SUNDAY, DEC. 04 – 6:30 PM
GREECE
The Fruit Trees of Athens
(Ta oporofora tis Athinas)
Greece 2010. Director: Nikos Panayotopoulos
Cast: Lefteris Voyatzis, Nikos Kouris, Alexia Kaltsiki, Petros Aivazis,
Vangelis Alexandris
Veteran Greek director Nikos Panayotopoulos crafts an eccentric love letter to Athens in the feel-good Fruit Trees of Athens, an adaptation of the novel by Sotiris Dimitriou. Dimitriou’s book was no obvious film-in-waiting: self-reflexive and highly literary, it follows the perambulations of an oddball “walkaholic” who wanders the streets of the city searching out its various wild fruit trees — fig, olive, mulberry, hackberry, jujube. In the film, this protagonist is followed around by a writer. The protagonist’s attempts to interact with other pedestrians are usually misunderstood, while he and the writer often get in each other’s way. Panayotopoulos calls Fruit Trees “the strangest film I have ever made. It doesn’t fit any genre. This is a lonely film, undefined and without a sibling.” “Beautifully photographed ... Panayotopoulos successfully translates a difficult, seemingly unfilmable novel into a passionate, poetic hymn to Athens, embellishing it with humour — visible and verbal — and eroticism” (International Film Guide).Colour, DVD, in Greek with English subtitles. 97 mins.
SUNDAY, DEC. 04 – 4:30 PM ESTONIA
The Graveyard Keeper’s Daughter
(Surnuaiavahi tütar)
Estonia 2010. Director: Katrin Laur
Cast: Maria Avdjushko, Epp Eespäev, Kertu-Killu Grenman, Ülle Kaljuste,
Eva Klemets
The magical beauty and blessings of pastoral childhood contrast with harsher realities of alcoholism and neglect in Estonian director Katrin Laur’s appealingly complex, lyrical, and humanistic The Graveyard Keeper’s Daughter. Events are related through the eyes of eight-year-old Lucia. Despite the shortcomings of her well-meaning but troubled parents — her father can barely provide for the family, her mother is a drunkard — Lucia manages to live an almost Pippi Longstocking life, enjoying the friendship of her “angel” Jats, a younger girl with Down syndrome. Two events — the arrival of a new teacher concerned about Lucia’s welfare, and an unexpected trip to Finland — may change everything for the family. Critics have praised the honesty and deep sympathy of Laur’s film, and “the stylistic fluidity of the evocative fairy-tale tropes ... Laur and cinematographer Anssi Leino transform Lucia’s graveyard into a secret garden, a magical place of nocturnal mystery and daytime communion” (Ronnie Scheib,Variety). Colour, Blu-Ray Disc, in Estonian, Russian, and Finnish with English subtitles. 98 mins.
Screenings restricted to 18+.
Pacific Cinémathèque
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