" group and promoted by the City of Athens, as part of a wider urban renewal project, was put in place in an abandoned, central Athens arcade this summer. Consisting of a series of old neon signs of shops no longer in business, the installation really makes for some urban eye candy and also has the necessary "Greek crisis" element that gives it bonus points for depth and sensitivity, I guess. They've done some more successful projects that this one no doubt.

8-10 Voulis St. The entrance of Stoa Emporon ("Merchants' Arcade")

 "Ariston", an historic snack-food place is located next to the arcade entrance, still operating in full swing!

The "BeforeLight" neon signs installation at Stoa Emporon / 8-10 Voulis St., Athens

The installation is certainly visually pleasing, and it even draws you to enter the now practically abandoned arcade, only meters from Athens central Syntagma Square. 

The "BeforeLight" neon signs installation at Stoa Emporon / 8-10 Voulis St., Athens

However, art alone can be no substitute for planning. The presence of many closed shops around, together with tagged walls, lack of cleanliness and a seemingly eternally "under-construction" building next door, make the area a bit of an eye-shore, despite the large numbers of passers-by during the day. The presence of a homeless man (?) / drug addict (?) at the inner steps of a building inside the arcade was enough to keep me at bay.

A homeless man ? / drug addict? inside Stoa Emporon / 8-10 Voulis St., Athens, Greece

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Back to Plato’s Academy, this time for an art exhibit (pt.1)

It’s been two and a half years since I last went to Akademia Platonos Park; the archaeological site, turned urban park, in the western edge of Athens, where ancient philosopher Plato and his students used to hang out. On a side note, that first post was the reason for meeting a modern day English philosopher –the first person I met through this blog! Since then, there’s been a lot of talk on upgrading this urban area - with the park used as a catalyst for the project - but the whole thing seems to be moving very, very sloooowly, if at all.

"Visual Dialogues 2012" billboard near the entrance of Academia Platonos park 

An art exhibit, titled “Visual Dialogues 2012”, was what drew me in the park this time around. Sponsored by the big funding arm of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Onassis Cultural Centre, ten artists were invited to create video installations, dispersed in the park, within ephemeral wooden structures. A virtual “dialogue” between art, archaeology and the urban environment. A way to bring more people into the park, as I see it, but also in contact with an art form that most are not familiar with. 

Wooden projection room, at Academia Platonos

You get a slightly spooky feeling when you enter these dark, unmanned, isolated structures in the middle of the park but the presence of exhibit staff around the area is reassuring. Inside each one, runs the projection of a short, digital film in a continuous loop from noon till 6:00pm. Among the ten short films, the one that clearly stood out for me was that by Katerina Athanasopoulou - the first as you enter the park. Making reference to Plato’s work (Plato was the one who preserved Socrates’ teaching for the world to read), the video’s brochure tells us that “Socrates compared the human soul to a cage, within which elements of knowledge fly like birds. Born with an empty ‘cage’, people gradually collect birds/knowledge as they grow up. When a piece of information / knowledge is needed, humans try to recollect it ‘with their hand’, but sometimes they pick the wrong one. Furthermore, ornithologists have observed a pattern of restless anticipation in birds before the time of migration, both in free and in captive birds.” 

Apodemia, by Katerina Athanasopoulou

Apodemia, by Katerina Athanasopoulou

Combining the above concepts and images, the short film named “Apodemia” (which rimes with "Academia" and stands for "Emigration" in Greek), ) presents a flock of birds encircling an empty cage-bus which runs around the deserted streets of a vast city, half-built, with huge granite hands trying to alter its course but also catch the birds/knowledge. The haunting music by Jon Opstad and Clare Wheeler’s violin playing only add to the whole effect.

Symposium, by Maria Paschalidou

Other videos that spoke to me were the ones by Maria Paschalidou (Symposium: a reference to a local citizens group with an indirect reference to xenophobia, also using Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”), Maria Zervos (Nomadology: The Route), Myrto Vounatsou and Stelios Dexis (The Wave: a dual screen projection imparting a vague sense of fear and anxiety to its viewers) and Petros Touloudis (Via Recta: the breathless presentation of a hectic, fuzzy mountain/rock-climbing trip).

The Wave, by Myrto Vounatsou and Stelios Dexis

Entrance: Kratylou St.& Tripoleos St.

Transit: Bus 051 from Zenonos St., near Omonia Square (see map in previous post)

Admission: Free

Hours: Daily from 12:00 to 18:00 (arrive at 17:00 at the latest to be able to get a glimpse of most videos and the park). Running till February 10, 2013.

There was more to this visit but you'll have to wait for part 2...

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Athens Photo Festival 2012, pt.2

Find below some long overdue pictures, along with my impressions,  from Technopolis-Gazi, the main exhibition space for the Athens Photo Festival which I visited last week. For more details on the photo festival see part 1.

The main square at Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

The first exhibition to your right, as you enter, is the annual Young Greek Photographers (no need to explain...). Curiously, the two Greek photographers I was mostly impressed with this year, are taking photographs that are far away from my style and that I wouldn't bother to shoot even if I could. Highly set up and stylized ones; giving you the impression that the photograph itself is only the end result of a long, copious artistic process. The first one is Constantinos Taliotis with his detailed, precisely choreographed "stills" of imaginary cop- and crime-films.

The second one is Penelope Koliopoulou, with her double exposed self-portraits of imaginary couples in the grey tones of their daily life. I felt that somehow this was the type of project, and photographs, that can leave a lasting aesthetic mark on you, which they certainly did on me.

Further on, there was, it seemed to me, a whole "Italian invasion" of photographers but in retrospect I realized that it was the fact that all three (that's how many they were) Italian photographers' projects greatly impressed me with their socially and emotionally affecting themes such as the documenting of the blind, socially excluded Cameroonese dwarfs and unusual portraits of city animals. The photographers names were, respectively, Stefano De Luigi, Nicola Lo Calzo and Giacomo Brunelli.

Stefano de Luigi - Blanco. Vision of blindness, Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Nicola Lo Calzo - Morgante, Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Among the other exhibitions, I mostly remember the ones with the photographs of Stephen Dupont (Raskols-The Gangs of Papua-New Guinea), Jan Banning's Bureaucratics with images of the desks of civil servants from around the world, and Anders Petersen's City Diary. 

Exhibition of Stephen Dupont: Raskols-The Gangs of Papua-New Guinea, Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Exhibition of Jan Banning: Bureaucratics, Technopolis-Gazi, Athens 

Exhibition of Anders Petersen: City Diary, Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

The Technopolis site itself and the light of dusk also provided some good opportunities for photo shooting on my behalf...

Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

Οld, restored chimney at Technopolis-Gazi, Athens

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Athens Photo Festival 2012

The annual and nearly two-month long “Athens Photo Festival” has now entered its main phase in full force. The opening of the main exhibition venue, at Technopolis-Gazi, hosting 22 different photographic exhibitions till November 4, took place last Friday.

Technopolis - Gazi, from the exit of Kerameikos Metro Station

I’ve always found it ironic that the Photo Festival is hosted at Technopolis, which welcomes you with a totally, photographically-unfriendly sign by the entrance ("No photography without license allowed" or something of that short) but it was coverd during the Photo Festival this year! Another 13 photography exhibitions are taking place in various galleries throughout the city, till mid-December. These form the so-called "satellite programme". The festival’s organizers have spared me the trouble and have put together themselves a handy map with all locations for your easy reference. You may find it here.

Opening hours and ticket prices for Technopolis [Kerameikos Metro Station] are:

Mon-Fri: 5:00pm -10:00pm, Sat-Sun: 12:00-10:00pm. Admission : 5 Euros

For all other participating galleries check out opening hours at the festival's official website.

On the final day of the main exhibition, Sunday, November 4, the annual “Athens Photo Inspiration” photographic marathon will take place. This is the 5th year in a row for the -open to everyone- photo marathon which has its own, separate website at www.photoinspiration.gr The deadline for registration is Friday, 2 November, although there will be a small window of opportunity for a few lucky people to register on the spot, on Sunday at 11:00am at Technopolis. Just to be clear, you do not need to be Greek to register, nor is there a fee, so you may want to try your luck if you'll be in Athens and have a day to spare at that time. I'll have more from the Technopolis photo exhibitions in a few days (Update: see here).

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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

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Radio Stations in Athens, Greece (updated: 2014-06-08)

One of the things I like about traveling abroad is the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the local TV or radio stations. I think that TV helps you get a quick feel and impression, even if polished, of the country's attitudes and culture.  However, I don't have any suggestions regarding TV in Athens, as Greek TV is mostly a huge pile of trash [note to self: remember to present things in a positive light!].  The only good thing about it is that foreign films and TV series are projected in their original language, with Greek subtitles.

Radio stations (or TV music stations) on the other hand help you get away from your personal CD / mp3 collection and possibly expand your music horizons or at least discover some new pop song that you like and which isn't part of your favorite station's rotation back in the home land. So, if you are the type of person who prefers to search for music in the local radio stations when you travel, instead of plunging into your MP3 player, these are some short suggestions for you, all in the FM dial in the wider Athens area:

En Lefko 87.7FM is my favorite station to listen to. The station's name means something like "blank slate" or "with no limitations" and it features a mixture of jazz, funk, soul, rock and blues, sprinkled with Italian and French songs from past decades and occasional electronica tracks, all mixed in a fitting way. Unknown covers of classic pop and rock songs also dot its playlist quite often. In the morning hours (10:00-12:00), they have a very popular radio show featuring... international celebrity DJ, Tzoom de la Tzoom de la Fuente (which is actually the nickname of actor Konstantinos Tzoumas) and ...Kafka in the music selection (seriously! -kind of...). You can also listen to En Lefko online.  
Radio Pepper 96.6FM offers a similar type of programming, sometimes better than the original.

Most state radio stations also offered tasteful programming but were shut down in June 2013 and are currently under a re-organization plan. "Trito Programma" (3rd Programme) that has an extensive classical music offering went back on air in June 2014. You may tune in at 90.9FM or 95.6FM or listen live.

Giannis Petridis' classic radio-show, with the assistance of his long-time collaborator Costas Zougris, has moved to Vima FM 99.5, 6:00-8:00pm every weekday, after 38 years in the State Radio. The show had been running continuously, in various formats, from 1974 till today! Yannis is a member of a select group of rock'n'roll experts that comprise the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame voting body (one of only a handful of Europeans) and his show is a music information radio show, so don't judge him wrongly if you think he's sometimes "interrupting the songs"....

For contemporary, English-language, pop music check-out Athens Radio DJ 95.2 (mostly pop / dance) and, for a more pop-rock twist, Red FM 96.3 and Rock FM 96.9.

For some good quality Greek music, your best choices were the State radio's "second programme" (currently not on-air), Diessi 101.3FM and Melodia 99.2FM. Enjoy your listening, whether in Athens or abroad!

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European Day of Music - Free events in Athens

The "European Music Day" is a cultural institution born in 1982 in Paris, France which has then spread to many other European towns and capitals. Well-known and amateur musicians take the streets, and squares and parks and bars and play their music for free. It takes place on June 21st every year - sometimes the previous couple of days as well.

This is the 13th time that the Day of Music is celebrated in Athens and below I've listed a selection of the main musical events that will be offered to Athens residents and visitors this Thursday: There will be more shows, more geared to younger audiences at various squares mostly programmed in the afternoon hours.

Where	When	What
Athens Concert Hall (aka Megaron Mousikis) garden (Vassilissis Sophias Ave. & Petrou Kokkali St.)	Thu. June 21st, 8:00pm	Choir, Orchestra, Jazz and Swing
Filopappos Hill / Pnyx	Thu. June 21st, 8:00pm	Classic pop repertoire, Classical, Jazz
Thissio pedestrian area (3 Adrianou St.)	Thu. June 21st, 8:15pm	Choir, Jazz, Classical guitar, Film music, Plucked String Orchestra
National Archaeological Museum – front lawn (44 Patission St. /  a.k.a. 44, 28 Oktovriou St.)	Thu. June 21st 8:30pm	Chamber music / arias
French Institut yard (31 Sina St.)	Thu. June 21st, 9:00pm	Jazz

Sources: 

http://www.europeanmusicday.gr/EMD_programm2012.pdf, 

http://www.cityofathens.gr/node/20207

http://www.namuseum.gr/museum/pressreleases/2012/pressrelease_21_06_12-gr.html

http://www.athenaeum.com.gr

http://www.megaron.gr/

http://ifa.gr/index.php/el/2010-06-12-08-01-28/2009-03-11-09-18-12/995-fete-de-la-musique-2012

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Ernesto Valverde photo exhibition - Ileana Tounta gallery

Today is the day of possibly the most crucial elections in the last 80 years of Greek history but I choose to write about something else: an unusual photo exhibition taking place at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, located at the fringe of Neapoli and Ambelokipi neighborhoods in Athens. The rarity (and media-worthiness) of the exhibition lies mostly in the identity of the photographer. It is Spanish professional soccer coach, and former player, Ernesto Valverde who has made a name for himself not only in Spain but also in Greece, after two successful stints at Olympiacos F.C. This is his first ever photography exhibition, titled Medio-Tiempo (Half-Time).

The exhibition's catalogue states that he has been photographing ever since he was a teenager and has studied at the Institut d'Estudis Fotografics de Catalunya, in Barcelona. So, he has been carrying a camera with him all this time, in and out of the football fields.

And this is one of the things that impressed me the most from observing his photographs at the exhibition. The man literally seems to have a camera glued on him all the time (do I smell a Leica...?). Even during the half-time of a most crucial game he finds the time (or the moment, but most of all the clarity of mind) to take a picture! This can only be a sign of dedication to photography especially when you consider the high-pressure environment of professional sports.

On the other hand, some other photos seem more restrained and "shy" if you judge them the way you would judge a professional photographer, but still speak volumes about his passion with photography when you imagine being in his shoes.

His photographs benefit from the privileged access he enjoys to sports venues and the inside look to the life of athletes and he makes good use of this privilege.

He seems to have an eye for spotting out forms and making them stand out, whether it is in  wider, open areas or in the secluded space of hotels that professional sportsmen are forced to frequent.

I also enjoyed his portraits; some candid, some staged, like the gangster-style portrait of Algerian bad-boy striker Rafik Djebbour. He also leaves some hints about his personal life with candid photographs of his wife from the days on the road.

Photograph: Ernesto Valverde

...And if you insist on looking for a connection to the elections and Greece's current situation, here it is: Valverde has decided to leave Greece and the same is true for many soccer and basketball coaches who have been working here. It seems like the country's current financial conditions cannot support high-caliber (and high-budget) sports people any more. If that was our only problem!

Location: Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre

Address: 48 Armatolon kai Klefton St., [Neapoli area], Athens (Ambelokipi Metro Station)
Tel: 210-64.39.466
Opening hours: Tue-Fri: 12:00-20:00, Sat: 12:00-16:00
The exhibition lasts till June 30.
More on Athens galleries here.

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List of galleries in Athens, Greece

To mark the new year, I just added a new page with a list of art galleries in Athens. I think I have included all major ones; at least the ones in the city center and near tourist attractions as well as those with the most interesting exhibitions. See the tab titled "Athens Galleries" at the top of this page.

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The last major exhibit of the old National Gallery

The National Gallery in Athens is about to shut its doors in a few months, so that works can start for the expansion of the current building and the construction of a larger, modern one that will give the Gallery new impetus and allow it to better showcase the thousands of paintings kept in its storehouses.

As a temporary good-bye to art lovers in Greece, before the Gallery re-opens in three years, a last great exhibit was prepared and is currently being presented in the old building. The exhibit showcases "Unknown Treasures from the National Gallery Collections". Each of the 8 curators of the National Gallery has prepared, independently from others, one section of the exhibit with characteristic examples from the corresponding section (usually time period) of the Gallery's collections: "Exhibits from the European collection" (with paintings from Dutch, French and British painters), "Drawings and prints" by great masters such as Rembrandt and Albrecht Dürer, and works by Greek artists from the 19^th to the late 20^th century, with samples of modern Greek sculpture also interspersed in the exhibition halls.

National Gallery of Greece - Many of the works were displayed for the first time ever, like this late 19th century portrait of an industrialist's wife. 

The Director of the National Gallery, Ms. Marina Lambraki-Plaka, offered a most informative tour of the exhibition a couple of weeks ago and I didn't miss the chance of attending it. A second part of the exhibit, the one with the most recent works, is also on display at the National Sculpture Gallery, at the district of Goudi. Both exhibits run till January 8, 2012.

National Gallery of Greece - Lots of people attended the guided tour

P.S. 2012-01-11 As you might have read in the news, the last day of the exhibition was marked by the theft of three art works... Nice way to  bid farewell to the old Gallery!

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Photography exhibits at Technopolis - Gazi

The two-month long 11^th Athens Photo Festival is coming to an end in a couple of weeks but there's still a great number of events to attend. This past Wednesday I went to the opening of the main exhibitions, at the Technopolis - Gazi former industrial area, in the heart of the Gazi / Kerameikos area.

The exhibitions are a real feast for the eyes (and the mind and soul), featuring many photographers with various styles, Greek and foreign, young, well-known and up-and-coming. The Swedish Embassy in Athens and the Swedish Institute at Athens, as well as the Israeli Embassy, British Council and Goethe Institut are co-sponsoring certain photographers' exhibits from their respective countries.

The ones that mostly caught my fancy were those of German photographer Andreas Meichsner whose organized vacation photographs I found wonderfully ironic (but was that his intention?), Hyun-Jin Kwak's photos of surreally posing Swedish girls, the twisted and out-worldly photographs of Briton's Roger Ballen, Simon Norfolk's antiquated-looking war photographs, as well as the wonderful depictions of Greek folk and country life of  late Greek master Costas Balafas.

I also liked the photographs of young Greek photographers such as John Tsiadis, Leonidas Toumpanos, William Faithful, Alkistis Tsitouri, Michalis Bitsis with his landscapes and Katerina Drakopoulou with her black-background portraits.

Photo by Katerina Drakopoulou, at the Athens Photo Festival 2011

The exhibitions at Technopolis - Gazi (Kerameikos Metro Station) last till 15 November 2011.
Ticket price: 5€, Reduced: 3€.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 17:00-22:00, Sat-Sun: 12:00-22:00

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Agenor Asteriadis exhibition at the Benaki Museum (Pireos St. Annexe)

I just recently visited the retrospective exhibit on 20^th century Greek painter Agenor Asteriadis (1898-1977) at the Benaki Museum, at 138 Pireos St. I had come across some of his paintings at a Theocharakis Foundation exhibit ("Masterpieces of Greek Painting") a few months ago and loved his cartoonist, map-like cityscape of the town of Larissa, as well as his vivid paintings on the earthquake that had shaken his native town in 1954.  Asteriadis, though mostly known as a landscape painter using water colours, also embraced and experimented with a number of various means, including oil and egg-tempera and worked on engravings and religious paintings. The influence of religious / byzantine painting on his style is at times obvious, although he incorporated it in his non-religious themed works in a creative, natural way. I was surprised to read, and to then recollect, that some of his works had been used as pictures in Greek school books, esp. grammar school. An interesting piece of information I read was that he had finished at the bottom of his class at the Athens School of Fine Arts...

The exibit runs till 20 November 2011.

If you can't make it to the Benaki Museum you can see a thorough web presentation of Asteriadis's works at this, Greek-only, but very well designed web gallery.

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17th Athens International Film Festival: Details and impressions (update 2011-09-18)

Back for the 17^th year in a row, stronger than ever in the middle of the crisis and expanded into an extra movie theater, the Athens International Film Festival - "Opening Nights Conn-X" must be doing some things right! Just like the festival, I'm learning a few more tricks about it each year. This time, the lesson was: "If you want to get a 10-screenings discount pass you must  go buy it at the 1st or 2nd day of sale, otherwise it's bye-bye!". So, for one last year I will have to make do with regular tickets like most people. However, tickets prices are much lower than in the regular season (6€ instead of 8/9€) and morning screenings for the press are also open to the general public, for 4€ each. I think I just broke a personal record today, watching four(4) feature films in one day! I guess I might go for the 25-screenings discount pass next year.

The opening was last night with a screening of an old black and white film but for me it was this morning with On the Ice: a film taking place in the remote, snowy town of Barrow, Alaska with many indigenous actors and staff participating in it. It’s a well-shot, powerful (but not melodramatic) story with a rough edge that captured my attention and is worth checking out if you come across it. I was not even able to tell that this was an independent studio production until the end titles of the film. The rapping Eskimos of "On the Ice" were a good reminder of the Film Festival's constant interest in "music & film", one of the permanent sections of the festival, which seems quite awkward considering music films always flop in Greece. I mean, even Ray flopped here...Perhaps the festival has become the main place where music lovers can enjoy such films since the general audience just totally fails to connect with them.

The second film I watched was Hit So Hard, a music documentary, on the life of Patty Schemel, drum player for the 1990's band Hole. The film takes you into Seattle's 1990s grunge scene, the inner workings of the band and Schemel's fight with her drug and alcohol addiction. A large part of the film consists of archive footage from the band's touring and personal moments, including scenes with the late Kurt Cobain while the rest is interviews. Patty Schemel currently works taking care of dogs (www.dogrocker.com - I think in Portland) and teaches drums in a Rock'n'Roll Camp for Girls. Overall quite an interesting film.

Getting out of the theater to go home, I came across some communist student union demonstration, against the recent university reforms (all calm). Streets were still full of garbage from a recent 48-hour strike of municipal garbage collectors but I managed to get home safe and sound:) I guess that's part of the allure of a movie festival; to take you out of the everyday mess and ongoing problems and transport you to different worlds and places. 

I got back into the action in the evening, for the premiere of a Greek film called "3 Days of Happiness". Overall, 12 new Greek films are scheduled to premier in the festival. You could tell this was not a regular screening by watching the action before the screening: lots of people involved into film-making (including a good number of the crew and cast as well as other actresses.I think you can tell them apart when they kiss someone and at the same time look around... :) The film (shot in black & white) draws a dark, grey, violent  and inhospitable portrait of Athens with sex-trafficking in the crux of the story. Besides the excellent photography and its achievement in creating a certain atmosphere, its slow tempo and often unnatural, minimal dialogues could very easily make you drowsy, as I noticed in others and myself especially at the first half. Anyway, if you don't want to come to Athens this is a film to see as it will surely put you off for good :)  To my pleasant surprise the film had English subtitles and the translation seemed to be quite good (not always the case).

Finally, a break and a Coke later, I was ready to see the final film of the night, Killing Bono, which is an angst-filled, and at the same time light-hearted, music comedy loosely based on the true story of a band coming from the same school with U2 and trying to make it big like their old school-mates. You can see an interview of the real McCormicks at the site of The Telegraph.

Now, for some general information on the Athens International Film Festival (AIFF), here's what you need to know: Besides the "music & film" section, other sections include "premieres", "short premieres", "short stories", "retrospective" (each year on 1 or 2 filmmakers - for 2011 it's Johan van der Keuken and Jasuzo Masumura and don't worry I hadn't heard of them before either), "director to watch", "midnight movies", "special screenings" (w/ restored old classics),  "documentaries" and "cinema on the edge". Almost all featured films compete for the same prize which makes the AIFF's competion really distinct. An additional prize is given in the "music and film" category.

The screenings take place in 3 movie theaters downtown (Apollo Cinemax, Attikon Cinemax and Astor Hollywood at 19 Stadiou St. and 28 Stadiou St.) and at the Danaos 1 and Danaos 2 cinemas a bit further north (109 Kifissias St., Athens), near Panormou Metro Station.

A number of events are also planned to take place as part of the festival, including a concert in front of the Acropolis Museum, in the evening of September 23. For more info, including the full schedule / timetable of screenings you should check out the Film Festival's official site here. It lasts from 14 to 25 September 2011. I shall probably post additional thoughts and updates from the following days below.

Updates: I also highly recommend the excellent, very-well directed, music documentary on Miriam Makeba, which I watched on Friday morning. Especially the first half describing the start of her career was a sheer pleasure to watch and listen to.
On Sunday night (18 Sep.) I got to watch Orson Welles' "The Trial", based on the book by Franz Kafka. The AIFF has certain quirky themes (or "zones") each year and the "Kafka zone" is this year's major zone.

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