More autumn than ever, but certainly no less interesting this year will be the Athens International Film Festival – Premier Nights. Autumn, because the start on September 28 and end on October 9 is quite late for the 28th edition of the festival, which, however, after two years of restrictions due to the pandemic, returns this year to its traditional look.

“This year’s slogan, as well as our ardent desire, was to return to winter theatres,” Artistic Director Lukas Katsikas emphasized at yesterday’s press conference, mentioning for the first time the anniversary of the murder of Jacques Kostopoulos. Then he confirmed that the renovated “Ideal” is ready to receive the audience of the “Night”.

The organizers will take care of themselves by bringing one of the best, if not the best, films seen at the recent Venice Film Festival. Martin McDonagh walked out of Mostra with an award for writing The Spirits of Inniserin, as did star Colin Farrell. The latter stars alongside Brendan Gleeson in a truly special film set on an Irish island in the 1920s, with dark humor and an inner tragedy that is overwhelming.

The festival will show the documentary film-winner of the “Golden Lion” “All Beauty and Bloodshed”.

However, the main events of this year do not end there. The big winner in Venice with the Golden Lion is documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, and her much-discussed All Beauty and Bloodshed will also be featured in the festival halls to tell us about lead photographer Nan Goldin’s courageous struggle against a pharmaceutical company. giant. Next stop… Cannes, where we have James Grey’s Armageddon Time, a largely autobiographical coming-of-age story of an American director that takes us to the Reagan 1980s. respectively, Pak Sang-woo’s “Decision to Run” and Lucas Dodd’s “Closer”, both were awarded at the last Croisette.

As always, of course, the Nights bring some very interesting tributes with them. One of these is Mondo Morricone, a cinematic world created by the great Ennio Morricone and embellished with his music. Organized in partnership with the Ennio Morricone Friends of Music Cultural Association in Greece, the Italian Embassy and the Italian Institute, the festival is a multi-faceted tribute that goes beyond the screen. The beginning will be the pan-Greek premiere of Giuseppe Tornatore’s documentary “Ennio” in the Concert Hall, preceded by a corresponding concert by the Stavros Lanzias Quartet. In addition, there will be a presentation of the biography “Ennio Morricone – In search of this sound” in the presence of the author Alessandro de Rosa, and an art exhibition entitled “Ennio Formes” will be organized at the Municipal Musical Theater of Olympia. Maria Callas.

The second, also promising, tribute to the New Hollywood, a phenomenal decade of American cinema, when directors really took the reins in their hands, giving us some of the greatest films in the history of cinema. The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Day of the Dog, The Man from France, Manhattan, Chinatown are just some of the masterpieces that will be remembered at the festival screenings.

The full program of Premiere Nights can be found on the website aiff.gr.