Premiere Nights: All the Must-See Films

• With the pre-sale opening today at 12.00, see a guide for the film festival of Athens, so as not to miss the most talked-about films of the year
  By Chrysa Kakiōri

The 31st International Film Festival of Athens returns with strong list of screenings and big names. Among them, the much-anticipated “Vugonia” of Giorgos Lanthimos and two honored guests who raise the bar: Daniel Day-Lewis and Neil Jordan.

At the same time, behind the glamour, bells of anxiety are heard for the viability of the institution. In June, the festival was informed that the state funding through ESPA will not be extended, a decision that left the present organization with one third of the budget and brought upheavals: a large tribute was canceled, sections were cut, the 100 films became 50 and the international guests were reduced. Thanks to the contribution of the Hellenic Film Centre, EKOMED, OPANDA, sponsors and friends, the festival remains standing.

This year, the festival lasts from 1–12 October and, despite the adversities, keeps the intensity and the glamour that made it point of reference every autumn.

The curtain opens on Wednesday 1 October at the Athens Concert Hall, with the nationwide premiere of “Vugonia.” With Emma Stone in the leading role, Lanthimos turns the gaze to a world numbed from misinformation, catastrophism and collective paranoia. A mirror-film that asks directly if humanity deserves a “second chance.”

From the brightest moments, the presence of Daniel Day-Lewis (photo), who returns to Athens to present the film “Anemone” in special nationwide premiere at the Concert Hall, with the proceeds supporting the Spastics Protection Society / Open Door. Next to him, Neil Jordan is honored for the whole of his path with screening of “The End of an Affair” at “Olympia” (with the support of the Embassy of Ireland).

In the present Nights, among the highlights, we will see the “Secret Agent” (photo) of Kleber Mendonça Filho at the Onassis Foundation Stegi (2 October), a political thriller that transfers us to Brazil and the dictatorial regime of 1977. Also comes the new film of Luca Guadagnino, “After the Hunt,” with Julia Roberts, a story that lights the #MeToo movement in America.

The “Voice of Hind Rajab” of Kaouther Ben Hania moves with the path from Tunisia to Gaza, a film that excited the audience at the Venice festival, and received also the Grand Jury Prize. Still, the nationwide premiere of the film of Park Chan-wook, “No Other Choice,” which also arrives from Venice with dithyrambic reviews. It concerns a poisonous blend of thriller, black comedy and social parable, with protagonist a dismissed executive of company who, seeking job, exterminates his competitors one after the other.

The film that closes the festival is the tender romance “The History of Sound” with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

Studying the program, we distinguished also:

From the films that were discussed strongly at the big festivals, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You as instant, contemporary manifesto for motherhood and the exhaustion of everyday life. Mary Bronstein directs with sharp empathy and Rose Byrne delivers one of her top performances, in role of working mother who raises her seriously ill daughter.

In the sphere of musical legends, One to One: John and Yoko lights a troubled period in the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Not as hagiography, but as living portrait of creation and friction, where the private moments meet the historical conjuncture.

From the most charged moments of the year, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, a film that shocked Cannes, sinks into the work of Fatima Hassouna, the photojournalist who was murdered few days before the world premiere. Cinema as testimony, as witness and finally as cry.

In Ice Tower, Marion Cotillard delivers a unique performance in the coming-of-age story of Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence). A girl escapes from the orphanage and finds refuge on a film set, where the “Snow Queen” of Cotillard becomes the mirror and the antidote of her loneliness.

The much-anticipated return of Fatih Akin with Amrum transfers us to spring of 1945, to the homonymous island of the North Sea. Through the eyes of a twelve-year-old who goes out into the wild sea for seal hunting, the today 86-year-old Hark Bohm recalls a childhood-adventure. In the leading role Diane Kruger.

From the north, the Norwegian Dag Johan Haugerud closes the trilogy of relationships with Dreams (Sex Love)—Golden Bear this year—where the 17-year-old Johanne lives the first thunderbolt love with one of her teachers. The creator balances with unbelievable precision between intellectualism, humor and tenderness, continuing the thread from Sex – What Men Say Between Themselves and Only Love.

Close to us, but also timelessly cult, The City Never Sleeps of Andreas Tsilifonis returns in digitally restored copy: rock ’n’ roll, 80s Athens, street races and a melancholic ode to the urban night that justly became song.

And from the strong international documentary, White House Effect picks up again the thread in the late ’80s, in the term of George Bush senior. Then when the environment was bipartisan priority—in full counterpoint with today—and where the decisions of that period show how we arrived up to here.

The screenings are shared in the halls Danaos 1, Cinobo Opera I, Astor, Asty, Trianon, Athens Concert Hall, Olympia – Municipal Music Theatre “Maria Callas” and Onassis Foundation Stegi.

The pre-sale of single tickets begins today Friday 26 September at 12.00 noon.

More information for the program at www.aiff.gr