The Athens International Film Festival is an almost 30 year old film institution that highlights and promotes all aspects of the cinema experience, through festival screenings, print and digital publications and educational activities. The Festival was founded by the Athens Film Society (a Non-Profit Organisation) with the intention of highlighting genres of independent cinema, introducing audiences to some of the finest and most anticipated films of the year, organizing retrospectives to emblematic creators or pivotal film movements and offering free film courses to schools, thus establishing itself as one of Greece’s prominent, most prestigious and popular film organisations.
Under the supervision of the artistic director Loukas Katsikas and an active and young team of film aficionados, the Athens IFF offers its +65.000 spectators a multifaceted festival experience through screenings, prestigious guests (Paul Thomas Anderson, Jerzy Skolimowski, Jeremy Irons, Richard Linklater, Julia Ducournau, Paweł Pawlikowski, Ki-duk Kim, Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Ari Folman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Alexandre Desplat, Peter Greenaway, Tom Tykwer, Matteo Garrone, Costa-Gavras, Sean Baker, Vanessa Redgrave, Christine Vachon etc) and parallel activities (concerts, exhibitions, round tables, educational masterclasses). True to the demands of its large audience, it includes cinematic gems of independent filmmaking, 3 competition sections and a fine crop of the most anticipated films of every year.
