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Introduction
During the first decade of the 20th century films imported from France, Italy, and Germany were shown as part of popular variety shows that also featured the renowned Karaghiozis shadow theatre and epitheorissi (satirical sketches and songs), both of which are said to have influenced the subsequent development of Greek cinema. The Manaki Brothers, Yannakis and Milto, made the first locally produced film in 1905, a documentary titled Gyanikes pou klotoun/The Weavers. Athens quickly became home to a number of small production companies and the first Greek feature film was a traditional love story, titled Golfo (Kostas Bahatoris, 1914). In the 1920s a film industry developed, with forty feature films produced between 1925 and 1935. During this period the studio Dag-Film (founded in 1918) produced a number of history films, operettas, and literary adaptations, as well as pioneering the foustanella genre (based on folkloric tradition and compared by some critics to the western). Comic actor, Nikos Sfakianos made a series of popular two-reelers under the persona ‘Villar’; and a patriotic melodrama, Eros kai kymata/Love and Waves, directed by Dimitris Gaziadis, broke box-office records in 1927. Panoyiotis Dadiras’s O agapitikos tis voskopoulas/The Lover of the Shepherdess, the earliest Greek-language synchronized sound film, was released in 1932: grounding Greek national identity in a certain nostalgically imagined rural idyll, the film is considered by critics to be an important contribution to the ‘mountain film’ genre.
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Greece, film in. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 Dec. 2021
In the library's collections/Searching the online catalog
You can start your search here with these subject headings below:
Introductory reading(s)
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The Greek filmography, 1916 through 1996 by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .G75 K65 1999ISBN: 9780786405466This filmography contains over 2,300 entries comprehensively covering the output of the Greek film industry. Each entry presents the film's title in both Roman and Greek alphabets, as well as a translation of the title into English, and other titles used for foreign release where applicable; ... -
A history of Greek cinema by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781441194473The history of Greek cinema is a rather obscure and unexamined affair. Greek cinema started slowly and then collapsed; for several years it struggled to reinvent itself, produced its first mature works, then collapsed completely and almost vanished. Because of such a complex historical trajectory no comprehensive survey of the development of Greek cinema has been written in English. This book is the first to explore its development and the contexts that defined it by focusing on its main films, personalities and theoretical discussions. A History of Greek Cinema focuses on the early decades and the attempts to establish a "national" cinema useful to social cohesion and national identity. ... -
The Queer Greek weird wave: ethics, politics and the crisis of meaning by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .G75 P73 2016ISBN: 9783319403090Cinema might not be able to help heal a broken nation but it can definitely help revisit a nation's past, reframe its present and re-imagine its future. This is the first book-length study on what has become an internationally acclaimed strand in contemporary Greek cinema. Psaras examines how this particular trend can be thought of as an integral aesthetic response to the infamous Greek crisis, illuminating its fundamental ideological aspects by means of a queer critique of national politics. ...
Selected book titles
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Greek cinema and migration, 1991-2016 by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .G8 P45 2020ISBN: 9781474437035Greek Cinema and Migration provides a response to urgent calls to comprehend the cultural impact of immigration in Greece, and to determine the capacity of contemporary Greek cinema to challenge the logic of Fortress Europe. Placing contemporary Greek cinema within the context of European film production and transnational cinema, the book explores the fascination of Greek filmmakers with migration, mobility, borders and identity, between 1991 and 2016. ... -
Hellas on screen: cinematic receptions of ancient history, literature and myth by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .G74 H45 2008ISBN: 9783515092234The recent success of Hollywood blockbusters such as Troy, Alexander and 300 demonstrates how popular Greek antiquity still is and how well it can be marketed. Today as in the golden age of the peplum-genre, its myths, the Homeric heroes, the Attic tragedies, and less frequently historical personages such as Alexander the Great or the Spartan king Leonidas represent Hellas. The authors of this volume highlight the many and varied forms of the reception of ancient Hellas in the history of the cinema, from mythology to Roman Greece, from the era of silent films to the new millennium. ... -
Realism in Greek cinema: from the post-war period to the present by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .R3 K37 2017ISBN: 9781780767291The history of Greek cinema post-1945 is best understood through the stories of its most internationally celebrated and influential directors. Focusing on the works of six major filmmakers active from just after WWII to the present day, with added consideration of many others, this book examines the development of cinema as an art form in the social and political contexts of Greece. ...
Other library resource(s)
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Greek cinema from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceGreek film studies have followed in the wake of the erratic history of Greek cinema. From 1900 through the end of World War II, Greek cinema was, at best, a cottage industry, and at times it all but ceased to exist. The first Greek-language sound films were made in the United States, and during the 1930s, most Greek films had to have final production done in other nations, often Egypt. Film commentary during this period was largely limited to tabloids. ...
Finding scholarly articles and journals
You can find scholarly literature for Greek film studies in a variety of journals. However, if you want to do targeted searching, you can use a subject specific database such as Film & Television Literature Index. You can also use the search box at the top of the page.
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Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about this national cinema. -
Screen studies collection by Call Number: Electronic resourceA comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute. -
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Selected movie titles
Find more Greek film titles in the library's online catalog.
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Michael Cacoyannis' Zorba the Greek by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18272A young British writer moves to Crete to find himself by working in his father's mine, and hires the playful Zorba. He falls in love with a lovely young widow. When she responds to him the townsmen attack her. -
Phaedra by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #14808The wife of a Greek shipping tycoon has a love affair with her stepson.
Internet resource(s)
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Greek Film ArchiveEstablished in 1963 with a royal decree the Greek Film Archive (Tainiothiki Tis Ellados) is the unique Film Heritage institution in Greece, and has a unique collection of Greek silent feature films as well as a considerable collection of newsreels. It also has a sizeable collection of talkies, both fiction and nonfiction films as well as large number of foreign titles. ...
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Greek Film CentreToday the Greek Film Centre (GFC) is the main institution that exercises cinematic policy in Greece. Its main goals are the protection, support and development of film production in Greece; the promotion and diffusion of Greek film productions, both domestically and internationally; and the promotion of Greece abroad as an appropriate location for filming cinematic and audiovisual productions, as well as the attraction of foreign cinematic and audiovisual productions in Greece, in general.
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Greek films and Films about GreeceIn the early seventies we used to joke about Greek films (before ever having seen one), that to make a successful Greek comedy you need several things: A fat woman in a mini-skirt, a man in ladies clothing, a cross-eyed guy who yelled all the time, and a scene in a bouzouki joint. ...
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Hellenic Film Society USA
The Hellenic Film Society USA is dedicated to promoting Greek cinema throughout the United States. Their mission is to share the richness of Greek films with a wider American audience, to showcase Greek movies, and to preserve the film heritage of Greece. -
Movies about Greece: A Big Fat List of 30+ Greek FilmsThere are dozens, if not hundreds, of movies about Greece. In this article she's included over 30 films about ancient Greece, modern Greek comedy movies and contemporary Greek cinema.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.