A couple in life and art: Athinais pays film tribute to Jules and Melina
Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin, a couple, in life and art, who gained the respect of the international public and art world will be in the spotlight at the Athinais arts complex from April 15 to 21, in a tribute to the acclaimed American director which focuses on films starring the late Greek actress, activist and former minister of culture. The movie lineup includes «The Naked City,» a semi-documentary thriller from 1948 that looks at life in the New York subculture and which stars Barry Fitzgerald and Howard Duff; «Thieves’ Highway» (1949), another film noir thriller with Richard Conte and Valentina Cortese; the 1950 film «Night and the City,» starring Richard Windmark and Gene Tierney, and «Rififi,» a film that won Dassin the 1955 Palme d’Or for best director at the Cannes Film Festival. It was during this festival that Dassin met Mercouri, there with Michael Cacoyannis who was nominated for his classic «Stella,» in which Mercouri starred. The Athinais tribute will also include films that the two artists worked on together – he as director, she as actress – such as «He Who Must Die,» a 1957 film also featuring Jean Servais and Gregoire Aslan; «Never on Sunday,» a film from 1960 also starring Giorgos Foundas and Despo Diamandidou, and which gained Mercouri the Best Actress Award at Cannes and an Oscar nomination; «Phaedra» (nominated for the British Academy Award in 1963) also starring Anthony Perkins; «The Rehearsal,» a film from 1974 featuring Dassin, Olympia Dukakis, Laurence Olivier and Mikis Theodorakis, and «A Dream of Passion.» «Stella» will also be screened as one of Mercouri’s greatest films, marked by her brilliant portrayal of a rebellious young woman who would rather die than conform to the norms of a patriarchal society. The tribute to Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri is on at the Athinais arts complex, 34-36 Kastorias, Votanikos, tel 010.381.9781-6, from April 15-21.
