Pera Museum is hosting the "Greek Film Days" for the second time, bringing together classic and award-winning films of Greek cinema.
The selection of 24 films bearing the signatures of auteur directors such as Theo Angelopoulos, Costas Vrettakos and Jules Dassin will be screened for free at the Pera Museum Auditorium until Nov. 26. The program will also include a masterclass led by the famous figure of Greek avant-garde, Eva Stefani.
A selection of 24 films produced by master directors of Greek cinema from the 1960s to the 1990s, presented for the first time in Türkiye with their restored versions, will be showcased. This year's focus is on collective memory, human rights, migration and diaspora themes.
An extraordinary opening marks the start of the program with Jules Dassin's remarkable film "The Rehearsal" (1974). Secretly shot in a basement and completed in four weeks, "The Rehearsal" reconstructs the 1973 uprising at the Athens Polytechnic University through documents, interviews, songs and poems, involving renowned figures such as Melina Merkuri, Lillian Hellman, Maximilian Schell, Arthur Miller and Laurence Olivier.
Classics shedding light on the country's history include Theo Angelopoulos's epic masterpiece "The Travelling Players" (1975), which follows a theater group traveling across Greece from 1939 to 1952, intertwining the nation's traumatic history with the private lives of the troupe members.
Also featured in the selection is "Happy Day" (1976) by Pantelis Voulgaris, awarded Best Film and Best Director at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The film starkly portrays the numerous physical and psychological violence experienced by exiled convicts on a barren island.
"The Tree We Hurt" (1986) by Dimos Avdeliodis humorously and poignantly narrates the experiences of two school friends during a summer holiday on the island of Chios in 1960.
Adapted from the eponymous novel by Dionysis Haritopoulos, "The Children of Helidona" (1987), directed by Costas Vrettakos, portrays a tragic story spanning from the Civil War to the 1980s, focusing on a journalist and a director visiting the Helidona village in rural Greece for a TV documentary.
"Doxobus" (1987) by Fotos Lambrinos transports viewers to medieval Macedonia during the first civil war in Byzantium.
Awarded Best Film at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, "Theophilos" (1987) by Lakis Papastathis centers on the life story of Theofilos Hatzimichail, a pioneering folk painter in modern Greek art.
"Byron: Ballad for a Daemon" (1992) directed by Nikos Koundouros depicts the final days of Lord Byron, a 19th-century Romantic poet and lover of Greece.
Directed by Giorgos Korras and Christos Voupouras, "See You" (1997) critically examines the country's immigration policies through the story of Hristos, a historian who undergoes a spiritual and ideological transformation after meeting a group of Albanian illegal immigrants.
"The Other Letter" (1976) by Lambros Liaropoulos presents a striking essay about Athens, struggling to adapt to new freedom between 1965 and 1975.
"Megara" (1974), jointly directed by Sakis Maniatis and Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, is one of the significant documentaries of contemporary Greek cinema, addressing one of the country's most serious ecological disasters.
"Fournoi, A Female Society" (1983) takes viewers on a journey to the Fournoi Islands, where gender roles differ from traditional norms, directed by Alinda Dimitriou and Nikos Kanakis.
Considered a milestone in Greek documentary film history, "Rom" (1989) by Menelaos Karamaghiolis presents the lives of European Roma from the perspectives of four different characters.
Among these, "Macedonian Wedding" (1960), the first film by Takis Kanellopoulos, is regarded as an important example of ethnographic cinema.
"100 Hours in May" (1963), directed by Dimos Theos and Fotos Lambrinos, portrays the events leading up to the assassination of Greek political figure Grigoris Lambrakis and forms the basis of Costa-Gavras's famous film "Z."
"Plot" (1971) by Thodoros Maragos uses political language to narrate life's flow on an empty plot in the Petralona district of Athens during three seasons of the year.
"Letters from America" (1972) by Lakis Papastathis focuses on Greek migration, using over 120 postcards and photographs.
"Last Stop, Kreuzberg" (1975) by Giorgos Karypidis portrays snippets of the lives of workers who migrated from Greece and Türkiye to Germany, settling in Berlin's Kreuzberg district.
"Betty" (1979) by Dimitris Stavrakas introduces viewers to a trans woman living in Athens during the 1970s, transcending the norms of the time.
"Türk Tepeleri" (1982) by Lefteris Xanthopoulos witnesses the internal migration in Athens during the 1950s.
"Jimmy the Tiger" (1966) by Pantelis Voulgaris, earning the Best Short Film Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Film Critics Union Award, brings the story of "Kaplan Jimmy," a young man with incredible physical strength performing in the streets of Athens to support his family.
"Heracles, the Achelous River and My Grandmother" (1997) by Dimitris Koutsiabasakos focuses on the director's grandmother Dimitra's threatened home due to dam construction.
