Greek Film Fest Chicago! to open with Gold Dust

CHICAGO FilmHellenes, sponsor of Greek Film Fest Chicago! (GFFC), has announced the featured films for its 1st annual festival, to take place September 29 – October 2, 2011 at the Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, the new National Hellenic Museum (Halsted at Van Buren) and the Portage Theater (Sunday only) in Chicago. The four-day event will include screenings of internationally-acclaimed films, ATTENBERG, PLATOS ACADEMY, EDUART, and the Academy-Award-nominated, DOGTOOTH, as well as works from up-and-coming filmmakers, including THE GUIDE, 45m2, THE GUARDIANS SON, and the opening-night feature, GOLD DUST. In addition to other feature-film selections, Greek Film Fest Chicago! will host a full slate of documentaries, student films and shorts.

As this is our inaugural year, we welcomed films produced within 2006 -2011, in order to give Chicago and the Midwest the opportunity to witness the rising momentum of New Greek talent. We were astounded to receive three times more submissions than anticipated. Filmmakers from Greece, the US, France, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, the UK and Canada answered our call with strong entries, says GFFC Chairman and FilmHellenes co-founder, filmmaker Niko Franghias.

“Greeks have always been master storytellers. The dynamic state of contemporary Greek film is keeping this tradition alive. We are thrilled to bring to audiences in Chicago some of the most provocative works in modern European cinema,” states Peter Kanelos, Professor of Theater at Loyola University and GFFC Board Member.

Opening night festivities will showcase Margarita Mandas GOLD DUST, an intense family drama about three estranged siblings at odds over what to do with the home of their deceased mother, a story told with great psychological precision and tremendous emotional impact. The screening will be followed by a reception in Park Ridge hosted by Aris and Angela Gallios of Chicagos Millers Pub.

Other festival highlights include DOGTOOTH, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, which won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. ATTENBERG, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari, which was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the 67th Venice International Film Festival (Ariane Labed won the Coppa Volpi award for Best Actress), and is determined to be Greeces entry for the 2012 Academy Awards. Not to be missed.

In keeping with the spirit of promoting emerging talent, the festival will also feature works by up-and-coming directors, such as THE GUIDE, by Zacharias Mavroeidis, a charming tale of an earnest Greek architectural guide attempting to lead a group of fun-minded European students on a tour of Athens, even as he comes to terms with his own identity.

The 2011 Greek Film Fest Chicago! will close on Sunday, October 2 with THE GUARDIANS SON, directed by Dimitris Koutsiabassakos, an engaging character-driven drama about the journey of an aspiring young journalist who attempts to retrieve a lost gun and discovers mysterious happenings in an abandoned mountain village.

We share the view that film is the worlds most influential art form, making us experience things that we dont already know; a magical force capable of creating not only great entertainment but also knowledge thus, tolerance, says Niko Franghias. The FilmHellenes call on Chicago and the Midwest to discover, embrace and promote this new storytelling force coming from Greek filmmakers many of whom keep creating with almost *zero* funding. It is THIS cinema that is getting recognized in the top European film festivals today!

The full program for Greek Film Fest Chicago! will be released on Friday, September 2, 2011.