‘La femme qui avait le mal du pays’ on the way to international fame
The big surprise of the Francophone Film Festival was Elena Alexandraki’s «La femme qui avait le mal du pays,» based on a short story by Alexandros Papadiamantis and shot entirely on Nissyros, the Dodecanese island that is sure to be on cinephiles’ ‘must’ list this summer. The locals and their children have roles in the film and fine actors, with Olia Lazaridou in the part of Annie, speak like the islanders. Nikos Papazoglou’s music is one of the film’s major drawing cards. The Attikon cinema was packed for the screening and enthusiastic applause broke out when the lights went on. Alexandraki, who has studied film in London and won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival for her film «A Drop in the Ocean» is a candidate for more than one state award. As for the Oscar for a foreign film, let’s see in 2007, because the candidate for 2006 will be Pandelis Voulgaris’s «Brides» with the screenplay by his wife Ioanna Karystiani. Good omens for Greek cinema and congratulations to French Ambassador Bruno Delaye and French Institute Director Alain Fohr, who believe in cinema.
