Istanbul’s Pera Museum is organizing a new event that is putting Greek cinema under the spotlight in partnership with EMEIS Culture Collective from Greece and Turkey's istos film and istos broadcast. The Greek Film Days, which will be held for the first time, starts Tuesday and run until June 12.

The Greek Film Days features a film program that emphasizes auteur cinematography and has been selected from a time period of Greek cinema from the early 60s to the end of the 80s. The event is presented to the cinephiles of Istanbul free of charge with the special support and financial contributions of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Greek Film Center, the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation, the Greek Consulate General in Istanbul and the Greek Film Academy.

Opening film from Angelopoulos

The Greek Film Days, in which 17 films from 18 directors will be screened, is launching with the 1970 film "Anaparastasi" ("Reconstruction"). The production is the first feature film of Theo Angelopoulos, one of the auteur directors of Greek cinema. The film, based on the news of a crime of passion in a village, which Angelopoulos visited accompanied by witnesses to the crime, draws a socioeconomic portrait of the country where labor migration to Germany was experienced in the 60s and 70s. Imprinted on one's memories with cinematographer Giorgos Arvanitis’ impressive black and white images, "Anaparastasi" is also described as the birth of the new Greek cinema by cinema historians.

One of the exciting films of the Greek Film Days program is director Costa-Gavras’ "Z" (1969), which became an international sensation in the late 60s. In addition to the Jury Award, the movie brought Jean-Louis Trintignant the Best Actor Award for his role as the Examining Magistrate at the Cannes Film Festival. It also won the Best Editing and Best Foreign Language Film awards at the Oscars. With Gavras' technically daring look, Raoul Coutard's impressive images and Mikis Theodorakis' iconic music, "Z" is a timeless masterpiece.

From Berlin to Venice, award-winning films

The Greek Film Days will also screen "Young Aphrodites," which brought the Best Director and FIPRESCI Award to director Nikos Koundouros at the Berlin Film Festival. Among other movies to meet viewers are "The Roundup" (1965), the surrealist director and film theorist Adonis Kirou's film that recreated the Block of Kokkinia, in which more than 300 people were executed in 1944, and had its world premiere in Cannes, and Takis Kanellopoulos' "Excursion," which brings a tragic love story to the screen with a lyrical praise of the sadness and magnificence of emotions.

Alexis Damianos's 1971 drama "Evdokia," which deeply influenced the period with its realistic narration and strong tempo and Michael Cacoyannis’ "Trojan Women," an epic production that brings the famous tragedy of Euripides to the screen with star actors such as Katharine Hepburn, Genevieve Bujold, Vanessa Redgrave and Irene Papas, will meet Istanbulite viewers as well. Other films to be screened include Nikos Panayotopoulos' grotesque tale "The Idlers Of The Fertile Valley," which won the Golden Lion at Locarno Film Festival and Best Film at Thessaloniki Film Festival; "Mania", in which Giorgos Panousopoulos recreates Euripides’ tragedy "Bakkhas" with a modern perspective; the political cinema classic "Stone Years" by Pantelis Voulgaris, which is based on a real-life event and became memorable with the performance of Themis Bazaka, who won the Best Actress Award at the Venice, Thessaloniki and Valencia film festivals; Nikos Papatakis' sarcastic and subtle black comedy "The Photograph"; post-apocalyptic science fiction "Morning Patrol," written and directed by Nikos Nikolaidis with inspiration and quotes from the works of authors such as Daphne Du Maurier, Phillip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and Herman Raucher; "...Deserter," co-written and directed by George Korras and Christos Voupouras, which describes the destructive nature of masculinity in rural Greek society of the time; Christos Vakalopoulos's noir film "Olga Robards" (1989), which creates a fascinating femme fatale depiction thanks to Olia Lazaridou in the lead role, and Vassiliki Illiopoulou's road movie "The Crossing" (1989), which announces its originality from beginning to end with its elaborate scenes and flawless performance of its actors.

Woman's gaze beyond time

Tonia Marketaki and Frieda Liappa, two leading female directors of Greek cinema, will also attend the program with the most important works of their filmography.

"John The Violent," which is Marketaki's first feature film based on the news of a femicide that caused a sensation in Athens in the 1960s, tells the social oppression experienced by women in the country from a feminist perspective far beyond its time. Poet and director Liappa presents a surrealistic and stylized work accompanied by the existential journey of a female writer with "A Quiet Death" (1986), for which she was selected as the Best New Director at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Film professionals from Greece in Istanbul

Among the events of the Greek Film Days will be a panel titled "Cinema Meeting: Greek Cinema Tells About Itself," which will host film professionals from Greece and an exhibition of the HELLAFFI Collection’s movie posters.

At the panel, the state of film production in Greece and the structure of the industry, as well as the national policies implemented to encourage and activate film production, will be discussed at the Pera Museum on Thursday, June 9. Greek Film Center director Athena Kartalou, producer Antigoni Rota, academic Afroditi Nikolaidou from the Film/TV Studies Department of the University of Athens, Athena Kalkopoulou from the Greek Film Center and Hellas Film/Promotion Director will attend to the event as speakers.

Sample posters selected from HELLAFFI's world-famous giant movie poster collection will be exhibited at the Pera Museum Learning Workshop and at the Greek Consulate General in the Beyoğlu district throughout the event. The exhibition will bring together a special selection of movie posters hand-drawn and painted by the leading artists of the period for local and foreign films released between 1950-1975 in addition to the films in the program. The exhibition will stay open until the end of the month.

One of the guests of Greek Film Days is Petros Markaris, who is known as the scenarist of Angelopoulos' "Days of '36," "Alexander the Great" (1980), "The Suspended Step of the Stor" (1991), "Ulysses' Gaze" (1995) and "Eternity and a Day" (1998), along with Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s "Bulutları Beklerken" ("Waiting for the Clouds"). Markaris, who will come to Istanbul as part of the event, will also make the presentation on "Anaparastasi" on the opening night.

Details about the films and the Greek Film Days program can be found at yunanfilmgunleri.com.