Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Thursday, January 20, 2011

PANORAMA OF GREEK CINEMA: Upcoming Films

The Embassy of Greece, in collaboration with the Greek Film Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece is proud to present the Panorama of Greek Cinema series at the Avalon Theater in Washington, D.C. This series, which holds screenings on the first Wednesday of each month at 8:00pm, provides a unique opportunity for D.C. filmgoers to experience the best of Greek cinema.

Embassy of Greece Cultural Counselor Zoe Kosmidou remarks, "the Panorama of Greek Cinema will introduce Washington to extraordinary new and old films, talented and innovative filmmakers, fascinating stories, and interesting points of view from Greece. Film enthusiasts are invited to discover some of the most groundbreaking cinema the Greek film industry has to offer! We are grateful to the Avalon for hosting this new film series and to Ted Pedas for his support."

For more information, visit:

Admission: $11.00 Adults - $8.25 Seniors - $9.00 Students - $8.00 Children (12 and under)

February 2, 2011 - 8:00PM
Hard Goodbyes: My Father
(Dyskoloi apohairetismoi: O babas mou)
Elias is a 10 year old boy living in Athens with his family in 1969 and has an interest in Jules Verne’s stories and in astronomy. His father, with whom Elias has a strong relationship, is a travelling salesman and his absence affects the whole family. On the eve of his departure for a long business trip he promises his son that he’ll be back in time to watch the moon landing on TV together, but he is killed in a car accident. While Elias’ mother and his elder brother deal with the loss in their own way, Elias refuses to accept his father’s death. He creates an imaginary world, in which his father is alive. He shares fictitious stories with his friends, he sends letters to his grandmother on behalf of his father and he dreams of places like he did with him. Elias’ mother and his godfather, who do everything to bring him back to reality, take him to a summer house. On the night of the moon landing Elias meets his father in his own way and comes to terms with his loss. He shares fictitious stories with his friends, he sends letters to his grandmother on behalf of his father and he dreams of places like he did with him. Elias’ mother and his godfather, who do everything to bring him back to reality, take him to a summer house. On the night of the moon landing Elias meets his father in his own way and comes to terms with his loss.

Directed by Penny Panayotopoulou - Not Rated - 113 Min. - in Greek with English subtitles


March 2, 2011 - 8:00PM
The Four Seasons of the Law
(I earini synaxis ton agrofylakon)

This film takes place at a small village at the greek island of Chios, sometime around 1960. When the local field watchman dies, the agronomist must assign a new field watchman to be responsible for this village. We watch as four different people take this job and fail one after the other…

Directed by Dimos Avdeliodis - Not Rated - 178 Min. - in Greek with English subtitles


April 6, 2011 - 8:00PM
Quiet Days of August
(Isyhes meres tou Augoustou)

The figure of a woman at a lighted window, two glances in the empty compartment of the subway, the voice of an unknown man on the telephone, trigger off a human relationship. Three stories about life in Athens in August that are linked by loneliness, the need for human contact and the full moon.

Directed by Pantelis Voulgaris - Not Rated - 108 Min. - in Greek & French with English subtitles

Friday, November 12, 2010

Euripides’ Ancient Drama Revived by the Washington National Opera


On May 6, 2011, the Washington National Opera will revive the ancient Greek playwright Euripides’ melodrama, Iphigenia in Tauris, with its production of Gluck’s opera Iphigénie en Tauride. This magnificent opera in four acts brims with passion and despair and is expected to delight audiences with the excitement and drama of Euripides’ original play, complemented by the sublime music of Christoph Willibald Gluck.

The plot of the opera revolves around Iphigénie, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestre, who was to be sacrificed by her father in order to placate the goddess Artemis. Iphigénie was saved when Artemis replaced her with a deer on the sacrificial altar and transported her to Tauride. There, Iphigénie becomes the high priestess of Artemis’ temple, where her duty is to sacrifice foreigners who arrive in Tauride. Desperate to escape her position as priestess and to communicate with her family in Greece, she gets her chance when two mysterious Greeks arrive on the shores of Tauride. These two men, one of whom is Oreste, Iphigénia’s long-lost younger brother, are captured in order to be sacrificed. Under pressure of the king of Tauride, King Thoas, Iphigénie is forced to choose whether to kill her brother or risk her life to save his.

The accomplished soprano Patricia Racette will sing the role of Iphigénie, while world-renowned tenor and director of the Washington National Opera, Plácido Domingo, graces the stage as her brother, Oreste. Conductor William Lacey collaborates with Spanish director Emilio Sagi to produce this performance that is sure to be unforgettable.

Performance dates in 2011: Friday, May 6; Monday, May 9; Thursday, May 12; Sunday, May 15; Tuesday, May 17; Friday, May 20; Wednesday, May 25; Saturday, May 28

Iphigénie en Tauride photo courtesy of the Opera de Oviedo. Plácido Domingo by Karen Cooper of the Washington National Opera.