French film festival in Athens

The film festival this year is a part of a huge program called " Hellas- France Alliance 2014" . Forty years after the restoration of democracy in Greece, the event’s title alludes to an historic slogan widely heard in Greece during the 1970s.

Building on decades of close ties between Greece and France, the French Institute of Greece is honoring the semester of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union, highlighting the cultural relations between the two countries through a program unprecedented in terms of extent and quality.

In all, 47 films will be screened in all sections of the festival in the French Institute and the movie theatre Danaos-Embassy Nova Odeon. Nine of them are in the competition and will be released for the first time in Greece; most of the festival's films will be shown here for the first time.

The president of the festival this year is Nathalie Baye, who has a career with a wide range of roles, awards and collaborations with directors like Truffaut, Godard and Spielberg. The famous actress will be honored with a special award that she will receive in a special ceremony by her friend and journalist Yiannis Kartalis.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi will also come to Athens for the film "A Castle in Italy'' (which competed in Cannes) on the end of an era of a family of Italian industrialists.

Among the nine films in competition are the films "Camille Klontel 1915 " with Juliette Binoche, ''Beauty and the Beast'' with Lea Seydoux and Vincent Cassel and "Michael Kohlchaas" with Mads Mikkelsen in the title role.

Over 100 events throughout Greece – from Athens and Thessaloniki to Patras, Larissa, Kalamata and Messolonghi – and in many French cities, including Paris, Nanterre, Avignon and Caen, make up a rich cultural canvas, with the participation of dozens of Greek cultural agencies, including the National Theatre, the National Opera, the State Orchestras of Athens and Thessaloniki, and top French cultural institutions, including the Comédie-Française, the Avignon Festival, the Μusée de Cluny, the IRCAM Institute, the Collège de France.

Put together under the auspices of the Greek Presidency and the two countries’ Foreign Ministries, the program offers both the Greek and French public the opportunity to participate in events that cover every area of the arts, from theatre to cinema, and from music to dance and the visual arts.

“Through this cultural collaboration, we will gain the opportunity to strengthen the relations between Greece and France even further, and to promote the common principles and values that link the two countries not only bilaterally, but also on a European and international scale, at a time of economic crisis,” stresses Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

“The ‘Hellas-France Alliance 2014’ programme is the cultural expression of France’s solidarity at a time when Greece is going through a deep crisis. This programme reflects Greek-French cooperation and expresses the democratic principles that unite us,” underscores the Foreign Minister of the French Republic, Laurent Fabius.

As France’s Ambassador to Greece, Jean Loup Kuhn-Delforge, says, “Hellas-France Alliance 2014” is also aimed at bringing Greek artists closer to France, through events that point up the ongoing cooperation between agencies, artists and prominent figures of the two countries.