GFF25 Kapetan Mihalis

Our Opening Night Selection. Crete, 1889. Captain Michalis is an uncompromising Cretan whose sacred duty is the liberation of Crete. However, the moment he meets Emine, the wife of his blood brother, Nouribeys, he's possessed by a demon. Temptation won't leave him alone and distracts him from his duty. The decision of whether to follow his duty or succumb to his passion will have a catalytic effect on all involved. The novel Captain Michalis, upon which the film is based, has won international acclaim. It's been translated into 28 languages and is Nikos Kazantzakis' best-selling work worldwide. Inspired by the author’s childhood memories of his father in Crete, it delves into the Cretan people’s particular way of life and their fervent desire for freedom. The events in the story take place shortly before the Cretan Revolution, which aimed to liberate the island of Crete from the Ottoman Turks.

GFF25 The Kink

World Premiere - Closing Night Film. Collaborators for the last 30 years, with films such as Everynight...Everynight, Silent Partner, Tom White, and The Taverna, Alkinos Tsilimidos and David Field come together again for a riotous comedy, The Kink. Written and produced by Alkinos Tsilimidos, and directed by David Field, Andrew Petropoulos debuts his first feature as the cinematographer. The Kink is the suburban story of a past-his-use-by-date, sex obsessed conman (Mirko Grillini) who is blackmailed by his lawyer’s over protective mother (Sally-Anne Upton) to do the unthinkable. With only two days to plan everything, he employs his lover’s husband to assist. But as the inexperienced duo attempt to execute the plan, they soon discover in the world of swingers, swindlers, gold diggers and mummy’s boys, it’s all about... The Kink!

GFF25 Athens Midnight Radio

On the night he turns fifty a seasoned late-night radio presenter realises, with unease, that his youth is gone forever. While he unravels his life on air and messages from a distant past are transmitted from a forgotten answering machine, an old love affair left in limbo comes back to haunt him. His army service in the Presidential Guard (Evzones), the silent nocturnal audience, a midnight marathon, the dimly lit Athenian antiquities and the nocturnal landscape, all mingle nostalgically and dreamily with the radio waves…

GFF25 Murphy's Law

After an accident Maria Aliki (or Alice), a failed actress in search of big roles, gets thrust into a reality where she is called on to play all the parts that life could have given her if she had made different choices. Where exactly is she? Has she passed out, has she died or is she dreaming? Trying to understand what is happening to her and trying to find her way out to real life, Maria Aliki tries to fit into roles that others seem to have designed for her. How can she get back to life? Does she really want to go back? In a journey of self-discovery, Maria Aliki is confronted with herself and is asked to answer the essential question: “To be or not to be?” Ultimately, who is the real Maria Aliki, and how can she find her way back to life?

GFF25 Brides

Set in 1922, Brides is the story of a mail-order bride – one of 700 from every corner of Greece, Turkey, Russia and Armenia – aboard the SS King Alexander bound for the USA. In her suitcase is a photograph of an unwelcome bridegroom and her wedding gown. Also on this vessel, but travelling in first class rather than third, is an American photographer on his way home to a failed marriage. She meets him and falls in love...

GFF25 Stelios

The touching story of the singer Stelios Kazantzidis, a child of a refugee family from Pontus, who managed to create a brilliant career thanks to his enormous talent and against all social and personal difficulties. Music, love, family, friends, fishing, creativity, night bouncers, fanatics, and great conflicts, create the mosaic of his life. A tribute film to a great singer, whose voice spoke to the hearts of all Greeks around the world. A film for those who loved him, and those who would like to get to know him.

GFF25 Roza of Smyrna

The enigmatic old woman, Rosa from Izmir (Smyrna), and the powerful Ismael have lived for decades with the weight of a well-kept secret. Dimitris, an avid collector of Greek objects in Asia Minor, is preparing an exhibition in a renowned museum in Athens on the culture of the nationalities who cohabited in Izmir before the genocide. During a trip to Izmir with the museum's curator and his girlfriend, Rita, he accidentally finds a bloodstained Greek wedding dress in a small antique shop. An old photograph, a bloodstained wedding dress, and a letter become the reasons to retell their story from the past.

GFF25 Santa's Snow Candy

In a stunning mountain village, a quirky pastry chef named Mr. Panagiotis (Alexandros Antonopoulos) is forced by circumstance to hide a little girl, Fani (Ariadni Velli), in his house. It doesn't take long for his two grandkids (Spyros Douyias and Stella Mouriki) and their mate (Stratis Zacharis) to find the hidden Fani, and just like that, the "gang of five" is formed. The four kids and Mr. Panagiotis embark on a fantastic adventure that blurs the lines between reality and fairytale. But first, they have to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. They need to trick Mr. Panagiotis's daughter (Katerina Geronikolou), the local doctor (Meletis Ilias), and pretty much everyone in the small community. They face a heap of obstacles, and after a thousand and one twists and turns, their secret is revealed, and they're forced to face the music. Will they live happily ever after? The whole crew gets mixed up in a comedy full of icing sugar, childhood dreams, and sweet tunes by Themis Karamouratidis. The film's song is performed by Eleonora Zouganeli.

GFF25 4 Black Suits

Four undertakers in financial trouble latch onto a one-off opportunity to change their lives and bid farewell to a profession they entered for a while but got stuck in for good. On the promise of a large fee, they fulfill the dying wish of a Greek who lived his life abroad: he wants them to take his body from Athens to a village in Boeotia for burial…on foot. Deciding to grant his bizarre request, they embark on an odyssey which soon becomes an unexpected voyage of discovery.

GFF25 A Journey To The Stars

In 1987 the Giannakopoulos family, fans of the Panathinaikos Athletic Club, decided to take over management of the men's basketball department. The decision would launch them on a journey to the Stars. The film captures the team’s journey from the establishment of the men's basketball department in 1919, the inauguration of the women's team in 1937 and the resistance activities of its athletes during the Occupation, to the building of the Indoor Hall under the stands of the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium and the team’s reaching the Final Four of the Cup Winners' Cup, all leading up to the pivotal moment when the Giannakopoulos family took over the its administration, which led it to repeated successes in the European Basketball Championships.

GFF25 Alex and Eve

Alex, a Greek Orthodox schoolteacher, falls for Eve, a Lebanese Muslim lawyer. The relationship is forbidden by both families, so the lovers find themselves in a critical dilemma.

GFF25 A Touch of Spice

A Touch of Spice is a story about a Greek boy (Fanis) growing up in Istanbul, whose grandfather, a culinary philosopher and mentor, teaches him that both food and life require a touch of spice to give them flavour. Fanis grows up to become an astrophysicist and an excellent cook, using his cooking skills to spice up the lives of those around him. Many years later he leaves Athens, where he is now living, and travels back to his birthplace to reunite with his grandfather and his first love; he comes now to realise that he forgot to put a little bit of spice into his own life.

GFF25 The Flea

Elias lives in a village in the mountains near Olympia and is about to finish primary school. But nobody calls him by his real name; he’s mostly known as “The Flea”, the name of the handwritten newspaper he edits and publishes by himself. His fellow-villagers make fun of Elias and yet he dreams of travel. “The Flea” helps him escape his village’s boundaries and gives him the wings he needs to fly away.

GFF25 The Last Note

Pantelis Voulgaris’s most recent film deals with one of the most important chapters of modern Greek history: the execution of 200 Greek resistance fighters by the German occupying forces on May 1st, 1944, in Kaisariani, as reprisal for the ambush of Nazis by the Greek Resistance. It takes us to the concentration camp of Chaidari, the period before Labor Day (May 1st), and introduces us to the people behind the tragic events. The leading character is 34-year-old Napoleon Soukatzidis, a Cretan born in Asia Minor, who had been arrested under the Metaxas dictatorship in 1936 and had been in prison and exile ever since.

GFF25 The Taverna

The Taverna follows one utterly chaotic evening in a family run Greek restaurant. Taverna owner, Kostas gets more than he bargained for when his popular belly dancer refuses to work to avoid her ex-husband and his new girlfriend and is replaced at the last minute by one of his eager waitresses. Matters are further complicated by a kidnapping, a scooter accident involving Kostas’ son, a well-meaning chef who cooks up rare treat and a sleazy customer who doesn’t know his limits. It all adds up to a darkly comic ride into the wild side of life, love, food and cultural differences. Q&A with Alkinos Tsilimidos and Tottie Goldsmith- Cinema Como only- Monday October 20!

GFF25 Greek Mothers Never Die

This supernatural comedy begins in Greece: Ella is the only child of Jack, an American singer-songwriter, and Despina, the zany, overprotective Greek owner of a cooked meat shop. Nick, Ella’s only friend, is a shy, nerdy ten-year-old. As Ella and Nick grow older their friendship turns into love, but in 2010 the Greek economy collapses, Nick vanishes, Jack dies and Despina and Ella move to America and set up shop there. Ella is now a 27-year-old late-bloomer, dreaming of becoming a singer, but Despina wants her to take over the business. During their daily fight, Despina drops dead of a heart attack, only to return as a ghost, haunting Ella with unwanted advice and romantic guidance after Nick resurfaces as a handsome doctor and something of a playboy.

GFF25 The Enigma of Keros

The excavations at Dhaskalio (directed by Colin Renfrew and Michael Boyd of the McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge) have completely transformed our understanding of what was previously seen as a Cycladic enigma. The today uninhabited island of Keros, in the Cyclades, Greece, was the site of the world’s earliest maritime sanctuary in the Early Bronze Age, and a thriving centre for metal production, providing much evidence for all crucial developments in architecture. The documentary presents all the great finds and the complex architectural design on the islet of Dhaskalio, which testifies to a sophisticated settlement of the Early Bronze Age, which could only be compared to the one in Knossos, Crete during the same period. In the 1950s, Keros was the focus of public attention concerning one of the largest cases of looting in the world.

GFF25 Balkanisateur

Stavros and Fotis, both penniless thirty-somethings and close friends with contrasting personalities, are trying to survive in a small town in Northern Greece. They learn that they can get rich by black-marketing dollars, so they travel to Bulgaria and Switzerland, hoping to gain money from the difference in foreign exchange rates. Their journey, full of stories and unexpected events, begins in an old car. Between East and West, the Balkans and Europe, hands exchange dollars for leva and leva for Swiss francs. The scheme is working, but how will it end?

GFF25 No Budget Story

Unable to make ends meet, aspiring filmmaker Eirinaios still dreams about making the ideal independent sci-fi movie. He can't secure funding until shady entrepreneur and former adult-movie producer Tolis takes a shine to him. Tolis seems to believe in Eirinaios, but his new protégé must do something in return.

GFF25 Rembetiko

The highly acclaimed Rembetiko (1983, director’s cut 2024) is a poignant musical drama that chronicles the life of Marika, a gifted singer whose journey mirrors the turbulence of 20th-century Greece. Born in Smyrna in 1917, Marika is forced to flee to Greece by the 1922 Catastrophe. Her early life is marred by personal tragedy. Despite these hardships, she rises to prominence in the rembetiko music scene—a genre often described as the Greek blues, known for expressing the struggles of the marginalised. Marika's story unfolds against a backdrop of significant historical events, including World War II and the Greek Civil War, highlighting themes of displacement, resilience, and the enduring power of music. Her passionate performances and tumultuous relationships underscore the personal costs of artistic dedication. The film culminates in Marika's tragic death, cementing her legacy as a symbol of cultural perseverance.

GFF25 Diversion

Kostas is a policeman, divorced with a child and with his mother in a nursing home. He is having a hard time financially, so he often steals jewelry from the corpses he conveys to the morgue. His ex-wife, Andri, works as a cleaner but she too is struggling financially since Kostas doesn't always pay in full the alimony they agreed upon. At the same time, he maintains a relationship with Elena, who lives with her mother. One day, when he and his colleague Andreas are called upon to transport a deceased person, an elderly woman, Kostas steals a cross from the corpse and puts it with other stolen jewelry in a biscuit container that he hides in a kitchen cupboard. Things start to get complicated when Elena stays overnight at Kostas’ apartment, finds the container and makes a disturbing discovery.

GFF25 Dogtooth

A father, a mother and their three children live in a house in the outskirts of a city. The children have never left the house. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. Rediscover Yorgos Lanthimos’ iconic feature film that defined his style and launched his career. Awarded the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Dogtooth was later nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

GFF25 Cheap Smokes

A mosaic of moments of Athenian life in the last summer of the twentieth century. A carefree and enigmatic walker collects the best moments of a city that the laziness of summer makes light and magical. Doomed loves and tragicomic encounters emerge to confront the harsh yet redemptive humour of everyday life. The central hero roams the landscape of night-time Athens looking for love, while at the same time wandering in his own inner landscape and questioning his existence.

GFF25 It's a Long Road

Three people head towards a turning point in their lives: at a dig in Philippi, an archaeologist discovers an unlooted tomb; at a bird sanctuary in Thrace, a game warden pays back a poacher in his own coin; a factory owner goes berserk when his wife leaves him, taking with her their two small children.

GFF25 Little England

In 1930s Andros, the island known as “Little England” because of its maritime tradition, local women mostly marry seamen and spend lonely lives, with their menfolk absent for long periods and sometimes lost at sea. A captain’s daughter, Orsa, is passionately in love with a sailor, Spyros, but her mother, Mina, at the helm of the family during her husband’s long absences, turns down Spyros’ marriage proposal for Orsa because of his humble background. Obeying her mother’s wishes, Orsa marries Nikos, a captain and ship owner. Years later, Spyros returns to the island as an accomplished captain with excellent prospects. Mina decides that he is now eligible to marry Orsa’s younger sister Moscha. After the wedding, the two couples share the same house. Following World War II, suppressed feelings are rekindled...

GFF25 Smaragda - I Got Thick Skin And I Can't Jump

A middle-aged woman, Smaragda, moves into her late mother's house in Ayia Napa, a tourist town in Cyprus, taking on the care of Bella, her mother's guide dog. Concerned about the environment, but with problems in her relationships, single and professionally stagnant, she ponders on the heritage she will leave. As a former children's TV show host yearning to return to the industry and facing rejection, she explores social media, encountering both fame and backlash. Financially strained, she takes a job as a kids' entertainer at a tourist resort, a far cry from her previous aspirations. And yet…

GFF25 Maria

Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie is Maria Callas, one of the most iconic performers of the 20th century, in acclaimed director Pablo Larrain's biographical drama Maria. The film follows the American-Greek soprano as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. The film reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva comes face to face with her identity and her life.

GFF25 Two Homelands

Two Homelands is both a commemoration of war and a celebration of community. 2024 marked 50 years since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Six elderly Australian Greek Cypriots – aged 70 to 102 – reflect on their war-torn island, life in Australia and their desire to see unification with their Turkish Cypriot compatriots. Filmed in Greek, the documentary offers a powerful perspective on migration, displacement, identity, resilience and cultural legacy.

GFF25 Together Apart

Anna and Philippos meet on an island after a year of separation in order to finalise their divorce and negotiate the future of their two children. Anna seems confident in her decision to separate, while Philippos seems unable to accept that their marriage is over. Their heated arguments bring deeper feelings to the surface. Their love and attraction are rekindled. The island, beautiful but dangerous, becomes a reflection of their marriage.

GFF25 The Return

After twenty years away Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognisable. The king has finally returned home but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan War. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is now a prisoner in her own home, hounded by her many ambitious suitors to choose a new husband, a new king. Their son Telemachus (Charles Plummer), who has grown up fatherless, is in danger of death at the hands of the suitors, who see him as an obstacle in their relentless pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus has changed too. Scarred by his experience of war, he is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember. But he is forced to face his past in order to rediscover the strength needed to save his family and win back the love he has lost.

GFF25 The Heart of the Beast

His advanced studies in philosophy have caused Stephanos to view all people as his inferiors. When he is discharged from army service (which is obligatory in Greece), he thinks the world belongs to him. In reality all that belongs to him are debts left by his mother, who has just died, and rejection by his formerly devoted girlfriend. Then Nikos, an old high school classmate, reappears in his life...

GFF25 The Greeks of South America

A loco Greek-Aussie-Lesbian is visiting the Greeks of South and Latin America in 2024 and 2025. Greeks have been in the Americas since the early 1800s, leaving their imprint on societies in Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Cuba. On an epic year of travel that took in 23 countries, Cotsis takes us to some of the more prominent Greek communities in the Americas, introducing us to multi-generational Greek speakers, Greek businesses, Churches, and dancing—opa! Each of these communities has tried to preserve their language and connection to Greece or Cyprus in lands that are distant to Hellenes. The film presents some of their stories and, more importantly, highlights some of the synergies between Greeks and the peoples of the Americas. Food, the spirit of Zorba, and adventure seem to be some of the commonalities between the two. As we follow a Hellenic path across the Americas, the film will highlight the beauty of local landscapes and the power of the Greek language.

GFF25 Super Paradise

Over the past 70 years, Mykonos has experienced transformations that test the limits of imagination: once it was dirt cheap, today it’s unaffordable; once it was “off the beaten track”, today it’s a top destination; once it was inclusive, today it’s exclusive. So, what happened? How did a tiny island become a melting pot for such radically divergent experiences? Was it once α paradise? Is it still? In this documentary the cinematic material is intercut with exclusive interviews, a mosaic of people of all ages from different walks of life – locals, internationals, intellectuals, artists, farmers, bar owners -– all offering their unique perspective on the Mykonos experience and providing a behind-the-scenes, intimate view of a complicated and fascinating island.

GFF25 Safe Sex

Safe Sex is a vibrant Greek comedy satire that weaves together multiple vignettes about the romantic and sexual entanglements of modern Athenians. Directed by the creative duo Michalis Reppas and Thanasis Papathanasiou, the film adopts a mosaic structure to humorously explore diverse aspects of intimacy – from dating misadventures and marital misunderstandings to experimental relationships and social taboos.

GFF25 Sacred Heart

After the death of his pregnant wife, a religious man rejects his faith and ironically challenges God and the Devil, as he struggles with the desire for revenge.

GFF25 Riviera

A mysterious stain appears on the wall in one of the rooms of a guest house on the Athenian Riviera, which young Alkistis manages together with her mother, Anna. In her spare time Alkistis tries to communicate with a dying tree, which she calls Jerry. Their only guests are Petros, a failed writer, who can no longer afford to live there, and a couple who are threatening to leave because of the growing mould in their room. Anna is about to sell out. Alkistis falls out with her best friend and gets involved in a doomed romance with a local engineer. As she desperately tries to cling onto the past, she spirals down into a frenzy of denial. Yet maybe the end of her world is not quite so tragic after all…

GFF25 Memento

Memento is a lyrical journey into the heart of Giromeri, a fading village nestled in the misty mountains of Epirus, northern Greece. Each Easter Monday, among weathered tombstones and blooming spring, villagers gather in the cemetery where local musicians perform the favorite songs of the departed – an intimate ritual of remembrance echoing through generations. This unique tradition becomes a timeless bridge between the living and the dead, between melody and memory. The documentary reveals the fragile beauty of rural life, where tradition clings to the edges of modernity. It is a gentle hymn to a way of life slowly fading, yet still fiercely sung.

GFF25 Dourgouti Town

An estate agent interested in investing wanders around the area of Neos Kosmos in Athens, formerly known as Dourgouti. Through his eyes unfolds the past, present and uncertain future of this once run-down district. A district like a deserted island, right next to the Acropolis, sharing the fate of similar neighborhoods around the globe. A district that silently records the history of the city for the last 100 years, just before gentrification takes complete control of the area and radically changes its character.