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47th THESSALONICA FILM FESTIVAL Written by Giannis Frangoulis Translated by Konstantinos Vassilaros

EDUART SAVES THE DAY

The last day of Festival is finally upon us and everyone is anxiously waiting for Awards Ceremony, where Films will be awarded by the Thessalonica Festival Committee, the Pan-Hellenic Union of Cinema Critics and the Union of Technicians for Greek Cinema and Television. The Greek films however are not competing for an Award instead a committee made up of 50 members will select the best films and honor them with the National Award of Quality. Those Awards will be given out one day after the end of the Festival, at the Music House, in Thessalonica. Now why the expression “Quality” is appointed to the awards, I do not understand? On the same notion couldn’t there be Awards for Mediocrity? The only type of Awards given to bad quality films are the Razzies, an Award Ceremony that takes place in Hollywood couple of days after the Academy Awards. Let’s ignore answering this question now and get to the essence of this report.

The Greek Films

On Saturday like every day the Greek Films were screened at the Olympion Theatre. The screenings commenced with the film of Giannis Xanthopoulos, “Five more minutes”. The director began his filmmaking career in 1980 with his short film “Forbidden”, he then made three other short films, with his last one being “The Dog” (1993), and then continued his career working for television. This new film is his first feature film attempt. Astonishingly the film has already succeeded at the box office during the short time since its release. It is a light comedy, a fresh take on comedy without anything remarkably innovative to offer. A documentary made by Kimonas Tsakiris, called “Sugartown – The Grooms” was literally an unpleasant surprise. His first feature film was subsequent to his three short films, one of them called “The Stranger (dream or reality?)”, which I liked a lot. I expected a film from Tsakiris that combined imagination with reality, making a fictional film with a factual back-bone as a story. Instead he ends up making a news video, with certain elements of humor, clearly a television product. Humor was also found in the film “A hero… in Rome”, by Panos Aggelopoulos. It is his second film, while his first was “Made in Greece”, a film starring Harry Klyn. If his first film had bizarre humor, then his second one could easily be characterized as a ‘cult’ film, even if it lacks certain qualities of the classic ‘cult’ films. I seriously doubt that this eccentric humor and the bizarre scenes were deliberately made by the director. On top of that unbelievable things take place in the film that can only be part of severe errors made in the script. A bad film that will not trouble us anymore. We will finish our report about the Greek films with the film by Angeliki Antoniou, “Eduart”. It is the ninth film made by this director, who began working in 1987, and her first short film was “Persephone”. Here in Thessalonica we first got to know her with her film “Donousa” (1992) and then with the feature “Lost nights” (1997). This year she brought us her new film and surprisingly it left us with a very good impression. Before discussing about the film, we first need to talk about the eminent subject of some films’ Greek identity. There is a serious problem concerning some films and whether there should be characterized as Greek or not. If they are not characterized as Greek then they will not be able to compete for the National Awards of High Quality. We will refer to this issue on a future article and included it in our final assessment of the Festival. This film had to violate some rules in order to be characterized as Greek. Certain publications took place in some newspapers and the film entered the Greek Films section, making it eligible for the National Awards. I am unable to understand this legislation of considering films Greek or not, and I am convinced that this setback has caused many productions to stop or seek alternative funding, stopping them from being recognized as a Greek film. This precisely was the case with the film of Antoniou. The film’s story takes place in Greece and Albania. Eduart is an Albanian, who illegally came to our country, and becomes a thief in order to live. Homeless, unemployed and without any money he will seek help from his Albanian friend. Meanwhile, his friend introduced Eduart to a rich lawyer who happens to be homosexual. Eduart will go to the lawyer’s apartment and after he tries to rob him he will end up killing him. He will then be caught by the police and deported back to Albania along with other illegal immigrants. There he will again be captured by the police for a crime he committed before he left for Greece, and he will be condemned for five years to prison. The prison will become a ‘big’ school for Eduart. He will come face to face with the ugly side of life but he will also learn to respect his fellowman. He will find a mentor, a doctor from Germany sentenced to prison for life. When the prisons are opened by the mutineers who opposed and rose against the Berisha regime, he will manage to escape and finally return back to Greece, after parting with the doctor who was seriously wounded and died. In Greece he will turn himself in and be punished for his crimes. Antoniou directs the story very well. The editing is excellently crafted, slow-paced when structuring the characters, fast-paced when there is need for rhythm in order to articulate the film language. Beautiful cinematography, enriching the elements of the film and creating a very realistic atmosphere for the prison. The film is a Greek/German co-production and is confidently competent for worldwide distribution. A first-rate film that proudly characterizes our country and adorns the Greek Cinema. Lest hope the film is awarded with the National Award.

The foreign films

We will mention only one film that of Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, “Bled number one”. We are dealing with a story captured by the eyes of an Algerian who is expelled from France back to his country of origin, after he is released by the French prison. He will witness first hand the big changes that took place in Algeria since he last saw it, a country that hangs between modernism and tradition. The camera lenses record the reality, as a passive observer with a very slow rhythm, which often becomes unjustifiable. The film is a political accusation with an artistic feel, which cannot complete its narrative successfully. Next time we will discuss the Closing Ceremony and about the National Awards Ceremony. We will continue our reporting concerning the homages, the tribute screenings, and the various other programs that presented many more important films which we were not reported due to a lack of time. All will take place in Athens where we will complete our reports on Thessalonica Film Festival, thus giving the final complete image.

Saturday 25th November 2006, Giannis Frangoulis

47th THESSALONICA FILM FESTIVAL - EDUART SAVES THE DAY