Greece Movie

Greece Movie

Greek cinema started during the early 20th century, but very few Greek movies were produced until 1940. It boomed after World War II, with a production rate of 4 to 7 movies per year by 1950, and reached 60 by 1960. The so called Golden Age of Greek cinema started in 1960 and lasted until 1973, with up to 97 movies per year being produced. After the restoration of Democracy in 1974, the production rate decreased considerably between 10 and 40 movies per year.

The first Greek movie was created in 1906; it was a short film about the Olympic Games of that same year, produced with simple technical means. In 1911, the movie Golfo was produced, an adaptation of the homonymous theatrical play that had considerable success at the time. The film was over two thousand metres long, lasting one hour and ten minutes, and was produced in a photo studio. Despite its many problems, the audience was enthusiastic and encouraged many others to start their first attempts at movie making.

In 1912, the first production company was founded, and its first movie was a short documentary around the life of the Greek princes. A number of other films followed, including burlesque – type comedies, which were extremely successful. World War II stopped movie making in Greece, which continued after 1920. In 1930, the last Greek silent films were created. This first period of Greek film making was characterized by restricted technical means, very little funding and using actors who were used in theatrical plays, thus being unable to perform well in front of the camera. Nevertheless, the Greek audience strongly supported this new experience.

After World War II and the liberation of Greece, movie making in Greece started reaching new heights. New production companies were founded and many remarkable directors started appearing, such as Yorgos Tzavellas, Alekos Sakelarios and Yannis Dalianidis. From 1956 to 1966, Michalis Kakoyannis also created some of the most important movies in the history of Greek cinema, including “Stella” and “Zorba the Greek”.

After the fall of the Regime of the Colonels in 1974, movie making in Greece struggled because of the competition with the rise of television. However, critically acclaimed movies were created, including Z by Costas Gavras, which was nominated for an Academy Award for both Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture, while Theodoros Angelopoulos was a remarkable director, who filmed the movie Eternity and a Day, which won the Palme d’Or and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in 1998 at the Cannes Film Festival. Some of the more recent Greek movies that had worldwide success include “A Touch of Spice” (Politiki Kouzina), “Brides” and “El Greco”, while “Dogtooth” won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.