In partnership with the Athens International Film Festival and Cinema Magazine, the 7th Athens Open Air Film Festival presents for the first time in Greece a cinematic tribute to gothic horror with screenings of digitally restored copies of some of the genre’s masterpieces.
British Gothic cinema, synonymous with horror and phantasmagoria, was inspired by the Gothic fiction genre which flourished in the 19th century through the pages of classic novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, as well as through the dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe and Sheridan Le Fanu.
Transferring an eerie world of fog, threatening shadows and metaphysical suspense to the silver screen, Gothic film took its first steps in British cinemas, attracting countless fans all over the world and capturing cinema-goers’ imaginations throughout the whole of the 20th century with powerfully evocative stories featuring haunted castles, bloodthirsty vampires, otherworldly creatures, unfathomable mysteries and macabre encounters with the supernatural.
With screenings of films such as Terence Fisher’s classic Horror of Dracula (1958) starring Christopher Lee, Jacques Tourneur’s powerful Night of the Demon (1957), Robin Hardy’s unrivalled The Wicker Man (1973) – one of the supreme achievements in the history of British cinema – Roman Polanski’s sardonic and morbidly humourous The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Neil Jordan’s ritualistic The Company of Wolves (1984), the classic Gothic horror Dead of Night (1945), the short film The Mistletoe Bough (1904) – only recently unearthed as one of the earliest examples of gothic film – this tribute to British Gothic cinema, hosted at a variety of atmospheric outdoor venues around the Greek capital, promises to give you the shivers and make your blood curdle ... even on a warm summer evening!
Admission is free.
Screenings
The films included in the tribute are:
- Tuesday 13 June 2017 | 21.30
The Company of Wolves (1984) directed by Neil Jordan
Pireos 260 (Athens and Epidaurus Festival) - Wednesday 12 July 2017 | 21.30
The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) directed by Roman Polanski
Riviera Cinema (46 Valtetsiou Street, 106 81 Athens) - Tuesday 25 July 2017 | 21.30
Horror of Dracula (1958) directed by Terence Fisher
Trianon Cinema (21 Kodrigktonos Street, 104 34 Athens) - Thursday 27 July 2017 | 21.30
Dead of Night (1945) directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer
Dionisiou Areopagitou Street (pedestrianised street, adjacent to the south slope of the Acropolis – opposite the Acropolis Museum) - Friday 18 August 2017 | 21.00
The Wicker Man (1973) directed by Robin Hardy
Panetolio Square (Nea Ionia, 142 35 Athens) - Friday 1 September 2017 | 21.00
Night of the Demon (1957) directed by Jacques Tourneur
The Mistletoe Bough (1904) directed by Percy Stow
Petralona Park (Ano Petralona, 118 51 Athens)
Information
For further information, please contact Maria Papaioannou:
| Maria.Papaioannou@britishcouncil.gr | |
| Telephone | 210 369 2336 |
With the support of Athens Culture Net
