Themis Bazaka Movies
Author Anne Michaels's poetic novel comes to the screen courtesy of director Jeremy Podeswa in this period drama concerning a Holocaust survivor who remains eternally haunted by the uncertain fate of his beloved sister. Athos (Rade Sherbedgia) is an archeologist conducting a dig in Nazi-occupied Poland. When Athos discovers a seven-year-old boy named Jakob (Robbie Kay) hiding near the work site, he smuggles the frightened boy back to Greece and promises to shelter him when the Nazis come knocking there as well. Having previously witnessed the brutal massacre of his family at the hands of Hitler's henchmen, Jakob longs to find out what fate befell his sister, Bella (Nina Dobrev) -- who wasn't executed with the majority of his other relatives but subsequently disappeared without a trace. After the war, Athos and Jakob emigrate to Toronto in hopes of starting a new life. But even after all these years, Jakob (Stephen Dillane) can't seem to shake the grief of losing his family and not knowing what ever became of Bella. Later, when Jakob marries the radiant Alex (Rosamund Pike), the bright-eyed beauty does her best to illuminate the dark corners within her husband's soul. To maintain one's connection to ghosts requires a certain shunning of the living, however, and only when Jakob discovers the strength to let go of his painful past will he finally be able to move forward into the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Dillane, Rade Sherbedgia, (more)
- 2000
What would happen if a band of bikini-clad babes attacked Athens with a giant mass of Moussaka, Greece's national dish? This and other burning questions are explored in this wacky Z-grade flick. When angry yet buxom aliens try to inspire awe and fear in the skies over the Greek capital, their flying saucer accidentally turns into a 200-foot quivering behemoth of cheese, eggplant, and meat. A bunch of gay scientists who sport pink lab coats, corpulent designers in drag, and horny television journalists join forces to battle the encroaching wave of food. This film was screened at the 1999 Thessaloniki Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- 1996
Pantelis Voulgaris wrote and directed this backstage melodrama, one of the most honored Greek films of the 1990s. The story takes place primarily at the Akropol theatre, the famous home of Greek musical revues, where the manager/producer, known as the Prince (Stavros Paravas), has just fired his drunken leading lady (Olga Damani), after finding her polluted one time too many. The Prince needs a replacement, and, in a quixotic moment, decides on Lakis Loizos (Lefteris Voyatzis), a one-time child movie star who specialized in comedy routines involving female impersonation. Lakis currently runs a casting agency, but is coaxed out of retirement and back into drag despite holding quite a large amount of bitterness toward the profession which turned its back on him years before. His act is a smashing success, which stirs up a great deal of resentment among the other actors. On the last night of the winter season, the Prince decides to stage a throwback to the days of classical Greek theater, a so-called alalum revue, a show in which anything can happen. Needless to say, Lakis' bitterness and all the other rivalries which had been building up during the season are trotted out on-stage to the bewilderment of a somewhat appalled crowd. Konstantinos Tzoumas and Despo Diamantidou co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1991
The stories of three lonely people surviving a sweltering summertime in Athens are interwoven in this gentle romantic drama. Nikos used to be a merchant seaman, traveling around the globe to exotic places and testing his wits and his mettle in different situations. Now he is retired, living in Athens with his wife whom he no longer loves. While at the train station, he encounters a woman who faints more or less into his arms. From her, he learns that this day has already been special to her for two reasons: her husband just died, and it is her birthday. Curiously, this meeting sparks new life in him. Another man suffering through the hot Athens summer is a bank employee who gets calls every day at four p.m. from a woman who seeks to arouse him. What she succeeds in doing is rousing his curiosity, which he is likely to regret giving in to. Finally, an elderly woman lives in near isolation, lost in dreams of bygone love. Her new neighbor is a young woman who makes a good connection with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Themis Bazaka, Thanassis Vengos, (more)
- 1989
For some reason, the enigmatic Xenia (Themis Bazaka) feels she must give birth to her child in the mountainous country of Andalusia in Southern Spain. As she travels to her rendezvous with birth, she hooks up with a young actor (Denis Podalides) on his way to an audition there. His car has broken down, and he has accepted a ride from her. The two converse about life, art, the light in the Mediterranean, etc. As they travel, Xenia begins to feel the first pangs of birth, and the young man learns how to care for another person. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Themis Bazaka, Denis Podalydès, (more)
- 1988
Striker is the nickname given to Bill, a soccer player whose life and fortunes are explored in this drama. Beginning as a young man whose sole ambition is to become a star, he grows increasingly involved in the behind-the-scenes maneuverings which characterize the business side of sports. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stratos Tzortzoglou, Themis Bazaka, (more)
- 1985
In an engaging though slow-paced story of love and persecution, Eleni (Themis Bazaka) and Babis (Dimitris Katalifos) meet and fall in love in 1954 -- he is 22 and an active member of the proscribed Communist Party, she is 18 and shares his political sympathies. When Babis is caught distributing Party leaflets he is sent to prison, while Eleni escapes by hiding out with friends. Twelve years later, Babis is released from prison during an amnesty, and the couple spend an idyllic, though limited time together. Ironically, Eleni is finally caught and arrested and while she is sent to prison (pregnant), Babis remains faithful to her on the outside. The couples' fortunes continue to vacillate until the downfall of the military dictatorship in 1974. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Themis Bazaka, Dimitris Katalifos, (more)
Based on a true story, this uneven but engaging musical drama sweeps through a turbulent 40 years in popular singer Marika Ninou's (Sotiria Leonardou) life -- and in the history of Greece -- starting with the singer's birth in Smyrna, Turkey in 1917. Ninou was deported to Greece along with all the other Greeks in Smyrna when she was only seven years old, and a few years later, her parents started a career as a musician and a singer in a nightclub/bar. In the short space of one decade, Ninou witnesses her father murder her mother, runs away from home, has a baby, and comes back to the nightclub to sing in an act with a childhood friend and a bouzouki player, Babis. Success finally comes big-time, but then Ninou's childhood friend is exiled for political reasons, and she and Babis leave for other venues. Although Ninou carries a torch for Babis, their relationship never seems to work out, and after many years and World War II go by, she sends her daughter away to a convent school and goes on a tour in America. At last, her fame may spread beyond the boundaries of Greece -- or so it seems. Sotiria Leonardou won the prize for "Best Actress" at the 1983 Thessaloniki Film Festival, for her portrayal of Ninou, and the film itself tied for "Best Picture," and won three other awards as well (two "Best Supporting Actor" prizes, and one for music). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sotiria Leonardou, Michalis Maniatis, (more)
