CINEMA REDISCOVERED

The Hellenic Film Academy presents

CINEMA REDISCOVERED

Greek Cinema as You’ve Never Seen It Before

15 September – 20 October 2026

This autumn, the Hellenic Film Academy invites audiences to Rediscover Cinema through a series of screenings featuring more than 50 significant films in 8 cities across Greece. Fiction and documentary films, from the 1950s to the present day, come together in an eclectic programme of five sections curated by distinctive voices from the world of cinema.

The Curators

Yorgos Krassakopoulos, film critic and Head of Programming at the Thessaloniki International Film and Documentary Festivals, presents MIRROR/IMAGE, a selection of Greek and European films shown in pairs, focusing on the unspoken dialogues between filmmakers.
Afroditi Nikolaidou, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, curates ATHENS IN THE 1990s AND 2000s: A CITY IN-BETWEEN?, featuring films that capture the transformation of Athens during the years of the crisis.
Dionyssis Samiotis, producer, Tanweer Productions, presents BOX OFFICE, a selection of some of the biggest commercial successes in Greek cinema.
Marisha Triantafyllidou and Eva Samioti, actresses, have jointly curated FATHERLAND-RELIGION-FAMILY: WE ARE SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON, a section focusing on Greek identity.
Efthymis Filippou, screenwriter and author, presents THEM, THEN., a selection of groundbreaking Greek fiction and documentary films spanning five decades.

The Films

Their selections offer a different journey through the history of Greek cinema — not a linear one, but one marked by detours, twists and surprises. From 1953 to 2024, from Greece during the crisis and Athens in the era of migration and the Olympics, to rural life, gender relations, sexual liberation and the “sacred” family, to the ways Greek films intersect with British, French, German, Austrian cinema. From acclaimed filmmakers and box-office hits to little discoveries and the cinema of tomorrow, Cinema Rediscovered reveals a country and a filmography that keeps changing.

From acclaimed filmmakers and box-office triumphs to lesser-known discoveries that pave the way for the filmmakers and works of tomorrow, Cinema Rediscovered reveals a country — and a cinema — in a state of constant change.

Full list of films by curator, in chronological order:

Υorgos Krassakopoulos
Eyes Without a Face, Georges Franju, 1960 | Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse, Agnès Varda, 2000 | Real Life, Panos H. Koutras, 2004 | Attenberg, Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010 | Alps, Yorgos Lanthimos, 2011 | Stranger by the Lake, Alain Guiraudie, 2013 | Under the Skin, Jonathan Glazer, 2013 | Suntan, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, 2016 | The Trouble with Being Born, Sandra Wollner, 2020 | Stray Bodies, Elina Psykou, 2024

Dionyssis Samiotis
The Man with the Carnation, Nikos Tzimas, 1980 | Loafing and Camouflage, Nikos Perakis, 1984 | End of an Era, Antonis Kokkinos, 1994 | Balkanisateur, Sotiris Gkoritsas, 1997 | A Touch of Spice, Tassos Boulmetis, 2003 | Brides, Pantelis Voulgaris, 2004 | El Greco, Yannis Smaragdis, 2007 | Worlds Apart, Christopher Papakaliatis, 2015

Marisha Triantafyllidou & Eva Samioti
Eva, Maria Plyta, 1953 | The Auntie from Chicago, Alekos Sakellarios, 1957 | Sweet Bunch, Nikos Nikolaidis, 1983 | Mania, Giorgos Panousopoulos, 1985 | Crystal Nights, Tonia Marketaki, 1992 | Knifer, Yannis Economidis, 2010 | Avant-Drag!, Fil Ieropoulos, 2024 | In the Sky of Nothingness with the Least, Christos Andrianopoulos, 2023 | Avant-Drag!, Fil Ieropoulos, 2024

Efthymis Filippou
A Matter of Dignity, Michael Cacoyannis, 1958 | Macedonian Wedding, Takis Kanellopoulos, 1960 | Thasos, Takis Kanellopoulos, 1961 | Kalymnos, the Island of the Sponge Fishers, Basil Maros, 1963 | The Shepherds of Disorder, Nico Papatakis, 1967 | Kastoria, Takis Kanellopoulos, 1969 | Quest…, Errikos Andreou, 1972 | Bouzouki, Basil Maros, 1973 | Your Neighbor’s Son, Jørgen Flindt Pedersen, Erik Stephensen, 1976 | Betty, Dimitris Stavrakas, 1979 | The Cosmic Dissecting Room Show, Vasilis Vafeas, 1993 | Mourning Rock, Filippos Koutsaftis, 2000 | Anaparastasis: The Life and Work of Jani Christou, Kostis Zouliatis, 2012

The Screenings

The screenings will take place in cinemas and cultural venues, both indoor and outdoor, in Athens, Chania, Larissa, Patras, Rethymno, Thessaloniki, Veria and Volos with the presence of the curators and invited filmmakers, artists, cultural professionals and other contributors, with the aim of creating an open dialogue with audiences.

The programme’s partner organisations are the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the 32nd Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, Cinedoc Documentary Festival 2026–27, and Chania Film Festival 2026.

The official launch of the programme in Athens will take place on Wednesday, 16 September, at Stoa Culture, in the presence of the curators and contributors to the project, followed by a screening of Balkanisateur by Sotiris Goritsas.

The Cinema Rediscovered programme will conclude with a special screening of Theo Angelopoulos’ iconic Landscape in the Mist, which won the European Film Academy Award for Best Film in 1989, on a date and at a venue to be announced shortly.

Audiences can find the full programme, detailed information about the films and the special guests attending each screening on the Hellenic Film Academy website.

Cinema Rediscovered is part of the official programme of events leading up to the 39th European Film Awards in Athens, organised in collaboration with the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece (EKKOMED).

The European Film Awards ceremony, which will take place in January 2027 at the Greek National Opera at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, is a major international cultural event and a unique opportunity to showcase Greek filmmaking and highlight Greece as a dynamic hub for film creation in Europe.

Ticket Prices

Admission per screening: €5 | Reduced: €3
Village Cinemas – admission per screening: €7 | Reduced: €5

FULL PROGRAMME AND INFORMATION