Festivals

GFF26 Best Friends Forever

How far would you go for friendship? Best Friends Forever is a contemporary Greek comedy about friendship and the choices we make when we try to help the people around us, even when that means things might spiral out of control. A wedding goes off the rails before it even begins, a well-meaning favor turns into a trip to Crete filled with misunderstandings and family tensions, and a series of “innocent” errands entangle people and relationships, setting off a chain of unpredictable, laugh-out-loud, and heartfelt situations. How far would you really go for your friends? What would you be willing to risk to get them out of a difficult situation? And how many unexpected turns could follow from simply trying to help? As the stories unfold, Best Friends Forever raises questions we have all faced, allowing audiences to recognize themselves — and their own group of friends — through characters and situations that feel instantly familiar. The film follows parallel stories of friendship that converge around a wedding completely out of control, turning the best intentions into chaos, misunderstandings and ultimately plenty of laughter and emotion.

GFF26 Acropolis Cats and Other Wondrous Animals

Exploring the lives of stray cats in Athens and beyond, ACROPOLIS CATS AND OTHER WONDROUS ANIMALS examines the tenderness and tragedies in human-animal relationships. It reflects on love, cruelty, compassion, and what we can learn about freedom in a rapidly changing world.

GFF26 A Spartan Dream

Magical realism weaves its way through A SPARTAN DREAM, a romantic-adventure story (c.1987) about an atypical Greek-American ancient history buff sent to his ancestral village in Greece to evict relatives from a family home.

GFF26 Beachcomber

Elias dreams of building a boat from scrap metal, chasing the shadow of his sailor father's legacy. But as his creation crumbles, so does the myth he's built around himself-forcing him to confront the fragile truth of who he really is.

GFF26 Bearcave

A mountain hike, a secret bear, an unexpected betrayal, and a chav party in the woods will forever change Argyro's relation with her best friend.

GFF26 Don't Laugh, They'll See You

Maria, who lives on an island, discovers she is pregnant when she visits her religious sister in Athens for their mother's memorial service. The unexpected pregnancy at forty and an unexpected encounter make her realize that only by coming to terms with her choices can she "laugh, no matter what the world says.

GFF26 Broken Vein

To keep his home out of a loan shark's clutches, a businessman sets a seemingly flawless plan in motion - and a sequence of events that will ultimately lead to an unthinkable family tragedy.

GFF26 Electra7

In contemporary Athens, Electra and Orestes are accused of murdering their mother. But in a world where justice is no longer in the hands of gods but fragile humans, truth becomes impossible to piece together. Everyone sees in the two siblings a reflection of their own fears, guilt, and desires.

GFF26 Greece 3.0

For the first time, three short comedy films come together in a single theatrical release. Greece 3.0 is a fresh cinematic project that brings three distinct stories into one shared big-screen experience: polyphonic, contemporary, and sharply in tune with the world we live in today. Through three different directorial voices, 100 Years Ahead, Planet Balcony, and Dust Thou Art, and Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return explore today’s Greece with humour, absurdity and sharp social observation, offering three original perspectives on everyday life.

GFF26 Elena's Shift

Athens, 2013. Elena, a Romanian single mother, works the night shift cleaning metro stations. When she is unjustly fired, her dormant activist spirit reignites, and she joins forces with Yota, a charismatic lawyer, to take on her corrupt employers. Their fight for justice sparks romance but also a dangerous confrontation, forcing Elena to choose between justice and her deep need to belong.

GFF26 Hen

Seen through a chicken's eyes, Hen follows an escapee to a decaying Greek seaside restaurant, protecting her eggs whilst observing the complexity of human lives.

GFF26 Geloioi Erotes

Six tragicomic stories of obsession and madness, centered on the paradox of love.

GFF26 Kapodistrias

From internationally acclaimed filmmaker Yannis Smaragdis, KAPODISTRIAS (THE GOVERNOR) is a sweeping historical epic that brings to life one of Greece’s most defining figures. At its centre is Ioannis Kapodistrias, a visionary diplomat and the first Governor of modern Greece, called upon to lead a newly independent nation through a fragile and uncertain beginning. As he works to unify a divided country, he faces political resistance, personal sacrifice and the immense weight of shaping a national identity. Epic in scale and grounded in human conviction, KAPODISTRIAS is a powerful portrait of leadership, faith and legacy, capturing the life of a man whose ideals helped define a nation

GFF26 Novak

A reclusive scientist in Athens joins young activists interested in his controversial research on electromagnetic fields. As their movement grows, personal conflicts threaten to tear their community apart.

GFF26 Female

FEMALE re-frames the myth and legacy of Aliki Vougiouklaki, the most iconic actress in modern Greek history. Adored by millions and often compared to Marilyn Monroe, Aliki embodied empowerment while remaining confined by the conservative culture that both idolized and controlled her. The film adopts a bold narrative approach: three performers portray Aliki, each portraying a different aspect of her identity and myth. Among them is an actress discovered at Athens' leading drag stage, where her uncanny performance of Aliki had already captivated audiences. Through this interplay of bodies and perspectives, the film exposes Aliki's contradictions: glamorous yet vulnerable, liberated yet constrained, beloved yet profoundly alone. Set against the shifting backdrop of post-war Greece and resonating into the present, FEMALE is both intimate character study and cultural excavation; a cinematic meditation on celebrity, female identity, and the timeless tension between self and persona.

GFF26 Endless Land

After his father is killed in a hunting accident, Lazarus grows up in a remote village in Epirus, shaped by loss, love and migration across generations.

GFF26 Hold Onto Me

It's summer, and 11-year-old Iris is running wild through the streets with her older friend Danae when she learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father's funeral.

GFF26 Patty is Such a Girly Name

An 18-year-old judo athlete from a remote Greek island moves to Athens chasing her Olympic dream, only to face love, betrayal, and the painful truths that could break her-or make her stronger.

GFF26 Receptions

A stubborn unemployed man, who would rather starve to death than betray his principles, ends up as the leader of a carefree gang that lives by sneaking into receptions to eat for free.

GFF26 I Will Love You in November

On a cold November night, three couples face pivotal moments in their relationships. Margarita and Spyros reunite after a long silence following their breakup. Mary and Petros confront growing tensions and unresolved issues. Nina and Stelios, newly acquainted, spend the night exploring the city and their own uncertainties.

GFF26 They Come Out of Margo

Margo, an isolated singer-songwriter, confronts her fears and past during her 40th birthday party, finding unexpected moments that lead her toward a new chapter in life.

GFF26 Eva

Historic screening of the film "Eva" (1953) by Greece’s first female director Maria Plyta. A historically significant screening will take place in the official Cannes Classics programme at the Cannes Film Festival. The 1953 film Eva by Maria Plyta, the first female director in the history of Greek cinema, will be presented in the Cannes Classics section, which features masterpieces of world cinema in newly restored prints. This is the first time a restored Greek film has been included in this section at Cannes. The film had previously been screened, before its restoration, as part of a tribute to Maria Plyta at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in November 2022. Eva tells the story of a married woman who, during her summer holidays, meets a young man and begins a brief romantic relationship with him, provoking her husband’s anger and the disapproval of the island’s close-knit community. The screenplay was written by Andreas Lambrinos and the music by Mikis Theodorakis (marking his debut film score). The cast includes Nina Sgouridou, Alekos Alexandrakis, Manos Katrakis, Aliki Georgouli and Dinos Iliopoulos. Maria Plyta, the first Greek female director, was born in Thessaloniki in 1915 and passed away in 2006. Initially involved in literature, she took her first steps in film production during the late 1940s, working on films by Alekos Sakellarios and Giorgos Tzavellas. In 1950, she made her directorial debut with The Engagement (T' arravoniasmata), one of the most notable Greek folk dramas of the era, featuring set designs by Yannis Tsarouchis. With 17 films to her credit, Maria Plyta is recognized as a pioneering filmmaker who helped shape Greek cinema. The restoration of the film Eva was carried out by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Alatas Films and Professor Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), with the support of the Greek Film Archive. The project was made possible through funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. The restoration journey was an initiative by Prof. Kaklamanidou as part of a systematic research effort into Maria Plyta’s work since 2021. It runs alongside the current research program "Plyta’s Unknown Cinema" (PUC, 2025-2028), funded by the H.F.R.I. (Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation) which is directed by the Professor herself. Notably, filming and interviews with key figures and international film institution executives will take place during the Cannes Film Festival for the needs of a documentary. "The selection of Eva by Cannes Classics represents the ultimate vindication for Maria Plyta, a great creator who remained in the shadows of historiography for decades. With this work, we are redressing a long-standing gendered historiographical bias and organically integrating Maria Plyta into the Canon of European cinema," notes Prof. Kaklamanidou.

GFF26 Cavo Paradiso

The documentary “Cavo Paradiso Mykonos – 30 Years of History” delves into the rich history of the legendary Mykonos club, tracing its journey from humble beginnings to its global recognition today as one of the world’s leading super clubs. This remarkable evolution has been shaped by the hard work, vision, and dedication of everyone who has contributed to the club’s success over the past three decades. The production of this unique documentary took two years to complete and offers a captivating journey filled with memories, iconic moments, and untold stories, as narrated by the owners, promoters, collaborators, and international superstar DJs who have played a key role in the history of Cavo Paradiso.

GFF26 I Was a Stranger

When a Syrian doctor is forced to flee Aleppo with her young daughter, one desperate choice sets off a chain of events that ripples across borders and pulls four strangers into the same storm. A smuggler trying to save his son. A soldier wrestling with his conscience. A poet searching for home. A Greek coast guard captain caught between duty and mercy. Their paths collide on one night in the Mediterranean, where survival is uncertain and humanity is revealed in its rawest form. I Was a Stranger is a tense, deeply human story about the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love.

GFF26 The Way Elsewhere

A portrait of Athens told through the lives of three veteran taxi drivers who move through the city as quiet dreamers. Konstantinos is approaching retirement after half a century behind the wheel.

GFF26 Where Shadows Rest

A 75-year-old diver who raises toxic shipwrecks from a polluted seabed confronts a buried secret from his past when a doomed vessel resurfaces, turning his mission into a journey through memory, guilt, and the possibility of redemption.

GFF26 Maya & Samar

Set in contemporary Athens, Maya and Samar tells the story of two young women from conflicting cultures whose brief yet torrid affair endangers the life of one, while propelling the other to instant online fame.

GFF26 The Anything

Two old friends and music lovers who travel to a quiet village in the mountains of the Peloponnese to record an improvised album. Surrounded by nature, they reconnect through music, but their plans take a mysterious turn when they hear a strange sound. As they try to capture the sound in their recordings, they find themselves caught in a mystery.

GFF26 Zealotis

When Iosif and Vicky visit his long-abandoned family house, Iosif meets Antonis, a quiet drifter, and a subtle bond begins to form between them.

GFF26 The Odyssey

Defy the Gods in 70mm. In a visionary reimagining of Homer’s timeless epic, Academy Award-winning auteur Christopher Nolan brings a masterful fusion of myth and spectacle in THE ODYSSEY. Starring Matt Damon as the indomitable Odysseus, this highly anticipated adaptation chronicles the hero’s treacherous journey home after the Trojan War. With a gripping ensemble of talent, Nolan crafts a mesmerizing tale of survival, sacrifice, and defiance. Joining Damon in this star-studded cast are Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as Athena, and Robert Pattinson as Antinous. Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth round out the A-list ensemble. After the dust of the Trojan War has settled, Odysseus (Damon), the legendary king of Ithaca, embarks on a perilous odyssey across the seas to reunite with his beloved wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. But the gods of Olympus - led by the vengeful Poseidon - have other plans, and each step he takes brings him deeper into a world where the boundaries between man and myth blur. Torn between loyalty, love, and vengeance, Odysseus must confront not only the supernatural horrors that lurk at every turn but also the depths of his own soul. With breathtaking visuals, relentless pacing, and Nolan’s signature exploration of the human condition, THE ODYSSEY is a cinematic tour de force and a journey through the ancient world that is as audacious and ambitious as the hero at its centre.