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ΔΥΣΚΟΛΙ ΑΠΟΧΑΙΡΕΤΙΣΜΟΙ: Ο ΜΠΑΜΠΑΣ ΜΟΥ
(HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER)
A film by Penny Panayotopoulou

June 18-24, 2004

HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER Dir: Penny Panayotopoulou Greece 2003 113 mins Opening Friday June 18th 10-year-old Elias, a boy living in Athens, makes a pact with his father to watch on television man's first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of the imagination. They are adventurers and explorers. But chocolate bars left by a father gone on too many business trips are counted, while the countdown to the moonlanding has already begun. The year is 1969. A spaceship takes off, and man soon takes leave of planet earth. And so does Elias' father. It is the imagination and their shared love of storytelling that allow Elias to transcend the unimaginable. ************************** - Click here to visit the official film site

Don't miss the upcoming Greek film, ΔΥΣΚΟΛΙ ΑΠΟΧΑΙΡΕΤΙΣΜΟΙ: Ο ΜΠΑΜΠΑΣ ΜΟΥ (HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER) opening on June 18th in Washington DC at Visions Cinema. A great tribute to fathers everywhere,  HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER  tells the story of a 10-year-old boy in Athens who makes a pact with his father to watch on television man's first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of the imagination. They are adventurers and explorers.  But chocolate bars left by a father gone on too many business trips are counted, while the countdown to the moon landing has already begun. The year is 1969. A spaceship takes off, and man soon takes leave of planet earth. And so does Elias' father. It is the imagination and their shared love of storytelling that allow Elias to transcend the unimaginable.

Directed by Athens, Greece based writer/director Penny Panayotopoulou,  HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER  has won a number of international prizes, including the FIPRESCI Prize and the Greek Film Critic's prize at the 2002 International Thessaloniki Film Festival. Ms. Panayotopoulou also won the best directorial debut award at the 2002 Greek State Cinema Awards. Actor Giorgos Karayannis, who stars as the film's 10-year-old hero, won the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival's Leopard Prize for Best Actor against Robin Williams, Gerard Depardieu and Matt Damon.