
Movies, videos, audiovisual culture
Place: Gasholder 1 - Amphitheater
Curators
Within the amphitheater, which will be transformed to resemble a movie theatre, visitors will have the opportunity to watch both American and European blockbusters from the 80’s. The films chosen have left a hefty mark on the decade’s culture, shaping that period’s societal behavior in different levels. In the same room, one will also be able to enjoy a variety of Greek movies from the 80’s ranging from New Hellenic Cinema productions to underrated and forgotten samples of the declining commercial Greek cinema, as well as a selection of 80s videotapes: The main audiovisual representation of that period, molded and signified the way filmmakers perceived and illustrated the social shift taking place around them. Documentaries or later-time ethnographic productions recording some of the era’s most important events or (social - sociopolitical) phenomena will also be screened. It’s worth noting that this is another interactive aspect of the exhibition: visitors won’t be expected to watch a movie in its entirety, they will, instead, have the chance to become briefly immersed into the audiovisual world of the 80s. The majority of the exhibits chosen will be included in a detailed and annotated catalogue of that decade’s most impactful filmography, and will remain in the pavilion to be shown in alternating sequence after the conclusion of the festival. The program will be announced in advance.
Research Assistants: Giannis Mpourletos, Michaela Mpraounou
Loukas Katsikas studied French Literature and English literary Criticism in Athens. He works as a film critic since 1996 and has collaborated with “Eleftherotypia” newspaper and Kathimerini’s “K” magazine. He has been an editor and a correspondent at many international film festivals. Throughout his long career he has contributed to numerous magazines. He has also worked in radio, and as a readings consultant for Minoa publications. Loukas was the editor of the documentary film festival “Images of America in the 20th Century”, presented by the US Embassy of Greece in collaboration with “Highlights” magazine. Before becoming the Athens International Film Festival’s director in 2016, he had been working for the festival as a consultant and program coordinator for 10 years. He is also director at the Athens Open Air Film Festival. He was a member of CINEMA magazine’s editorial board for 20 years before becoming its chief editor.
Orsalia-Eleni Kassavetis was born in Athens where she studied Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her post-graduate degrees were on Cultural Studies, History and its didactics. Her PhD research in “Video-Culture in the 1980s” was conducted at the Communications and SME Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is the author of the monograph “The greek video tape (1985-1990). Generic, social and cultural aspects” (in Greek, Athens, Asini 2014). She has also contributed to numerous science journals and collective volumes. Her research is focused on pop culture (cinema, TV, music), folk culture, material culture and visual ethnography. Her post-doc research was carried at the SME Department of the Artistotle Univeristy of Thessaloniki where she was a research fellow tutored by Vassilis Vamvakas. She currently conducts her post-doc research in Sociology of Film at the Department of Theatre Studies, University of Patras. Chrysanthe Sotiropoulou, senior lecturer, is her supervisor.
Melenia Giannousi is a translator. She holds a BA in French Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and two MAs in Technical and Audio-visual Translation from Mons-Hainaut University in Belgium. She has collaborated with some of Greece’s most prominent film distribution companies as a film translator. She has worked for the Athens Film Festival “Nychtes Premieras”, the Athens Francophone Film Festival and with many important Greek directors. Her translations have also appeared at The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation’s channel ‘ERT”, the Greek Parliament’s TV channel “Vouli TV”, private TV channels and many prestigious festivals abroad. She teaches subtitling at the French Institute of Greece.