The 13th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival opens with the Greek premiere of Miguel Gomes’ latest film, Grand Tour, which won the Award for Best Director at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. To mark this new work by the bold Portuguese director, the festival also presents two of his key works: Tabu (2012) and Our Beloved Month of August (2008). Regarding Grand Tour, Élodie Tamayo writes in Cahiers du cinéma: “The re-creations in studio alternate with real-life captures. The images, shot on 16mm, sometimes in black-and-white, sometimes in color, evoke memories of Murnau, Sternberg, Mizoguchi, Fellini, Ruiz, and Weerasethakul. A cappella songs, karaoke on the mic, and old gramophones reverberate. We are awake. We sleep. The fades to black serve as heavy eyelids, like a tunnel where consciousness slips away.” The screenings will be held in the presence of Rui Poças, the cinematographer and long-time collaborator of Gomes’ films.
Program curation: Nepheli Gambade
