The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in association with the New York City Greek Film Festival, is presenting ATHENS TODAY: NEW GREEK CINEMA, a series of six films to be shown weekends during January and February at the National’s East Building Auditorium, 6th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.
Opening the series on Saturday, January 9, 3:30 pm, is Angeliki Aristomenopoulou’s A FAMILY AFFAIR, a documentary on the Xylouris family, world-famed exponents of Cretan music. The much acclaimed LITTLE ENGLAND, directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, follows on Saturday, January16, 2:30 pm. CHEVALIER, the new film by Athina Rachel Tsangari, will be shown on Sunday, January 24, 4 pm and Oscar contender XENIA, directed by Panos Koutras, on Sunday, February 7, 4 pm. Margarita Manda’s romantic drama FOREVER will be shown on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 4 pm. The series closes on Sunday, February 28, 4 pm, with the U.S. premiere of SILENT, a psychological drama directed by Yorgos Gkikapeppas. The director is expected to attend the screening.
“There is an inventive spirit infusing cinema and the culture of filmmaking in Greece today,” said Margaret Parsons, head of the National Gallery’s Film Department. “Young filmmakers, typically born after 1970, are meeting the challenges of economic downturn with creative and committed approaches and a vast artistic reserve. As a result, recent cinema in Greece has been imaginative, wise, hugely varied, and often daring or offbeat enough to shun the conventions of an earlier generation.”
“The emergence of Greece as the source of vibrant cinema continues unabated,” said James DeMetro, director of the NYC Greek Film Festival. “I am pleased that the National Gallery of Art will give audiences in the Washington area the opportunity to experience these wonderful films that people all over the world are discovering.”
Admission to all screenings is free. More information is available by clicking on “Winter 2016 Film Calendar” at: nga.gov/film