14th AOAFF powered by DEI: Luis Buñuel's "The Phantom of Liberty" in an anniversary screening at Eleftherias Park
The 14th Athens Open Air Film Festival powered by DEI, in collaboration with the Plein-Air Festival of the French Institute of Greece, is screening Luis Buñuel's "The Phantom of Liberty" in a special 50th-anniversary screening. This event celebrates both France's national holiday and the restoration of democracy in Greece.
The slightest thought of describing the plot of Luis Buñuel's second-to-last film would offend the the principles of its admirer and the memory of its creator. Let us say that it is a series of episodes tied to the essential logic of dreams and the unwavering faith that instinct and the complete reversal of the accustomed give the deepest sense of meaning that a false truth fails to spell. One of the most humorous films ever made, «The Phantom of Liberty» is an anti-narrative vision of cinema that recreates the materials of life, sometimes completely twisting what we take for granted, yet releasing a joyful energy of freedom in the (congenial) viewer. All of Buñuel's obsessions (Police, Clergy, Justice, Sex, Psychoanalysis) go through hell in a surreal satin breeze, while the anthology scenes, backed by the complete absence of directing arrogance, emerge one after the other as if ordered by a wizard. This was art house cinema at its greatest and remains a hegemonic testament to how digestible, but aslo nourishing, great cinema is. Ilias Dimopoulos
When: TUESDAY, JULY 16th | 21.30
Where: Eleftherias Park, Vasilissis Sofias Ave. | Free admission
Director: Luis Buñuel | Starring: Jean-Claude Brialy, Monica Vitti, Michel Piccoli, Michael Lonsdale, Jean Rochefort, Claude Piéplu, Adolfo Cheli | Runtime: 104’ | Year of Production: 1974 | Language: French | Subtitles: Greek
