The Athens Open Air Film Festival is back!

After a successful 3-year run, the Athens Open Air Film Festival is back for the fourth year in a row in the summer of 2014, ready to explore the city's hidden oasis by way of the silver screen!

Trailer for Roman Polanski's «Chinatown»

From June to September, some of the most breathtaking locations around the city will be instantly transformed into open-air movie theaters with free entrance.

Venues include the Dionysiou Areopagitou pedestrian precinct, the Petralona Park, Plato's Academy Park, Avdi Square, Mesolongiou Square, the Numismatic and the Byzantine Museums, as well as little-known spots in the wider Athens area, such as the Rematia Chalandriou Theater and the Nea Smyrni Park, combining urban mystique with over 20 masterpieces of classic and contemporary cinema during a summer festival that has become a city staple.

Trailer for Renos Charalambidis' «Cheap Smokes»

This year, the 4th Athens Open Air Festival has expanded to embrace historical open-air movie theaters, such as Cine Psyrri, Cine Thissio, Cine Ellinis, Dexameni and the Greek Film Archive's Lais Theater (a relatively new entry in the open-air roster), scheduled to host some of the most exciting screenings of the summer!

 
Trailer for Joseph Mankeiwicz's «Suddenly Last Summer»

The festival's screening schedule will be accompanied by a number of sidebar events in rather unexpected locations, introducing visitors to another side of Athens. The line-up will consist of a hand-picked selection of movies from different genres that will surely satisfy even the most demanding of audiences. Fischer, the perfect beer to toast a good movie, will accompany every moment worth sharing in this year's Athens Open Air Film Festival.

Greek beauty shines on opening night!

For the second year in a row, the Athens Open Air Film Festival is scheduled to raise the curtain with a film resplendent in Greek sunshine that will promote our country on a global level!

Trailer for Hosein Amini's «The Two Faces of January»

We're talking about none other than «Two Faces of January» by Hossein Amini, mostly shot in Athens and Crete and prominently featuring the Parthenon and the winding streets of Plaka, as well as the archaeological site of Knossos.

Starring Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen, it also boasts performances by a series of young Greek actors, such as Sokratis Alafouzos, Nikos Mavrakis, Omiros Poulakis and Eugenia Dimitropoulou.

Trailer for Harold Ramis' «Groundhog Day»

Greek cinema flies high!

Greek cinema holds a special place in the 4th Athens Open Air Festival, as the audience will get the chance to watch homegrown films from a variety of directors that changed the face of the industry.

The line-up includes some of the most recognizable representatives of New Greek Cinema, like Pandelis Voulgaris' «Acropol», Stavros Tsiolis' «Let the Women Wait» and Giorgos Tsemberopoulos' «Back Door». The selection also embraces a younger generation of filmmakers, including Renos Charalambides' «Cheap Smokes», Gerasimos Rigas' «Parvas» and Magdalini Remoundou's «2013 Open Air Cinemas».

Clip from «Acropol», directed by Pantelis Voulgaris

The screening of Nikos Koundouros' all-time classic «Magic City» promises to be one of this year's seminal moments, as the film is scheduled to be shown in Dourgouti, the same place where it was shot in 1954.

Rare all-time classics from Hollywood's Golden Era will bring a touch of class to the city, featuring silver screen heavyweights in unforgettable films, like «Suddenly Last Summer», «Chinatown», «All that Jazz», «Sorcerer», «The Warriors» and «Being There». Old Hollywood will then give its place to Woody Allen's contemporary take on the art of filmmaking, as showcased in «Crimes And Misdemeanors», and Spike Lee's «Do the Right Thing».

Trailer for Alain Resnais' «On Connait La Chanson»

On July 14, the Athens Open Air Film Festival will join in the Bastille Day celebrations with «On Connait La Chanson» by Alain Resnais.

Avant-premieres under the starry sky!

The festival wouldn't be the same without a series of summer blockbusters that will premiere under the starry sky, exclusively for the Athens Open Air Festival!

Trailer for Woody Allen's «Crimes And Misdemeanors»

Silent Cinema and Live Music!

Silent films will be accompanied by live music, offering a unique audiovisual experience, especially designed for the festival.

Felizol takes the lead, creating his own version of a live soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's «Scorpio Rising» and «Lucifer Rising».

Just like every year, September will bring yet another surprise event, involving a live gem with original music, to be unveiled very soon!

Trailer for Walter Hill's «The Warriors»
 

"20" – Short Films in collaboration with the GFC

For the 3rd year in a row, the Athens Open Air Film Festival is collaborating with the Greek Film Center in order to produce five short films under a common theme.

This program offers young filmmakers the opportunity to shoot a film on a specific subject that changes every summer, later to premiere at the Athens Open Air Film Festival.

Trailer for George Tsemberopoulos' «Back Door»

This year, the theme is «20»: it can be a number, an age, a duration, a symbol - each of the five filmmakers is free to interpret it however he or she sees fit!

Entrance to all screenings is free of charge. The festival is supported by the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO).

A detailed schedule can be found on www.cinemagazine.gr

A few words about the Festival: The Athens Open Air Film Festival was established in the summer of 2011 with a view to organizing open-air screenings and cultural events against some of Attica's most characteristic monuments, as well as little-known spots around the city, like parks, squares and pedestrian precincts, that never got the attention they deserved. This year, the festival embraces some historical open-air cinemas that have left an indelible mark on Athenian summers.

Trailer for Bob Fosse's «All That Jazz»

The Festival in numbers :

- more than 30.000 people have attended the various screenings and events

- more than 60 films have graced its line-up

- more than 35 venues have been transformed into open-air movie theaters