The show hosted Sofia Stavrianidou, director of the Greek Film Festival in Berlin, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with a rich program.
As the largest Greek film festival in Europe, it has been warmly embraced by audiences, consisting, according to Ms. Stavrianidou, of more than 50% Greeks from the Diaspora, as well as Germans and many international cinephiles. Berlin, after all, is a multicultural city with residents of various nationalities. The festival is held at Babylon cinema in the Mitte district, where many non-Greek speakers live, so films are screened with English subtitles.
This year, the festival will take place from March 26-30, 2025, and the opening film, Stelios, about the life of Stelios Kazantzidis, is already sold out. “No other singer has expressed the experience of migration like Stelios Kazantzidis,” said Ms. Stavrianidou, adding that the film’s director, Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, and producer, Dionysis Samiotis, will be present. Over the years, the festival has hosted notable Greek filmmakers such as Pantelis Voulgaris, Sotiris Goritsas, and Manousos Manousakis, while this year, Renos Haralambidis will attend for the screening of his film Athens Midnight Radio.
A total of 33 films will be screened, including feature films, documentaries, short films, and special screenings. Among them, 6 will have their world premieres, 18 their German premieres, and 3 their Berlin premieres.
Finally, six films competing in the official “Emerging Greeks Competition” will vie for the “Emerging Greeks Award”, which comes with a €1,000 cash prize, sponsored—starting this year and for the next three years—by ERTFLIX International.