Plissken Festival celebrates its 4 years with a stellar lineup.: Swans, Simian Mobile Disco, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, The Bug and Son Lux, will be visiting Athens and Thessaloniki, on the 4th & 5th December respectively.
More info:
Tickets Presale:
Faithful to its established annual appointment, the 55th Thessaloniki International Film Festival will take place October 31 to November 9, 2014.
With renewed vision and a strong dedication to independent cinema, the Festival will once more invite both film makers and the audience to a special celebration of film. Films from all over the world, cinematic surprises, distinguished guests, tributes, Master Classes, round table discussions and parallel events will comprise the ten day event, transforming the city of Thessaloniki into a place of discovery and productive dialogue on the Seventh Art.
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is the top film festival of South Eastern Europe, the presentation platform for the year’s Greek productions, and the primary and oldest festival in the Balkans for the creations of emerging film makers from all over the world. Founded in 1960 as the Week of Greek Cinema, it became international in 1992, including a Competition Section for feature length films by emerging directors presenting their first or second film.
Since then, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, constantly evolving, has claimed and achieved a constantly increasing international scope, presenting the most groundbreaking independent productions from the entire world, and developing activities for international film industry professionals. Since the mid 1990s, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, going beyond the borders set for decades by its centerpiece November edition, has become an organization with continuously increasing cultural activities throughout the year.
Through its new form and activities, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival has established close collaborations with various local, national, regional and international film institutions, cultural, educational and social organizations, as well as embassies and cultural agencies from other countries.
More info, schedule & tickets: http://tiff.filmfestival.gr/
International Organization for Migration – Office in Greece organizes the Photo Exhibition “kinesis & taxis”, under the auspices of Thessaloniki’s Prefecture, from 20th October to 10th November 2014, at Thessaloniki City Hall, 1st fr, 1 Vasileos Georgiou Str. The Launch Event will take place on Tuesday 21st Oct. at 7pm.
The title of the Exhibition is borrowed from biology terminology according to which, kinesis is the non-directional movement of an organism, caused by an external stimulus; taxis is the directional movement. The collection is a journey with IOM ‘s Global Missions in space and time, whenever and wherever the need for massive displacement of populations was an escape for survival or a movement to a specific destination. These photographs capture the basic principles and values of IOM regarding the humane management of migration for the benefit of all.
The Exhibition was an initiative by IOM Greece, which was adopted by Thessaloniki Prefecture and the Mayor himself. October is the month of celebrations for Thessaloniki and this is why it was decided to have the Exhibition hosted in the City these days. The valuable partnerships contribute not only actually but also in a symbolic way. With the support of Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the specialized collaboration of the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki, IOM’s Photo Exhibition ‘kines&taxis’ is related with the top 2 cultural Institutions of the City. The communication sponsors are the portal ElCulture.gr, the tv station TV100, RadioThessaloniki 945fm and Parallaxi.gr free-press Magazine of the City.
During the Launch Event , artists of the ‘Sofouli Theater’ and the ‘Kafantari Dance School’ will participate voluntarily while the companies ‘TUVUNU’, ‘ZoinosWineryS.A.’, ‘Plaisir Catering’ and ‘ProlabDigitalPrints.gr’ will kindly contribute their services and products.
The aptly-named Cinematic Orchestra (TCO) were formed by J. Swinscoe back in 1999. At the time Jay was still an employee at Ninja Tune in South London, where he was responsible for export sales at the long-standing independent record label. Swinscoe arrived at London Bridge from Scotland via Yorkshire and Cardiff with a background playing bass and guitar in bands and DJing, as well as a head full of ideas and influences, such as his love of jazz bass players, rhythm sections and film soundtracks. So while he knocked out Mr. Scruff and Coldcut records to Spain and Scandinavia by day, he began putting together the TCO album in his downtime.
‘Motion’: Taking on the role of bandleader, Swinscoe rallied a group of adventurous jazz players and delivered a debut album that took everyone by surprise and was voted album of the year by listeners to Gilles Peterson’s Radio One show. It’s a record which emphasises the ‘cinematic’ in the Cinematic Orchestra, with Uncut likening it to “every hard-boiled, neon-lit Hollywood thriller you’ve seen, the sound of a thousand femmes fatales, doomed P.I.’s and bitter plot twists remixed and refashioned in one ingeniously sampled audio narrative”.
‘Every Day’: If ‘Motion’ reflected the cinematic aspect of TCO, their second album ‘Every Day’, brought out more of the orchestral side, too. Arguably a more refined record than its predecessor, it is uncompromising in its approach nonetheless. On ‘Every Day’, Swinscoe worked with bass player Phil France as his co-pilot and co-producer, France’s background in jazz the perfect counterpoint to Swinscoe’s technical knowhow and emphasis on raw emotion. The pair flew out to St. Louis to record the legendary Fontella Bass (of ‘Rescue Me’ and Art Ensemble of Chicago fame) for the single ‘All That You Give’ and ‘Evolution’, both of which appeared on the album. Closer to home, they enlisted the talents of Mercury and Brit nominated South London rapper Roots Manuva on the soul searching ‘All Things To All Men’.
Live: In the last three years the Cinematics’ have played far and wide at every conceivable type of venue and on all kinds of occasion. They have shocked out from the Jazz Café to the Jazz Bop via Ronnie Scott’s. And in somewhat hardcore fashion they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit in the back of a transit van, with the dates culminating in a prestigious support slot for John McLaughlin in Central Park.
They have toured in Germany, Japan, Italy and Portugal. They have also clocked up the music festival mileage appearing at, amongst others, Homelands and Essential (UK), Sonar (Spain), Celerico De Basto (Portugal), North Sea Jazz and Drum Rhythm (Holland), Cannes (France), Fuji Rock (Japan) and Montreux (Switzerland) and have headlined The Big Chill twice. Other live highlights include playing at the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award for Stanley Kubrick by the Directors Guild.
‘Man With A Movie Camera’: Suitably enough for a group who have become something of a household name in Portugal, Swinscoe and co. were commissioned to write and perform a new score for Dziga Vertov’s avant garde 1929 silent film ‘Man With The Movie Camera’, as the opening event celebrating the northern Portuguese city of Porto’s year as European City of Culture for 2001.
As a big fan of film soundtracks, Jay set about the mission with great enthusiasm. Following some frenzied rehearsals somewhere in South East London, the band performed Swinscoe’s soundtrack live in Porto’s splendid Coliseu theatre in May 2000 in front of an audience of 3500 and received a tumultuous ten minute standing ovation for their troubles.
In November 2002, Swinscoe was fortunate enough to come by some downtime at legendary specialist soundtrack studio, Whitfield Street in London. Over two days the Cinematics, along with a string section and percussionist Milo Fell, laid down what Swinscoe and France hope will be their definitive version of the soundtrack. This was released with the movie on DVD by Ninja Tune in the spring of 2003.
Travel: In 2004, Swinscoe relocated to Paris, which slightly altered the balance of work between himself and France during the making of “Ma Fleur” (and was also responsible for its French title). Then in 2006 he moved again, this time to Brooklyn, New York. Jason is the first to acknowledge that this has had a direct impact on his creativity: “I think the cities I’ve lived in have had an effect on my perspective both personally and musically. The dynamics of a city changes the energy and pace of all things, but particularly music.”
‘Ma Fleur’: In Paris, Jason began work on the instrumentals, which would form the basis of his new record. Having completed a rough version by early 2005, he gave this to a friend who disappeared for 3 weeks and came back with short story scripts in which each track represented a scene. Jason then took this and worked some more on the tracks, and in turn gave this back to his scriptwriter, the two aspects of the project developing alongside one another. This yet-to-be-made movie gave Jason the emotional and narrative impetus he needed to develop the pieces and, in particular, led him even further into his exploration of song than he had previously gone. “For me, I think it became a natural evolution to enquire into that whole new world of the song form,” he says. “Also I think the ‘sceenplay’ experiment led to a need for a much more direct relationship to words and stories. So it still has links with film and narrative, in fact was driven by it.”
The Current Band: Over the years, the membership of Cinematic Orchestra has gradually evolved. Alongside core members Swinscoe and Phil France is Tom Chant, a fixture at left of centre jazz gigs all over the world, saxophonist Chant is known as one of the UK’s top free jazz players. For ‘Every Day’ young drumming legend Luke Flowers was recruited, who had played together with France for a number of years as youthful stars on the northern jazz circuit. New members for the current incarnation of TCO are Nick Ramm – a pianist from London who has played with Matthew Herbert amongst many others – and Stuart McCallum, a guitarist from Manchester, whose subtle, six string antics have slightly changed the dynamics of TCO’s sound on their new record. The shows will also feature vocals from Patrick Watson and special guests on selected dates.
More info:
facebook.com/cinematicorchestra
Tickets Presale:
One of the most successful hip-hop acts to emerge from Great Britain, Stereo MC’s formed in London in 1985, when rapper Rob B. (born Rob Birch) and DJ/producer the Head (Nick Hallam) formed the Gee Street label as a means of promoting their music. Gee Street soon signed a distribution deal with the New York-based 4th & Broadway label, and a series of singles followed before Stereo MC’s’ debut album, 33-45-78, surfaced in 1989.
After the departure of founding member Cesare, the group — now consisting of Rob B., the Head, drummer Owen If (born Owen Rossiter), and vocalist Cath Coffey — issued the 1990 single “Elevate My Mind,” which became the first British rap single ever to reach the U.S. pop charts. Following the release of the album Supernatural, Stereo MC’s toured with the Happy Mondays and EMF before returning to the studio to record their 1992 breakthrough Connected, a sample-free album recorded completely with live instruments which spawned major hits like “Step It Up,” “Creation,” “Ground Level,” and the title track. Throughout several years of production and remix work, the group’s long-awaited (and oft-delayed) follow-up remained unreleased, though in 1997, Coffey did at least issue her debut solo single, “Wild World.” For their 2000 mix album DJ Kicks, Stereo MC’s recorded three new tracks, “Rhino, Pts. 1-3,” and finally in 2001 issued a new album, Deep Down & Dirty, after a long nine-year hiatus.
More info:
facebook.com/events/719602571422079
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Stefanos Tsivopoulos represents Greece at the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia with his work History Zero, which was unveiled at the Giardini during the preview on 29 May 2013. Syrago Tsiara is the curator of the show.
History Zero, specially commissioned for the Venice Biennale from the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, comprises a film of three episodes alongside an archive of text and images. The film questions the value of money through the stories of three completely different individuals, an old demented collector of contemporary art, an immigrant who collects scrap metal, and an artist who collects images. History Zero explores the role of money in the formation of human relationships.
The archive is a collection of evidences about various models of alternative, non-monetary exchange systems. However, the role of this archive is not just to document these models but it stands as a political statement suggesting a reformation towards autonomous communal patterns and forms of survival and resistance.
History Zero appears in a critical moment in contemporary Greek and European reality. It is the moment that a multi-layered crisis culminates and at the same time, the crisis context opens possibilities for a different visualization of the future. It suggests a moment of rupture with the historical continuum, a moment when old forms die and the new ones are not born yet.
With this new work, Tsivopoulos is aiming at bringing agency and urgency in matters such as history, politics and economy. Tsivopoulos approaches our relationship with money poetically, from a philosophical perspective, proposing visionary ways to reaffirm solidarity, cooperation and co-responsibility in response to the present crisis. History Zero implies not the end, but a point of departure, of recovery and growth: the beginning of something new. The combination of the archive and films brings together the diverse culture surrounding economic exchange whilst challenging the social, political and performative aspect of alternative currency models.
Based in Amsterdam and Athens, Stefanos Tsivopoulos’ work refers to the past, collective and individual memory, the genius loci or protective spirit of a place, and notions of public discourse. His work also deals with the technology of the image, television aesthetics and the historical authenticity of cinema.
The project is curated by Syrago Tsiara, Director of the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art, Greece, and has been commissioned by the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports.
More info: historyzero.gr
Schedule: Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00-18:00
With a name that means “new wave” in English and “bossa nova” in Portuguese, Nouvelle Vague’s moniker neatly sums up the group’s concept: remaking classic new wave singles with a Brazilian pop twist. Nouvelle Vague are the brainchild of French producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Prior to this collaboration, Collin played with the trip-hop outfit Ollano; composed film soundtracks such as The Kidnapper’s Theme; and released electronic music ranging from club-oriented material for Paper Recordings to more eclectic fare for Fcom and Output Records (under the aliases Avril and Volga Select, respectively). Libaux played with various French pop bands during the ’90s and began working with Collin in 1998. For Nouvelle Vague, Collin and Libaux recruited half a dozen French and Brazilian vocalists who were unfamiliar with the original versions of songs like Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel” to ensure that their renditions had their own identity.
Nouvelle Vague was released in Europe in 2004 and received U.S. distribution in spring 2005, which coincided with tour dates in locales as far-flung as Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles, and Rio de Janeiro. Nouvelle Vague’s second album, A Bande a Part, arrived in summer 2006. The following year, the team returned with Coming Home, a collection of songs from films given the Nouvelle Vague treatment. New Wave, a collection of covers by new wave artists, also arrived in 2007. Post-punk and new wave luminaries such as Ian McCulloch, Terry Hall, Barry Adamson, and Martin Gore contributed vocals to NV3, which was initially released in 2008 and reissued in the U.S. the following year. For 2010’s Couleurs sur Paris, the group reimagined French punk and post-punk of the ’70s and ’80s with the help of chanteuses including Camille and Vanessa Paradis. The 2011 compilation The Singers collected non-Nouvelle Vague tracks by the project’s vocal collaborators. Acoustic, released the following year, gathered the highlights from the group’s unplugged concerts.
More info:
facebook.com/nouvellevagueofficial
Tickets Presale:
Public, Seven Spots, Papasotiriou, Ianos, Reload
E-tickets:
viva.gr/tickets/music/nouvelle-vague-fix-factory-of-sound
Doors open 20.00
Based on a modern developmental model and with a unique philosophy, TIF-HELEXPO S.A. plans and creates new types of actions at its premises that combine family recreation and education. Within the framework of these initiatives, Thessaloniki is acquiring a storybook-like but real ‘Choco Factory and Museum’ for the first time in Greece. Essentially, this is a unique Theme Park of European specifications, with indoor and outdoor areas covering 2,500 sq.m.
Visitors to the Choco Factory go on an unprecedented journey through space, time and their ‘absolute dream’. Visitors to the Choco Museum will learn every detail of the ‘journey’ and process of transforming the cocoa bean into a delicious chocolate bar through unique exhibits. They will follow its traces, starting in an actual Jungle and Inca Temple. After learning about the history of chocolate in a traditional Amazonian Hut, they will discover the time machine that will transport them to the most beautiful Choco Factory in the world, where they will discover its hidden secrets.
The great Choco Waterfall, the old Machinery, the Maze, the chocolate and ‘magic’ Workshops, the sculpture Gallery, the Demonstration, Arts and Culture halls, the Library and the Educational areas comprise an unbelievable setting. A fairytale ‘Pirate Ship’ with hidden traps, dead-ends and surprises will lead visitors to the port, where they will find the Factory’s source of power…the ‘Island of Secrets’.
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The 3rd International Night Half Marathon of Thessaloniki and 5km Road Race will take place on Saturday, October 18, 2014. To register or learn more about the race, you can visit the official website: thesshalfmarathon.org
More info & registrations:
facebook.com/ThessalonikiNightHalfmarathon
The rock opera “ALEXANDER THE GREAT” is a theatrical/musical production of a new play created by the Greek composer and director Constantine Athirides. The duration of the performance is approximately two hours and fifteen minutes and is supported by a live orchestra of 10 musicians, 30 singers, actors and dancers.
The story begins in the island of Samothrace, one year before the birth of Alexander, where during the Kaveiria Rituals in the Temple of the Great Gods, his mother, the priestess Olympias, and Philip, the king of Macedonia, meet for the first time. It ends with the death of Alexander in Babylon, thirty four years later.
Through contemporary sound and music, the rock opera aims to acquaint us with the magic, the dream and the human side of Alexander.
For the creators, it is a real challenge to stage a musical and theatrical “ALEXANDER THE GREAT” created in the actual area where he was born and reached manhood.The rock opera is now in the recording studio, bringing together more than 150 musicians, singers and actors who have offered their knowledge and talent for its completion.
The world premiere: The Rock Opera “ALEXANDER THE GREAT” begins its journey on the 23th of October 2014 at the Royal Theatre of Thessaloniki produced by the National Theatre of Northern Greece. All parties involved in the production are optimistic about presenting a performance of a high artistic and recreational standard about Alexander the Great, a significant part of world history and of the Greek cultural heritage.
More info:
facebook.com/alexanderthegreat.rockopera
Tickets Presale:
NTNG Box office – 2, Ethnikis Amynis st