14th AOAFF Powered by DEI invites you to an unforgettable night of classic horror on Saturday, July 20th

Continuing a popular tradition of gathering every July in the beautiful and green Plato's Academy Park to watch movie marathons of beloved films (two years ago we saw the "Before Sunrise" trilogy, last year "Moulin Rouge" and "Romeo + Juliet"), lounging on the grass, the 14th Athens Open Air Film Festival Powered by DEI invites you tomorrow night for the best night out of the summer.

The marathon will start at 21:30 with the 4K screening of one of the top ten-twenty films in cinema history: "The Night of the Hunter," that unsurpassed gothic poem with the unforgettable "villain" Robert Mitchum and Charles Laughton directing the first and last creation of his career, forever haunting the big screen.

At 23:30, the greatest horror film of all time, as voted by Cinema magazine several years ago, and a film that directors like Martin Scorsese, Guillermo Del Toro, and best-of lists from respected film publications worldwide placed among the ten greatest creations of the genre of all time: the haunting "The Innocents" by Jack Clayton, with a screenplay by Truman Capote.

At 01:30, the legendary directorial one-hit wonder by Herk Harvey, "Carnival of Souls," one of the most influential (and also placed among the best of all time) horror films, a clear influence on David Lynch's cinema, with a twist ending that many years later gave the idea (let's say it was stolen!) for one of the most commercially successful creations of the genre.

Detailed information about each film follows. Also, consult the map at the end of the article for the exact location of the screening!

The Night of the Hunter
When: SATURDAY, JULY 20th | 21.30 
Where: Plato’s Academy Park, 137 Monastiriou str. | Free admission

One of the most enchanting and wildly beautiful creations ever made, «The Night of the Hunter» is also the only film to bear the directing signature of a great actor who was disheartened by the cold indifference of the public and critics of the time and has never picked up a camera since. Adapted from Davis Grubb's namesake novel, with a screenplay written by the brilliant writer and film critic James Agee and Laughton himself, the film tells a paradoxical nightmare with biblical implications: In a small American town during the Great Depression, a pastor infatuates a lonely mother and widow with his beautiful preachings, carefully hiding his murderous intentions before unleashing a death hunt on her two young children. Using the archetypal conflict between good and evil as its basis, «The Night of the Hunter» does not overturn it but gives it mythical dimensions and a timelessness that makes the story seem as if it came from some very distant past. The psychotic pastor, the deluded woman, the innocent children who will be forced to grow up prematurely, the elderly protector of seemingly all the weak, all inhabit a world of dense shadows, disguised demons and hidden angels that seems to have sprung from the pages of a gothic fairy tale. Not coincidentally, Laughton will resort to a stunning expressionist aesthetic that progressively submerges heroes and viewers into a mystical nightly universe whose grand alchemist is none other than Stanley Cortez, one of the leading cinematographers who here captures some of the most dazzling and haunting images we have ever seen. From the devilishly seductive figure of Robert Mitchum and the words LOVE and HATE written on the fingers of his hands to the eerie sight of a woman lying dead on the bottom of the sea, the ghostly scenes slipping further and further away from realism, the skies full of stars that seem to hide so many mysteries within them, or the poetic (on the verge of shock) descent of children into the river, under the watchful gaze of creatures of the night, each of these scenes evokes indescribable emotions and chills, connecting us to subconscious fears, childhood anxieties and dark dreams that remain deeply rooted within us. A masterpiece without equal in cinema. Loukas Katsikas

The film is screened in a newly restored 4K digital print.

Director: Charles Laughton | Starring: Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, Shelley Winters, Billy Chapin | Runtime: 92' | Year of Production: 1955 | Language: English | Subtitles: Greek

The Innocents
When: SATURDAY, JULY 20th | 23.15 
Where: Plato’s Academy Park, 137 Monastiriou str. | Free admission

The psychologically fragile mid-19th century governess who believes that the two young children she has been taking care of are haunted by the ghosts of two corrupt adults. The imposing Victorian building with its peaceful lake and the many windows looking out at night towards the shore. The mist and wind that compose together the most chilling song every night. The man with the evil eyes who looks down on you from above. The sad, dressed in black silhouette of a woman in the rain. An eerie figure in the window, through the darkness. An old enigmatic photograph tucked away in a small music box in the attic. A creepy lullaby. Voices in empty rooms. Muffled laughter and sighs outside the door. Spirits that refuse to find their way towards the world of the dead. The flame of a candle that suddenly goes out. And a child's voice that hides within it everything and nothing: «It was only the wind, my dear» he whispers to his frightened governess. «He is the one that blew out the candle...». Some films cannot be described in words. You can only look back on their images, their ambiance, their unsolved mysteries. Stunningly adapting Henry James' «The Turn of the Screw» from a brilliant script by Truman Capote, Jack Clayton's masterpiece is such a case of a film. A ghost story that primarily haunts its audience. As irreparably as it haunted its heroine. Best horror film of all time according to a vote of the magazine SINEMA, with a permanently high position in the most important lists of the top creations of the genre and a favorite film of many important directors. Loukas Katsikas

The film is screened in a newly restored digital print.

Director: Jack Clayton | Starring: Deborah Kerr, Pamela Franklin, Martin Stephens | Runtime: 99' | Year of Production: 1961 | Language: English | Subtitles: Greek

Carnival of Souls
When: SATURDAY, JULY 20th | 01.00 
Where: Plato’s Academy Park, 137 Monastiriou str. | Free admission

One of the most famous and unforgettable one-hit wonders of cinema, this mysterious b-movie appeared like a meteorite almost out of nowhere, was shot for only 33 thousand dollars and was the personal vision and unique film of an amateur filmmaker who claimed to have been inspired by Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau. In its time, the «Carnival of Souls» was squeezed into the double feature schedules of quite a few drive-in theaters in the United States, was treated from the start as an ordiary cheap horror film and disappeared in the same quiet way it had appeared, without its uniqueness being noticed. A few years later, the film is deified by a large number of viewers who discover it late at night on television or from a screening on a midnight theatre circuit. And that's when Herk Harvey's dreamy and morbid masterpiece is recognized, an atmospheric and bizare ancestor to David Lynch's film nightmares and all of modern horror cinema, with one of the most memorable finale we have ever seen. Harvey is also the gruesome figure we see in the film terrorizing the heroine - a young instrumentalist who miraculously survives a car accident only to meet very soon her gloomy destiny in a small country town. Drawing from a thoroughly sublime ambiance, expressionistic photography and an otherwordly instrument on the soundtrack, Harvey leads his audience like sleepwalkers to an unforgettable finale that comes not exactly as a surprise or trick but as an mournful explosion that lifts this haunted film straight into the realm of genuine poetry. Loukas Katsikas

The film is screened in a digitally restored print.

Director: Herk Harvey | Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Herk Harvey | Runtime: 78' | Year of Production: 1962 | Language: English | Subtitles: Greek

The screening spot at Plato's Academy Park