News

Exclusive: Hot on the heels of its world premiere last night (August 7) in Locarno’s Piazza Grande, The Birthday Party, directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez and starring Willem Dafoe, has secured distribution across a wide range of international territories.

The film, which started pre-sales at this year’s European Film Market, is represented by Heretic and Bankside Films. Both companies said the Locarno premiere has added momentum to the global sales push.

Paradiso has acquired rights for Benelux, with Praesens on board for Switzerland. Warner Bros Discovery has purchased the broadcast rights to the film, set to be launched after...

"If you stay inside, you are protected." Kino Lorber has revealed a brand new trailer for the 4K re-release of the iconically weird Yorgos Lanthimos film titled Dogtooth, which originally premiered back in 2009. Before he went on to make the hit films The Lobster, The Favourite, Kinds of Kindness, and Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos rocked the cinema world with Dogtooth - which earned rave reviews at its initial Cannes Film Festival premiere before earning a surprise Best Foreign Language Film nomination in early 2011. A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offspring in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound with strict rules. Starring Christos Stergioglou, Mary Tsoni, Christos Passalis, and Michele Valley. Restored in 4K from the 35mm camera & sound negatives by Boo Productions and mk2 Films at Asterisk* Post and I Hear Voices sound studio. With color grading by Gregory Arvanitis and Thimios Bakatakis.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos‘ breakthrough feature, the unsettling 2009 domestic psychological thriller Dogtooth, is clawing its way back into theaters this month with a 4K restoration, Indiewire has announced today.

Kino Lorber will release the 4K restoration of Dogtooth in NYC at IFC Center on June 20 before rolling out to select cities nationwide.

In Dogtooth, “A controlling, manipulative father (Christos Stergioglou) locks his three adult offspring in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound. The children are bored to tears in spite of distractions like Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), an employee of their father’s who makes regular visits to sexually service the son (Hristos Passalis). Increasingly curious about the outside world, the older daughter (Aggeliki Papoulia) hatches a plan to escape.”

Lanthimos co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator Efthymis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer).

Graphic artist Vasilis Marmatakis, Lanthimos’ other long-time collaborator, created...

British TV shows have gained audiences from around the world. Some have been given adaptations, while others are good enough to be left as they are for those across the pond and beyond. The variety provided is enough to suit almost everyone's taste, whether that's rooted in comedy or drama.

With so much to choose from, it's unsurprising that a few shows slip under the radar. Sometimes, they don't make it quite as big as other programs, even though they're as good as any other. Even though they may have gained some positive recognition, there are a few series that deserve to be at the top of TV buffs' lists.

Stath Hasnt Quite Grasped His Job

Greek, family-run lettings agency Michael and Eagle Lettings is the central hub for the main characters in one of the funniest British comedies, Stath Lets Flats. The titular character, Stath is calamitous. His sentences are never grammatically correct,...

Exclusive: Acclaimed actor Willem Dafoe, who recently starred in Oscar-nominated pic Poor Things and can next be seen in Tim Burton’s upcoming Venice opener Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has just wrapped filming tycoon family drama The Birthday Party from Greek production house Heretic.

The project, which has been kept under wraps until now, is directed by Miguel Angel Jimenéz based on the novel of the same name by Panos Karnezis. Dafoe stars along side Emma Suarez, Joe Cole and Vic Carmen Sonne. Additional cast includes Christos Stergioglou, Carlos Cuevas, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Fransesc Garrido, Maria Pau Pigem, Pelle Heikkilä and Elsa Lekkakou.

The story is set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean where Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, is throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday party for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island. The party is a perfect excuse for various people in his...

As we move into May, BritBox is bringing a collection of classic series, new movies, and live events to its platform in the United States this month. After a seven-day free trial, a subscription to BritBox costs $8.99 per month and this month, you will be able to stream all three seasons of the beloved comedy “Stath Lets Flats,” the 2024 BAFTA Television Awards, this year’s installment of “Rhs Chelsea Flower Show,” and much more.

The Streamable’s experts have gone through the streamer’s slate for the month and we have pulled out five titles to recommend on BritBox in May 2024.

7-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month BritBox.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to BritBox in May 2024? “Stath Lets Flats” | Season 1: May 3, Season 2: May 10, Season 3: May 17

BritBox is dolling out the comedy in weekly installments this month. On Friday, May 3, the streamer will begin streaming...

Lazarov’s previous film Aga closed the Berlinale in 2018, playing out of competition

Berlin-based Films Boutique has taken on sales for Bulgarian director Milko Lazarov’sTarika.

Lazarov’s previous film Aga closed the Berlinale in 2018, playing out of competition and was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Oscars. His debut, 2013’s Alienation, played in Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori.

Shot on 35mm, the film centres on a young girl living with her father and her grandmother in a small hut near the border far away from the local village. Marked by her “butterfly wings”, a rare bone condition she inherited from her mother,...

This post will contain spoilers for "Poor Things." 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos has made multiple films about characters who are controlled -- to mixed fates -- by their sexual appetites, and how their sexual desire will ultimately push up against their prison-like boundaries. 

In his 2009 film "Dogtooth," a weirdly tyrannical father (Christos Stergioglou) has kept his children confined in their childhood home until their young adulthood, lying to them about the nature of the world and teaching them nonsensical vocabulary. The young son is granted regular conjugal visits from a hired interloper (Anna Kalaitzidou). She, against the father's rules, begins explaining sex to the kids, and they begin thinking about the outside world. The father attempts to control his children's sex lives, but ultimately runs aground on his daughter's taste of knowledge. 

In his 2015 sci-fi fantasy film "The Lobster," uncoupled people are forced into depressing romance camps where they must artificially...

Exclusive: Athens-based audiovisual group Tanweer is expanding its business into world sales of local language content, kicking off with an augural slate at the EFM.

The new operation will be headed by Tanweer Senior Vice President Aruzia Khan and executive Eliana Eliopoulos, who will both be on the ground in Berlin.

Until now, Tanweer has been primarily focused on production at home and buying rights for its home territory of Greece as well as satellite arms in Turkey, India and the Middle East.

The inaugural sales slate includes the epic 32-episode historical drama series Red River, recounting the Ottoman persecution of the Greek community living in the region of Pontus in northeastern Anatolia in the early 20th Century.

Directed by veteran Greek director Manousos Manousakis, the show is adapted from Charis Tsirkinidis’s novel of the same name. The 4M production is billed as the most expensive in the history of Greek television.

Distributor Fathom Events will showcase critically acclaimed Greek war drama “Smyrna” on 700 screens in the U.S. as a one-night-only event on December 8. The limited wide release will raise the profile of the highest-budgeted production in the history of Greek cinema.

The film depicts the 1922 catastrophe at the end of the Greco-Turkish war that destroyed much of the city of Smyrna on Turkey’s Aegean coast, resulting in a monumental refugee crisis. The disaster and the events leading up to it are filtered through the eyes and experiences of a family living in Smyrna.

In anticipation of the one-time wide release, a special screening of the film will take place on November 29th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City under the auspices of the Greek Permanent Mission to the U.S. It will also be screened at the European Parliament in Brussels on January 11, 2023, as well...

Production has begun on the psychological thriller The Eye, starring Shruti Haasan (Salaar) and Mark Rowley (The Last Kingdom) from Fingerprint Content.

Daphne Schmon directs the flick from a screenplay by Emily Carlton. Set in 1980, the pic is billed as a dark psychological thriller. The story centers on a young widow who travels back to the island where her husband died, to spread his ashes. Upon learning the true nature of what may have claimed his life, she is tempted by a dark choice that could bring him back.

The cast is rounded out by Sarika Thakur (Baar Baar Dekho), Anna Savva (The Durrells), Linda Marlowe (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and Christos Stergioglou (Dogtooth).

Greek production company Argonauts Productions is a co-producer on the project alongside Fingerprint. Shooting stars in Athens and Corfu later this month.

Fingerprint also announced that it is partnering with sustainability consultancy Greenshoot to deliver a...

In today’s Global Bulletin, Bill Gates will participate in this year’s World Congress of Science and Factual Producers as keynote speaker, Netgem and France Channel co-create a new French content streaming platform, Storyglass announces an arts-themed podcast, “Stath Lets Flats” gets a third season at Channel 4, Damian Kavanagh leaves Tiger Aspect and James Purnell departs the BBC, and ViacomCBS Networks International promotes Lee Sears.

Keynote

The World Congress of Science and Factual Producers (Wcsfp) has announced its highest-profile speaker for this year’s event in Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who will take part in an interview with medical journalist Dr. Mercy Korir at the upcoming digital edition of Congress ’20.

Originally planned for early December in the French city of Strasbourg, Wcsfp was forced to move this year’s physical event online as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The rescheduled event will stream Dec. 7-...

Netflix may be busily wielding the scythe of cancellation while Covid-19 is doing its level best to mess up all that’s good in the world but thanks to Channel 4, there’s hope on the horizon. Stath Lets Flats is officially returning for a third series. And he hasn’t even had an egg for energy or nothing.

The comedy’s three-Bafta win earlier this year gives the renewal news a ‘well, dur’ slant. If the cast were up for it, of course Channel 4 would make more. It’d be mad not to. The sitcom has one of the best comedy casts and most distinct voices around – specifically, the voice of creator and star Jamie Demetriou who plays Greek-Cypriot lettings agent and golden-hearted idiot Stath.

Demetriou stars in the series alongside his comedian sister Natasia, of What We Do in the Shadows fame. She plays Stath’s sister Sophie,...

After debuting The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas a few years back at the Berlin Film Festival, Elina Psykou is back with their follow-up. Premiering in International Narrative Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, Son of Sofia follows a son coping with the strange parenting styles of his new stepfather.

Ahead of the premiere, we’re pleased to debut an exclusive clip from the film, which features a bit of Greek history being incorporated into a moment of teaching. Check out our exclusive clip below, along with the trailer and poster, for the film starring Viktor Khomut, Valery Tcheplanowa, Thanasis Papageorgiou, Artemis Havalits, Christos Stergioglou, and Iro Maltezou.

Two years after his father’s death, Misha’s mother has created a new life in a new country. After migrating from Russia to Greece she has found a husband for herself, whose obnoxious attempts at disciplining her son are less than welcome.

Moving from one country to another is never easy. It’s even worse if you arrive to find that your mother has married a strange old man — at least that’s the case for Misha in the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival premiere, “Son of Sofia.”

IndieWire has an exclusive first look at Elina Psykou’s upcoming film, her second following her acclaimed debut “The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevask.”

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

Set during the 2004 Athens Olympics, “Son of Sofia” follows the dark, coming-of-age story of Misha, a highly imaginative 11-year old boy who travels from Russia to Athens to join his mother after a long time apart. Unbeknownst to Misha, a new father awaits for him there. In the exclusive trailer below, Psykou paints a dark yet tender story of a boy’s clash...

Yorgos Zois: 'I wanted to create an original cinematic world that the viewer could use all his senses and experience a journey to an unmapped world that blends the limits between life and art, fiction and reality, logic and absurdity' Yorgos Zois' debut feature Interruption is set within the confines of an Athens theatre and stars Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Maria Kallimani, Alexia Kaltsiki, Christos Stergioglou, Maria Filini. Midway through a performance, a group of gunmen take the stage and bring members of the audience up alongside them. They begin to direct a different sort of action, so that the lines of fact and fiction start to blur, both for those who have come up onstage and the others who remain watching in the auditorium. We spoke to Zois after his film had premiered in the Orrizzonti section of Venice Film Festival, where it is also available online as part of the Sala Web.

Back when Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos first clambered barefaced upon the international stage with his daring Dogtooth, quite a few hastened to mention its striking resemblance to Arturo Ripstein’s similarly self-contained The Castle of Purity, made some 35 years earlier. In the wake of his first English-language effort The Lobster, one might even go further and compare all that Lanthimos has done thus far to Ripstein’s film: the imposed isolation behind walls that are both physical and psychological, creating a world whose structure is founded upon seemingly intransgressible rules and boundaries. Despite the jump in locale and language, The Lobster is very much a continuation or extension of the themes found in Dogtooth: the sequestered family abode is replaced by an isolated hotel complex; the overprotective father by a domineering hotel manager – the brilliant Olivia Colman. Perhaps the most significant difference, at least on first glance, is that...

Part of our continuing partnership with the online film journal, cléo. Every month, cléo will be presenting a great film to watch on our video on demand platform. In conjunction, we'll be hosting an exclusive article by one of their contributors. This month Julia Cooper writes on Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth, which is available to watch starting today in the Us and Canada.

Dogtooth starts with a game, as many forms of manipulation do. “I say we play a game of endurance,” suggests the youngest of three teenaged siblings. They will each place a finger under the hot water of the tap, and the one who lasts longest wins. Sitting in their underwear in a white tiled bathroom, the teens hear the click of their tape player: the cassette dictating their vocabulary lessons for the day has just finished. As the sisters and their brother iron out the rules of engagement,...

Emerging with diverse artistic visions, Greek filmmakers have managed to mold the chaotic and uncertain situation of their county into cinematic statements ranging from the utterly realist to the most audacious. This weekend several of these unique perspectives were screened at the 8th Edition of the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival with a program that included documentary features, shorts, and some of the most daring narratives to come out of the Hellenic nation recently. More prolific than ever, Greek Cinema voices the experiences of those affected by the economic crisis, those trying to make amends between tradition and fast-paced modernity, and above all it is fertile ground for exploration and reinvention.

Miss Violence

Dir. Alexandros Avranas

Any film that opens with a girl committing suicide on her 11th birthday announces itself as something out of the ordinary. Alexandros Avranas’ “ Miss Violence” can easily be considered a new addition to the unofficially named Greek Weird Wave movement. Its closest reference is the Oscar-nominated “Dogtooth”. Much like Lanthimos film, “Miss Violence” focuses on a family in which a controlling patriarch ruthlessly decides over its members’ lives. While “Dogtooth” deals with a distorted perception of reality created by the monstrous father, Avranas’ film is darker, more puzzling, and at times unbearably unnerving. Conformed by a mother, two daughters, and two grandchildren, the family mechanics are never easily presented. Dozens of theories can be at play in the viewer’s mind as one tries to decipher what is the evil truth behind it all. A shattering must-see, “Miss Violence” is a twisted tale of submission and perversion cleverly concealed by apparent righteousness. Full review coming soon.

Standing Aside, Watching

Dir. Giorgos Servetas

When an educated and self-sufficient woman, Antigone (Marina Symeou), decides to return to her small town, she soon realizes that things haven’t improved much from what she remembers. After finding a job as a teacher and reconnecting with her old friend Eleni ( Marianthi Pantelopoulou), Antogone finds a younger boyfriend who makes things in the sleepy community more exciting. Sadly for this independent woman, that relationship will unearth the viciousness of the town’s bully. Reveling in their archaic ideologies, people here uphold male chauvinist values that condone violence against women. Those protected by the corrupt local authorities enjoy impunity. Furthermore, the film points at indifference as the source of injustice. Outspoken about the outrageous gender inequality that still exists, this effective thriller is infuriating and poignant until its culminating sequence. Servetas film is an extraordinarily brave and important statement not only for Greece, but anywhere where women still need to struggle for the most elemental respect.

The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas

Dir. Elina Psikou

Delusions of grandeur take on a new form when famed talk-show host Antonis Paraskeva ( Christos Stergioglou) decides to orchestrate his own kidnapping as a publicity stunt. Hidden in a remote hotel out of service for the winter, he spends his days reading what the media says about his disappearance and endlessly practicing a recipe for molecular pasta all in hopes of a triumphal return. Subtly comedic and occasional unsettling, Psikou’s film makes blunt observations about a man’s obsession with his own image and status. Aware that his antics to turn himself into a legendary figure are failing, Antonis’ arrogance will drive him to carry out increasingly more deranged tactics in order to recover his position and keep his fans interested. Embellished by a couple magical realist episodes, “The Eternal Return” peculiarly depicts the cult of celebrity and instant glorification, which is something that rings true now more than ever.

The Enemy Within

Dir. Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

While watching Tsemberopoulos film, another thematically similar work quickly comes to mind: "To Kill a Man" by Chilean director Alejandro Fernández Almendras. Both stories are concerned with events that drive normal family men to kill with the purpose of avenging their loved ones. While the South American director focuses on what leads to the act itself, in the suspenseful Greek tale the filmmaker decides to go further and deal with the consequences of getting even. A performance brimming with tremendous vulnerability and heartbreaking powerlessness by Manolis Mavromatakis as Kostas, the father, is at the center of this provocative feature. As the family begins to fall apart, Kostas hateful thirst for retribution is transformed into a strange form of forgiveness towards those who ravaged his life. "The Enemy Within" is intense, intelligent, and forces its characters to make decisions that place them in the grayer side of morality.

To The Wolf

Dir. Aran Hughes & Christina Koutsospyrou

Bleak and meditative, this hyperrealist story evolves around two impoverished families in a precarious Greek muntain town. Set in the midst of the financial crisis, To The Wolf examines the daily struggles of an elderly couple and their son Giorgos (Giorgos Katsaros), who is goatherd unable to sell any of his animals and can’t find any other way to make a living. Desperation quickly sets in followed by a dark feeling of despair. This families are in debt, they don’t know where their next meal with come from, and they are completely disenchanted with a government that has forgotten them. Extremely minimalist visually and employing non-professional actors, the film exists ambiguously between documentary and fiction. It includes explicit social commentary about the terrible living conditions people in rural communities have been forced to endure, as well as the dismal disparities between them and their urban counterparts, of whom they are only aware via their ramshackle television.

Committed

Dir. Stelana Kliris

This English-language road trip romantic comedy set in Cyprus is an entertaining work that relies heavily on its two protagonists’ ability to be engaging. Driving around the island to clear his head after a fight with his girlfriend, George ( Orestes Sophocleous Orestes Sophocleous), an engineer of Greek origin who studied in England, runs across a bride (Melia Kreiling), wedding dress and all, who is walking alone on a deserted road running away from something or someone. He offers her a ride and what ensues are a series of conversations about love, the boredom of conventions, and of course, fear of commitment. Even if the performances appear overdone and rather generic at times, there is still a lighthearted chemistry between the two actors that makes the journey simplistic, but enjoyable. It would come as no surprise if the concept is adapted and remade with an American cast. This is the type of story that Hollywood craves, especially with the added bonus of a somewhat intriguing twist.

Mexican feature The Golden Dream (La jaula de oro) and French drama Suzanne take top prizes at Greek festival.Scoll down for full list of winners

Diego Quemada-Diez’s Cannes winner The Golden Dream (La jaula de oro) added more trophies to its collection at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival on Saturday (Nov 9).

The road movie about teenage Guatemalan immigrants and their journey to the Us scooped the Golden Alexander for best film, the best director nod for Quemada, the audience (Fischer) award and the Greek Parliament trophy for “human values”.

The film won the Un Certain Regard – A Certain Talent Prize at Cannes, where it debuted in May, and also picked up Best International Feature Film at the Zurich Film Festival.

Suzanne, the portrait of a chaotic, unpredictable and fragile woman directed by Katell Quillevere was awarded second prize - the Silver Alexander.

The French drama also won the actress award for Sara Forestier, in the...

★★★★☆ Hellenic cinema has, for the past few years, been dominated by the Greek 'Weird Wave'. It's a movement that has sought to encapsulate a confused and disorientated country, and which arguably peaked early with Giorgos Lanthimos' familial oddity Dogtooth (2009). Elina Psykou's The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas (2013) manages to just about adhere to the national prerequisite of cinematic abnormality but plays with a significantly straighter bat. This is a fine meditation on modern celebrity that's comparatively accessible but maintains an air of the bizarre, with a stimulating, if challenging, final act.

The eponymous Antonis (played with aplomb by Christos Stergioglou) is first seen emerging from the boot of a recently parked car. He and the driver both urinate against a road-side building and then resume the prior positions. When next gets out of the trunk, it is to migrate into a cavernous and deserted hotel where he is left.

The tenth edition of the Venice Days program at the Venice International Film Festival unfolds from August 28 through September 7. Its lineup, consisting of 12 feature films, two shorts, three special events and two special screenings, focuses heavily but not exclusively on debuts. Included in this year's just-announced program are John Krokidas' "Kill Your Darlings," starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherien Dabis' "May in the Summer," Josh and Benny Safdie's "Lenny Cooke," and Ava DuVernay's short film "The Door." Full lineup below. All debut films are in the running for the Lion of the Future Debut Film award at the Venice International Film Festival. Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al Mansour ("Wadjda"), the country's first woman filmmaker, is heading the jury. Feature Films: Alienation by Milko Lazarov - First filmWith Christos Stergioglou, Mariana Jikich,Ovanes Torosyan, Iva OgnyanovaBulgaria, World PremiereProduction: Bulgarian National TelevisionA sardonic fairy tale, primordial...

A crushing or mediocre review from this film trade magazine institution can certainly sink a film, but Variety’s Ten Euro Directors to Watch (now in it’s 16th year running at Karlovy Vary) certainly comes across as a hallmark card to new European talents and in need of a little extra love. And while this curated series won’t prevent the films from slipping the cracks (of the ten, I believe only a pair have U.S. distribution), the filmmakers, producers attached to the 10-pack are deservingly getting one more final push. Day 4′s catch was a fresh, unique, ballsy and brave one beginning with Tokyo Film Fest selected Nina from Italian helmer Elisa Fuksas features the unbelievably cute actress Diane Fleri playing the titular character on a duel journey: one about finding herself and finding a match. This wickedly different viewpoint of Rome is exquisitely shot – I adored the repetition of shots,...

★★★★★ Despite the tumultuous Greek economy, the country's cinema has been going through something of a renaissance of late, with directors Giorgos Lanthimos and Athina Rachel Tsangari fashioning their own surrealist catacomb of absurdity. Elina Psikou's The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas (I aionia epistrofi tou Antoni Paraskeva, 2013) continues this burgeoning trend to become one of Berlinale's most cherished discoveries. A car trundles at a leisurely pace along a deserted motorway. Eventually, the driver pulls over and gets out, opening the boot and releasing a medium-sized, bearded man - the titular Paraskevas (Christos Stergioglou).

Read more »...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Hop – Russell Brand, James Marsden, Elizabeth Perkins

Insidious – Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins

Source Code – Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga

Movie of the Week

Source Code

The Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga

The Plot: A soldier (Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter and is forced to live and relive a harrowing train bombing until he can determine who is responsible for it.

The Buzz: Source Code looks to be a Quantum Leap meets Groundhog Day sci-fi action romp. 35 seconds into the film’s trailer, I half expected Jake Gyllenhaal to utter, “oh boy.” He instead exclaims, “no, no, no, no,” as if to echo my thoughts exactly — I don’t want to see Gyllenhaal act the same “stop the terrorist on the train” scene, over and over and over again.

I have a strong feeling that this...

Chicago – When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their 2011 nominees, one of the more surprising choices was the Greek entry for Best Foreign Language Film, the subversive black comedy “Dogtooth.” It’s not the choice was undeserving, but it’s certainly one of the weirdest, darkest, and most disturbing films ever nominated by a group that usually goes heartwarming in this category. There’s nothing heartwarming about “Dogtooth” outside of those who take comfort in hearing from a fascinating new international voice in cinema.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

Fans of Michael Haneke (“Cache”) and Gaspar Noe (“Enter the Void”) should definitely sign up for this twisted trip as it plays off themes that have long been of interest to both filmmakers in its dissection of suburban psychodrama. What would happen if a family completely walled off their children from all possible interaction? How would they develop? And what if...

Here’s an interesting psycho-drama. Husband and wife who keep their children imprisoned within their house and pretend that this is normal – mark that as a big ‘D’ for drama, or simply – Dogtooth!

Dogtooth (2009) is the second feature film of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, and one of the movies that will probably compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar!

The movie is on the nine movie shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film, but only five Oscar nominated will be announced on Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

To Lanthimos, that was just one of the film’s challenges:

“The film is on a very fine line between humor and tragedy. The story’s about a very serious issue, but we deal with it also with humor, and there are many funny scenes. To me, it was important that the violence make the point. It was like punctuation for me, contradicting the ridiculousness and...

Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 83rd Academy Awards. Sixty-six films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Algeria, Hors la Loi (Outside the Law), Rachid Bouchareb, director

Canada, Incendies, Denis Villeneuve, director

Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier, director

Greece, Dogtooth, Giorgos Lanthimos, director

Japan, Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima, director

Mexico, Biutiful, Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu, director

South Africa, Life, above All, Oliver Schmitz, director

Spain, Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain), Ic&#237ar Bolla&#237n, director

Sweden, Simple Simon, Andreas Ohman, director

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2010 are again being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 66 eligible films between mid-October and January 13. The group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's...

Dogtooth Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos Written by: Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos Starring: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni and Hristos Passalis Dogtooth is a film I had read little about; the snippets of description and words I’d heard bandied around included that it was this year’s Antichrist, that it was brutal, extreme, disgusting, involved violence, rape and incest and that it was Greek. Combined with one view of the trailer and the knowledge of a prize at Cannes I had a completely blurred idea of what this viewing experience was going to be. Having fully prepared myself for nastiness in one form or another I just prayed that at the least, I was not about to see a cat being decapitated by a pair of garden shears. In a secluded house, a mother, her son and two daughters live in complete isolation. Their father leaves...

Aggeliki Papoulia in Dogtooth

Photo: Kino International Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos won the Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Fim Festival with his film Dogtooth, a feature that considers the evolution of family upbringing should the parents decide to close their children off from the world at large... entirely. This is a psychologically disturbing film that takes a near-documentary approach to examining the ill-conceived parental upbringing of three children and the damage it causes.

The film centers on three nameless teenagers (seriously, their parents have not named them) whom we first meet as they hit play on a tape recorder and listen as their mother's voice gives them their vocabulary words for the day. One such word is "sea," which we learn is a leather armchair. Later on we'll learn "phone" means salt shaker, "zombie" means yellow flower and "pussy" means big light. Sheltered from the outside world, these three...

The kids aren't all right. No wonder.

"Dogtooth"

Photo: Boo Productions

"Dogtooth" is an art movie from Greece that's so open-ended, you wonder whatever it is it's supposed to mean has dribbled out the back door. For the first 20 minutes or so, anyway. Then a story begins to gather shape, and the picture, already strange, becomes very creepy.

Three nameless siblings, two girls and a boy, apparently in their late teens, live in a remotely located house with their father (Christos Stergioglou) and mother (Michele Valley). In the sizable grounds outside, there are palm trees and a swimming pool and a high wooden fence that rings the entire property. The kids, we eventually realize, have never been allowed to venture beyond this barrier.

Inside, there's a television set, but it's used only to show boring family videotapes shot by their father. There's one telephone, but it's hidden at the back...

The kids aren't all right. No wonder.

"Dogtooth"

Photo: Boo Productions

"Dogtooth" is an art movie from Greece that's so open-ended, you wonder whatever it is it's supposed to mean has dribbled out the back door. For the first 20 minutes or so, anyway. Then a story begins to gather shape, and the picture, already strange, becomes very creepy.

Three nameless siblings, two girls and a boy, apparently in their late teens, live in a remotely located house with their father (Christos Stergioglou) and mother (Michele Valley). In the sizable grounds outside, there are palm trees and a swimming pool and a high wooden fence that rings the entire property. The kids, we eventually realize, have never been allowed to venture beyond this barrier.

Inside, there's a television set, but it's used only to show boring family videotapes shot by their father. There's one telephone, but it's hidden at the back...

Bright and attractive, ceaselessly curious about their world and about the words, emotions and sensations connecting them to it, the three unnamed siblings in Greek director and co-writer Yorgos Lanthimos' remarkable new film "Dogtooth" would be the picture of healthy development -- were they on the threshold of puberty.

But the oldest daughter (Aggeliki Papoulia), the son (Christos Passalis) and the younger daughter (Mary Tsoni) are all full-grown adult subjects of an unexplained sinister psychological experiment cum lifelong guerrilla theater piece orchestrated by their father (Christos Stergioglou) and mother (Michele Valley).

From oldest to youngest, the offspring believe they're confined behind the hedged wall of their home for their own protection from an outside world whose farcical and totally fictional rules they have been spoon-fed from infancy by their parents.

Intentionally or not, Dad and Mom have succeeded in creating an environment in which the infantile ideas, associations and assumptions...

Just yesterday we told you about Yorgos Lanthimos' new Greek horror flick Dogtooth, and today we have the official one-sheet for your mass consumption.

The flick will be enjoying its New York premiere at various venues on June 25th. It stars Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis, and Anna Kalaitzidou.

Synopsis

"A hyper-stylized mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy, Dogtooth is a darkly funny look at three teenagers confined to their parents' isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen — an inscrutable scenario that suggests a warped experiment in social conditioning and control. Terrorized into submission by their father, the children spend their days devising their own games and learning an invented vocabulary (a salt shaker is a "telephone," an armchair is "the sea") — until a trusted outsider, brought in to satisfy the son's libidinal urges, plants the seeds of rebellion by trading VHS tapes for sexual favors.

In the market for a little Greek horror/comedy/tragedy? Then Yorgos Lanthimos' new film Dogtooth may just be exactly what you're looking for!

The flick will be enjoying its New York premiere at various venues on June 25th. It stars Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis, and Anna Kalaitzidou.

Check out the plot crunch and the trailer below.

Synopsis

"A hyper-stylized mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy, Dogtooth is a darkly funny look at three teenagers confined to their parents' isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen — an inscrutable scenario that suggests a warped experiment in social conditioning and control. Terrorized into submission by their father, the children spend their days devising their own games and learning an invented vocabulary (a salt shaker is a "telephone," an armchair is "the sea") — until a trusted outsider, brought in to satisfy the son's libidinal urges,...

The new domestic trailer for Cannes 2009 Un Certain Regard winner Dogtooth is fantastic. Being released by Kino International later this month, the dramatic satire is directed by Giorgos Lanthimos and stars Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis and Anna Kalaitzidou. Check it out below.

Plot: A hyper-stylized mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy, Dogtooth is a darkly funny look at three teenagers confined to their parents’ isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen — an inscrutable scenario that suggests a warped experiment in social conditioning and control. Terrorized into submission by their father, the children spend their days devising their own games and learning an invented vocabulary (a salt shaker is a “telephone,” an armchair is “the sea”) — until a trusted outsider, brought in to satisfy the son’s libidinal urges, plans the seeds of rebellion by trading VHS tapes for sexual favors.

Rating: 8/10

Writers: Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou

Director: Giorgos Lanthimos

Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis

Anyone who follows the film blogging world should be well-acquainted with a few names of online critics that could eloquently be referred to as “luminaries” and affectionately known as “big papas.” Two of these guiding daddies of our world played a big part in my viewing of Greece’s Dogtooth. James Rocchi recommended Dogtooth to Scott Weinberg. Rocchi recommended it to me. Both loved it. These are recommendations you cannot ignore. The film won the Un Certain Regard Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (which recognizes emerging and special talent at the festival). That’s another recommendation you can’t ignore. Which is all very appropriate – because Dogtooth is a film you cannot ignore.

Read more on SXSW 2010 Review: Dogtooth (Kynodontas)…...

[With Greek festival hit Dogtooth screening at SXSW we now re-post our review of the film that ran at the film's appearance in Rotterdam.]

 

Giorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth certainly doesn't lack for ambition. A father, pathologically opposed to the moral decadence of modern society, deceives his three children into living as voluntary prisoners in their isolated country home through an ongoing programme of lies and misinformation. It's a audacious premise that suggests any number of interesting narrative possibilities and carries an eerie relevance in the era of Josef Fritzl et al.

Yet the director presents his film like some surrealist, detached passion play, with blunt, direct symbolism, characters who remain broadly sketched from beginning to end, bizarre tonal shifts handled with little foreshadowing or apparent forethought and a refusal to anchor much of the proceedings in any kind of recognisable contemporary setting. Dogtooth manages intermittent flashes of genius; it jolts, unsettles and compels the viewer but the lasting impression the director's approach leaves is one of frustration, where the movie seems to raise an...

Not all of the great film festivals are outside of the U.S. Even if you can’t book a ticket to Cannes or Berlin, you should be able to afford a flight out to Austin, Texas for SXSW, which is a festival for not only movies, but music and video games as well. Like the years before, the line-up for the 2010 SXSW Film Festival is the goods. Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass will open up the fest and then there will be other great-looking films throughout including The Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus, SNL’s hard-r adaptation of MacGruber, Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, and Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways, just to name a few. If you’re going to this year’s SXSW, let me know so I can steal your identity and go in your place.

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival will run from March 12-20. Check out the...

Less than a week worth of recovering from the Sundance Film Festival, and we are already looking forward to our next, big film fest coverage. That would be the South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Last year, Scott and I brought you all kinds of coverage from the Lone Star State, and this year doesn’t look to be much different.

With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival. Previous announcement were already made about films like Cold Weather, Electra Luxx, Hubble 3D, Lemmy, Saturday Night, and The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights making their debut. Kick-ass was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.

Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MacGruber.

Check out the full list...

Late yesterday the SXSW Fim Festival, which runs from March 12-20 in Austin, TX, announced the full lineup of films that will be screening at this year’s event. And baby, it’s quite a list. Mixing big name films with intimate indie gems, the sheer number of films and the vast array of talented filmmakers is sure to be a hit with attendees and critics alike.

This lineup includes premieres of studio films such as Universal’s MacGruber, Lionsgate’s teen superhero actioneer Kick-Ass and smaller films like Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine. With so many films to watch, it will be very difficult to find time to seem them all during the events nine days. But hell, we’re going to try.

For more on...

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival and Conference has announced its initial slate of titles. The list is rife with hot world premieres (Kick-Ass), films fresh from Sundance (The Runaways, Cyrus), hot titles from the 2009 editions of Tiff and Cannes that haven't had much U.S. play (Enter the Void, Dogtooth, Trash Humpers), interesting documentaries (Lemmy, The People v. George Lucas) and much, much more. Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue, which has received much praise on Twitch based on its Iffr screenings, will have its North American premiere.

Midnight programming courtesy of Fantastic Fest is also back with titles like Higanjima, Monsters, Serbian Film, Outcast, and a yet to be announced special film. Keep eye out for SXSW coverage at Twitch, but for now, pursue the massive list below (descriptions courtesy of SXSW).

Headliners

Big names, big talent:  Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film...

Giorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth certainly doesn't lack for ambition. A father, pathologically opposed to the moral decadence of modern society, deceives his three children into living as voluntary prisoners in their isolated country home through an ongoing programme of lies and misinformation. It's a audacious premise that suggests any number of interesting narrative possibilities and carries an eerie relevance in the era of Josef Fritzl et al.

Yet the director presents his film like some surrealist, detached passion play, with blunt, direct symbolism, characters who remain broadly sketched from beginning to end, bizarre tonal shifts handled with little foreshadowing or apparent forethought and a refusal to anchor much of the proceedings in any kind of recognisable contemporary setting. Dogtooth manages intermittent flashes of genius; it jolts, unsettles and compels the viewer but the lasting impression the director's approach leaves is one of frustration, where the movie seems to raise an...

Dogtooth by Giorgos Lanthimos (top); Mo’Nique in Precious (middle); Edgar Flores in Sin Nombre (bottom) In Giorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth, winner of the 2009 Stockholm Film Festival’s Bronze Horse for best film, a patriarch (Christos Stergioglou) tries to shield his cloistered wife (Michelle Valley) and two daughters (Aggeliki Papoulia and Mary Tsoni) from the outside world. Apart from selected home video entertainment and Frank Sinatra records — the girls believe that’s grandpa singing — they live in total sociocultural isolation. Then enters a female outsider to burst that bizarre family bubble. Lanthimos co-wrote the screenplay with Efthymis Filippou. "An exploration of the fine line between man and animal," reads Sebastian Lindvall’s film commentary, "Dogtooth leaves us wondering if society as we know [...]...

Dogtooth Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos [1] Infused with its own brand of hyper-stylized realism, Dogtooth feels so out of this world that it's almost  impossible to pin down. The winner of the Prix Un Certain Regard [2] at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival [3], the Greek film is twisted and weird enough that the absurd comedy of Todd Solondz seems lucid by comparison. In this unnerving and amusingly minimalist, work we're taken behind the walls of a family home where a father (Christos Stergioglou) and mother (Michelle Valley) have raised their children without exposing them to the outside world, warping them into accepting a twisted worldview of their own creation. This is a movie about walls both physical and metaphorical, combining to prevent the children from ever living a normal life. The couple's three children, two girls and one boy, are all seemingly in their late teens, and have had no contact with the outside world,...

Dogtooth is a delightfully twisted little fable from Greek filmmaker Giorgos Lanthimos, with all the markings of a cult classic. Alternating between the banal, the hilarious and the downright horrifying, it's the tale of three young adult children, cut off from all civilization by their psychotically controlling father (Christos Stergioglou, reminiscent of Dan Hedaya) and their passive accomplice mother. The family passes their long days in a rural Athenian suburb -- a landscape interchangeable with Southern California's -- in a modern ranch home with a sparkling swimming pool and meticulously tended yard. Surrounding the compound, however, is a twelve-foot fence from which only dad is ever permitted to emerge for his work as a factory manager.