Athens Blues

Colour, 35mm
Greece, 2001, 110 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

The sun may set on Athens but the city never sleeps. And some of its people never sleep either, among them a trio of old friends who sit at a table drinking wine and telling good stories. And Maria, a former beauty queen who’s got her grandson Thomas on her hands, isn’t asleep either. She can’t resist a tryst at the movies with an old lover, but she returns home to tuck the boy in bed. She doesn’t notice him escaping, however, setting out on an adventure to a city seething with nightlife. It’s a magical night, set to the unmistakable music of Athens, and each of the inhabitants of this enchanting city enjoys it in his or her own way. Athens is a world unto itself, worth drinking in through all of one’s senses.

About the director

George Panoussopoulos has shot thirty films as a cameraman and is also a renowned scriptwriter, producer and director. Filmography (selected): Honeymoon (1978 – four awards at the Salonika IFF), A Foolish Love (1981), Mania (1985), Love Me Not (1989) and Love Not (1994). The director on Athens Blues: “I needed blues for this city and for this night. Blues, as only Stelios, son of the legendary Greek musician Vamvakaris, knows them. He brought the world Rebetiko, a music derived from old Greek traditions and the only original pop genre of the 20th century. Then Stelios merged Rebetiko with the blues, and he and his band made the music for my film; when you listen to it, it sends chills down your spine.”