2013 FilmHellene Honorary Award Goes to Literary Icon Harry Mark Petrakis

CHICAGO (August 12) – FilmHellenes, the 2011-launched not-for-profit organization dedicated to identifying, promoting and celebrating Hellenic Storytelling, is pleased to announce their annual FilmHellene Honorary Award will be presented to the quintessential chronicler of the Greek American experience, 90-year-old Chicagoan Harry Mark Petrakis. The ceremony is scheduled to take place September 22nd from 5pm to 9pm, co-sponsored by the National Hellenic Museum in downtown Chicago.

FilmHellenes co-Founder and President, filmmaker Niko Franghias, says “last year we introduced this major award with the purpose to honor a member of the worldwide storytelling Hellenic Community; a person who, through time and hard efforts has made themselves admired and loved through his or her work. For 2012, the recipient was Academy Award® winning filmmaker, Alexander Payne. This year, we felt that the ideal recipient would be much loved storyteller, Chicago’s very own, Harry Mark Petrakis, and we’re now inviting the Community to join us in this positively overflowing celebration.”

The event will feature a screening of A DREAM OF KINGS (1969) directed by Daniel Mann based on “A Dream of Kings” by Harry Mark Petrakis; a New York Times best-selling novel about a Chicago Greek, a proponent of creative get-rich-quick schemes, passionate loving husband and father - equally passionate lover of a beautiful bakeshop proprietor –and inveterate gambler. When he learns that his only son is about to die, he is determined to reverse fate. This is the story of that conflict – a Greek against the gods – a tale of enormous power and laughter, both breathtaking and triumphant. The film was partly shot on Chicago’s Halsted Street in Greektown and stars Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas.

The Q&A with Harry Mark Petrakis will be moderated by John Petrakis, professor of screenwriting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago, former film critic for the Chicago Tribune.

Tickets: $40 each - two tickets for the discounted rate of $75. Admission includes light appetizers and beverages.

Event Details:

Sunday, September 22, 2013 from 5pm to 9pm

National Hellenic Museum

333 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60661

Order your tickets through

www.greekfilmfestchicago.org and

https://www.eventbrite.com/event/7563975053

Any remaining tickets can be purchased at the door

Find more about Harry Mark Petrakis at www.harrymarkpetrakis.com

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The third annual Greek Film Fest Chicago! will take place November 7-11, 2013

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