2nd Annual Greek Film Festival in Champaign

Dear friends of Modern Greek Studies,

The Modern Greek Studies Program in collaboration with the FilmHellenes of Chicago and the support of many academic units across campus, including the Public Engagement Fund, the private sector, the Greek student organizations in our campus (HSA and HASO) and the Greek communities in Urbana-Champaign and Chicago are holding the 2nd Annual Greek Film Festival in Champaign on March 9 and 10 2013. The event will be held in the Art Theater (downtown Champaign).

For more details please visit the 2nd Annual Greek Film Festival's website on: http://www.moderngreek.illinois.edu/events/filmfestival2/

Please find as an attachment to this message a poster, the official announcement of the event and su of all the movies to be shown at the Film Festival. Can I ask all the members of the list to spread the good news around, particular to those who you think might be interested in attending the event.

The Modern Greek Studies Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Film Hellenes at Chicago announce 2013 line up for the 2nd Annual Greek Film Festival in Champaign

Urbana-Champaign (18 February 2013) – Modern Greek Studies Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the FilmHellenes in Chicago announced today the lineup and schedule for the 2nd Annual Greek Film Festival in Champaign, to take place March 9 – 10, 2012. The event comes almost a year after the very successful 1st Greek Festival in Champaign, March 2-3 2012, and has attracted wide support across the University campus, the wider community in Champaign and the Greek community of Illinois and US Mid-west. This is well reflected on the wide range of sponsors who support the event and include various and diverse academic units across campus, student organizations, the private sector and many others. The Festival will feature contemporary, juried-selected films (feature-length, documentaries, shorts and student films) from Hellenic filmmakers worldwide. The two-day event will include screenings of 12 films at the Art Theater in Champaign (Downtown). The films were selected by a committee appointed by the Modern Greek Studies Program and were screened in 2nd Annual Film Festival in Chicago, October, 4-8 2012.

The festival will open on Saturday March 9th at 11:15am with short welcome introductions by Dr. Stefanos Katsikas, Director of the Modern Greek Studies Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a founding member and Chair of the Film Hellenes Mr. Nikos Franghias, followed by three short films, The Visit, Foreigner and Playing with the Shadows. FISH N’ CHIPS, directed by Elias Demetriou who won the Best First Time Director Award at the 2012 Hellenic Film Academy Awards in Athens, Greece. The film follows a hard-working Cypriot immigrant in London who decides to move back to Cyprus to open his very own chip shop – but his dream turns into a nightmare when he realizes that Cyprus isn’t London. FISH N’ CHIPS received a special presentation also at the Gene Siskel Film Center by the Film Festival in Chicago on Wednesday, October 10th 2012. After these short films, Kisses to the Children, a strong documentary about the five Jewish children saved by Christians during the Nazi occupation in Greece, will be screened. PARADISE features four interlocking stories about relationships set against the Patras Mardi Gras On Sunday March 10th, the second day of the event, will film screening will start at 13:30PM with the film WELCOME TO ALL SAINTS, which will explore the absurd world of work in the Greek public sector through the eyes of a medical intern at “All Saints” Hospital. The Festival will close with the film SUPER DEMETRIOS, a superhero in a journalist for the Golden Jerusalem magazine who fights for truth, justice and the ‘Greco-Christian’ ideal.

These films along with other documentaries and excelelnt student films and shorts will be shown throughout the two-day festival. All non-English language films include English subtitles. For more details on the program, summary of he films to be shown, sponsors, etc, please browse this webpage

On behalf of he Organizers,

Dr. Stefanos Katsikas Director of the Modern Greek Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mr. Nikos Franghias, Founding member and Chair of the Film Hellenes at Chicago