World premiere for the digitally restored version of Bitter Bread [Pikro Psomi] on December 4th within the 14th AAGFF at the Greek Film Archive!
Online: 4-7.12.2025
The Greek Film Archive, in the context of the 14th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival (3-18.12.2025), will present the seminal film for the Greek Cinema, "Bitter Bread" [Pikro Psomi] by Grigoris Grigoriou (1951), digitally restored in 6.5K, in a 4K DCP.
This black-and-white film, based on a story by Inta Hristinaki (who also acts as one of the main characters), is considered the first Greek neo-realist movie, as it depicts the harsh post-war reality of a family living in the poor neighbourhoods of Athens. It's also the first film appearance of Eleni Zafeiriou, the quintessential "mother" of Greek Cinema. It faced several setbacks during its production, most notably, that the young actor playing the middle brother, Stratos Floros, died during the shooting.
Bitter Bread is the second accomplishment of GFA's new Digital Film Restoration Laboratory, under the project "SUB.4.7" funded by the European Commission -Next Generation EU, in the context of the National Recovery and Resilience plan "Greece 2.0".
Its restoration was realised with the support of "A Season of Classic Films" an initiative by ACE- Association des Cinémathèques Européennes as part of the Creative Europe MEDIA programme
Restoration Credits
Restoration: Greek Film Archive 2025
Under the supervision of: L’Immagine Ritrovata
GFA Laboratory Team: Electra Venaki, Tassos Adamopoulos, Annita Adami, Apostolis Agrogiannis, Ioanna H. Pipides, Celine Ruivo, Dafni Thomaidou
Sound Restoration: Christos Gartaganis
Sound Mix: Kostas Varympopiotis
The screening is part of the 14th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival organised by the Greek Film Archive within the context of "Cinephilia in the new era III", part of the Partnership Agreement "Attiki 2021-2027".
