They start on Monday, 02/08, at the Karava the summer film screenings, in the context of the «Film Education Actions», offered by the Association «Portokalia tou Karava», in cooperation with the «Youth Plan», the «Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Youth» and the «Alexandria Short Film Festival».
The screening programme launches «The Flea», of Dimitris Spyrou.
The film tells the story of Elias Seilaidis, a student of the last grade of primary school, who lives in a mountainous village in the province of Olympia. No one in the local community calls Elias by his first name. Instead, everyone calls him Psyllo, which is the title of the handwritten newspaper he compiles and publishes himself. Elias is treated mockingly by most of his fellow villagers, but he himself dreams of traveling. The ’Psylos« helps him to break the borders of his village, gives him the wings to fly away.
This is probably the most important creation of our country in the category of films for children and young people. The film is still being shown today, 30 years after its premiere and continues to move us.
Production: Greece
Year: 1990
Genre.
Duration: 90′
Directed by Dimitris Spyrou
They play: Pantelis Trivizas, Vassilis Kolovos, Demetra Hatoupi, Amalia Giza, Dimitris Spyrou, Kostoula Tseliu, Dimitris Paleochoritis, Leonidas Vardaros
Awards
- Best European Film for Children and Young People for the period 1989-1990
- Best Film Award of the Kinderfilm section, Berlin International Film Festival 1991
- Best Film Award, Chicago International Children's Film Festival 1991
- Irish Screenwriters' Association Best Screenplay Award, Cinemagic International Film Festival Belfast 1992
- Best Film Award, International Film Festival Sofia 2000
- Best Film Award, Festival Du Grain a` De' Moudre 2001
- National Greek Nomination for Best New European Film, European Film Academy
Review:
A penetrating look at the Greek countryside. The film incorporates universal themes in a delightful, stunningly filmed drama about a determined twelve-year-old boy who publishes his own newspaper in a small mountain village... The film is technically impeccable, with excellent photography of the picturesque stone houses and mountain landscapes. The original and folkloric music is gently integrated into the action. The performances are delightful, especially those of the children.
Variety
Southern Europe is represented this year at the Berlin Film Festival by the Greek film «The Fisherman». The debut film of director Dimitris Spyrou! Cinema of a high aesthetic level, capturing the suffocating narrowness of a Greek village in the late 60s.
Film Service
A new talent of Greek cinema is Dimitris Spyrou, who directed «Psyllo» in a purely personal style. The film shows us with how much unwavering faith a twelve-year-old boy realizes his dream...
German daily mail
Dimitris Spyrou is the artistic director of the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Youth. In 1993 he published «Psyllo» in the form of a novel (Pataki Publications), which has been published more than 10 times.
The film has been taught as part of the film course in schools in Normandy (France).
