Land, Legacy & Loss: Greek Cinema and the Environment

RMIT's The Best Films You've Never Seen series presents 'Land, Legacy & Loss: Contemporary Greek Cinema and Environmental Crisis', a very special screening event exploring contemporary Greek cinema's engagement with environmental crisis and the tensions between tradition and progress.

Georgis Grigorakis' neo-Western 'Digger' (2020) takes us deep into the forests of Northern Greece, where a solitary farmer named Nikitas is fighting an industrial mining corporation causing environmental destruction as it encroaches on his property. In the midst of this battle, Nikitas' estranged son returns after 20 years. 'Digger' was winner of the Berlinale's CICAE Art Cinema Award in 2020 and, in the same year, featured in the Melbourne International Film Festival program that shifted online. This screening will be an opportunity for film lovers and Hellenophiles to see this work on the big screen, where Giorgos Karvelas' stunning and immersive cinematography shines.  

Screening alongside Grigorakis' feature is Lia Tsalta's 2018 short 'The Forest', which invites us to experience a dystopian future where nature no longer exists. In this surreal take on environmental crisis, tourists visit a theme park to witness the last remaining species of plant and bird life.  

Curated by RMIT's Alexia Kannas in collaboration with Athens-based curator and scholar Geli Mademli (Thessaloniki Film Festival; Syros Film Festival), this unique program explores how contemporary Greek cinema negotiates the tension between economic growth and environmental preservation, and engages with the pressures exerted by resource extraction, gentrification and tourism.  

Join us for this celebration of Greece's bold and visually arresting cinema, brought to you by RMIT Cinema Studies and RMIT Culture in partnership with Neos Kosmos. Supported by Environmental Films Australia.

 

Digger

  • Language: Greek (English subtitles) Country: Greece /France
  • Year: 2020
  • Duration: 101 mins
  • Format: DCP 

 

The Forest

  • Language: Greek (English subtitles) Country: Greece 
  • Year: 2018
  • Duration: 18 mins
  • Format: DCP 

Image credit: Film Still from 'Digger', courtesy The Match Factory.

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