Greek Cinema - Hellenic University Club of Southern California

documentary by a “New Director.” Then it
was the short documentary The Bouzouki (A
Musical Instrument) produced and directed
by Vasilis Maros, who was also the director
of photography. The cameramen were Giorgos
Antonakis and Andreas Ahladis. Though
it was not selected by the committee of Thessalonica
film festival because of censorship,
it participated in Soviet Greek friendship festival
in Moscow in 1973 and received an
award. Its plot chronicles the history of the
Greek folk song and its evolution for the previous
fifty years. The director Vasilis Maros
in most of his movies had as co-workers
Christos Triadafillou as assistant director,
cameramen Giorgos Antonakis and Andreas
Ahladis and Stavros Abatzoglou for sound
recording.
Because of censorship during the previous
years, many short documentaries short
and feature movies were rejected for presentation
by Thessalonica film festival committee.
The following short documentaries and
short movies were at first rejected because of
their themes, but later were accepted for
competition. These are Ipograpste Parakalo
(Sing Please), directed by Lambros Papadimitrakis;
Teleftea Prova (The Last Rehearsal),
directed by Nikos Koutelidakis, and the
short documentary The Bouzouki which we
mentioned above. Strangely enough, both of
the above short movies and short documentary
received the first prize when they were
permitted for participation with competition
1974 after the fall of the dictatorship.
The director Apostolos Krionas with his
short documentary Itan Mia Mera Giortis
(It Was a Day of Celebration) presents again
the subject of immigration and its effect in a
small Macedonian village which was deserted.
The director Tassos Psarras with his short
documentary To Thavma (The Miracle) and
the director Nikos Koutelidakis with his short
movie Teleftea Prova (The Last Rehearsal),
all three received the Critics award for the
best short movies and best short documen-
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tary. Aliki Alexandraki received the Best Actress
award by the Critics for her performance
in the short movie Katathesis (Deposition);
directed by Christos Poliyiannopoulos.
The actor Stratos Pahis received the Best
Supporting Actor award for his performance
in the short movie Ta Plouti Tou Mida (The
Fortune of Midas), directed by Panos Papadopoulos.
One should note that all the above
Critics awards were funded by the producer
James Paris (Demetris Parashakis). One short
movie that is a combination of sketches with
live characters was Anthropos Ke Eftihia
(Person and Happiness), produced and directed
by Theodoros Vamvourelis. He gives a
picture of different persons and the way every
human been thinks, feels, and searches for
happiness. One more historical feature documentary
of 1973 was Dionisios Solomos,
directed by Lila Kourkoulakou. She presents
the activities and work of the national poet of
the Greeks, Dionisios Solomos, in modern
Greece who wrote the National Hymn.
The year 1974 started with some serious
problems, at least in the committee of the
Thessalonica film festival. With the fall of
the Junta in the summer of 1974, the producers
demanded the resignation of certain
members of the festival committee, claiming
they belonged to the Junta. They also demanded
the abolition of censorship and permission
for participation for competition in
the festival of all short documentaries and
short movies (like the feature movies) that
had been rejected by censors since the junta
took over (April 21, 1967). They also demanded
the abolition of governmental trustees.
However, the evidence indicates that out
of the sixty-four short movies and documentaries
that were produced, 24 of them participated
in the Thessalonica film festival, 11 for
competition and 13 without competition.
When the dissatisfied producers and directors
formed the “Anti-Festival” in 1974
and presented their feature movies in the
movie theater “Fraganis". In the same movie