Dekapentavgoustos

Modern Greek Cinema? is there such a thing? over the past few years there seems to be a sudden rise in the number of movies produced in Greece. Such is the popularity lately, that Greece has even got a film festival in Salonika which invites Greek as well as international director's work. One of winners of this festival in 2002 was "Dekapentavgoustos".

Dekapentavgoustos is a Greek National holiday, which is celebrated every 15th of August, to mark Virgin Mary's day. The word "Dekapente" means 15 and "avgoustos" means August. Combine the two and you have 15th of August.

The movie shows three different stories, occurring in parallel on this day of celebration. Some-one may recall the Latin American movie 'Amores Perros' which has the same format... It is about three different families which leave Athens, the capital, to go on holiday -but they all end up in different situations.

The movie starts off with a 'feel-good' factor as the protagonists embark on their holidays and ends up with emotional tears as the story takes up a very unexpectedly different path. If you like sunny-Mediterranean cinefile movies you will love this film. It has it all- melodrama, comedy, action, love... a "first" for the Greek movie business -a must-see!