The countdown for the 30th International Film Festival of Athens – Nights of Première has begun with rhythms that create high expectations. The Festival opens on October 2 with the Palme d’Or winner from Cannes, “Anora” by Sean Baker, and closes on October 14 with “The Adjacent Room” by Pedro Almodóvar, the celebratory Golden Lion of this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Celebrating an emblematic anniversary in the cultural events of the city, the Nights of Première bring to the big screen, as they have established over a 30-year journey, films in 3 competitive sections, major Oscar contenders of the season, as well as important tributes that highlight both the high art of cinema and the position of film as an interventionist medium in the socio-political events of every era.
Among the best films of the year that we expect to watch, we make room for:
– the screening of the award-winning Cannes film “Seed of the Sacred Fig” by the persecuted Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled his country last May to reach Germany on foot
– a complete retrospective of the filmography of Japanese Akira Kurosawa, a leading creator of world cinema
– the urgent and timely tribute to British cinema of the ’80s titled “This is England”
– the special screening of “Trainspotting”, which connects to the early days of the Nights of Première and winks at the remarkable first screening of the film in 1995 at Apollo, in the second year of the festival
– the (also special) screening of “Megalopolis” by Francis Ford Coppola as presented at the Cannes Film Festival
– the new film creation by the great Jacques Audiard “Emilia Perez”, in which “a lawyer is enlisted by a notorious Mexican cartel baron to organize his gender transition under extreme secrecy and then help him withdraw from the underworld.” The entire cast was awarded the Best Actress award at Cannes
– “Conclave” by Edward Berger featuring Ralph Fiennes, who is a favorite for the Best Actor Oscar
“Conclave”
– the cinematic experience of two Cycladic Screenings on Thursday, October 3 and Saturday, October 5, as part of the exhibition Cindy Sherman at Cycladic: Early Works, featuring two historic and radical films, “Naked Kiss” by Samuel Fuller and “Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls” by Russ Meyer. The two films were selected by Cindy Sherman herself
– the surprise of this year’s anniversary festival: the Nights of Première and the Athens Film Office of the Municipality of Athens co-organize, within the framework of the popular Short Greek Films Competition, for the first time in Greece, an exciting workshop on Intimacy Coordination, with the internationally renowned Intimacy Coordinator, Elle McAlpine, who has worked on several top projects including Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and the much-discussed television series “Baby Reindeer”.
The workshop will take place on Friday, October 4, from 11 am to 5 pm, at the multi-space of the “Friends of Music” Association in the Athens Concert Hall, with free admission and will be conducted entirely in English.
The Nights of Première will welcome the public this year from October 2 to October 14 in the venues DANAOS (Room 1 & 2), ASTOR, ASTY, CINOBO OPERA (Room 1 & 2), ABANA, Auditorium of the FRENCH INSTITUTE OF GREECE, MUSEUM OF CYCLADIC ART, ATHENS CONCERT HALL (ALEXANDRA TRIANDI ROOM), ONASSIS FOUNDATION STAGE, and PALLAS.