Wasted Youth - A Greek Film Review

While Greece continues to suffer through a financial crisis, the country’s young film-makers probe and question, offering fresh insights into the country’s heart, soul and dilemmas. Wasted Youth, from director Argyris Papadimitropoulos teamed with German director Jon Vogel, is an important new film and an exhilarating one. Author Franz Kafka once wrote of the novel: “I think we ought only to read the kinds of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” The same could be said of film.

Relative tickers include Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA) and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN).

Vital Cinema of Hope and Tragedy

Wasted Youth fits the criteria. Like Dogtooth and Tungsten, the film is experimental, original, and disturbing. A young man was shot to death by the police during a night of partying, setting off the 2008 riots in Athens. This film takes inspiration from that real incident that turned the country upside down and made international news.

“We made the whole thing in ten days on a shoestring budget,” Papadimitropoulos told a New York audience. “We just decided to jump in.” Much of Wasted Youth was improvised. The result: a film that resonates with immediacy. Young Harry, 16, played by amateur Harris Markou, whom the directors selected for his skate-board skills and good looks, meets his buddies in Athens Constitution Square. It’s summer. They skate, smoke joints, and try to meet girls.

A scene with Harry and his father provides a heart-breaking insight into Greece now. Once the patriarch ruled. Now Harry returns home after a night out to find a nervous, troubled dad, who gently slaps Harris (no floggings here) and then pleads with him. He can’t take his son’s behavior. Harry needs to communicate with his father. He needs to get a job. The father takes off his shirt, and we’re witness to a thin, pale, spiritually impotent man in his undershirt, smoking a cigarette, his eyes filled with desperation.

Harry will visit his mother in the hospital where she’s recovering from an injury. According to Papadimitropoulos, she represents the “broken back of Greece.” A friend of the director’s played the mother. Harris’s actual pals played his friends in the film, all amateurs. Other roles were taken by professional actors, and intriguingly by film-makers who took small roles. For instance, a director plays a policeman. Says Papadimitropoulos, “We are a community of film-makers.”

Actor Ieronimos Kaletsanos scores as the brooding Vasilis, the policeman who will be Harris’s tragic nemesis. We see Vasilis stretched to his limits, a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He returns home after a long night shift to take a shower in the steamy heat and have perfunctory sex with his anxious wife. When it’s over, she rubs her eyes as if waking from a bad dream. Vasilis, although not a stock character, could be the Greek Everyman. He’s fortunate to have a job, but it’s minimum and frustrating. Yet he’s afraid to try anything new. His friend wants him to invest in a pizza shop. Vasilis ultimately rejects the idea. He’s afraid to lose what he has. Like Harry’s father, he finds himself alienated from his teenage daughter who largely ignores him as she tunes in to her ipod.

In Wasted Youth, the big, warm, argumentative but supportive Greek family has shrunk to the nuclear family with one child and, in Vasilis’s case, a mother who lives with them and passes her time watching TV.

Vasilis rides at night with his cop partner, a man addicted to flirting and watching pornographic films. They push vagrants off of the sidewalk and try to keep the peace. Ultimately, they encounter Harry and his friends outside a club. There is a confrontation. A gun is fired. Harris is shot dead and the film ends with his friends hovering over him, and the cops leaving the scene.

Vasilis did not fire the gun, according to director Papadimitropoulos. We could fault him here, for side-stepping this tragic move. (As a result of the real-life shooting, both policemen are currently serving prison terms). We could also critique the directors for falling in love with the skate-boarding Harris, holding the camera on him for too- long minutes. But the cinematography is brilliant. What makes Wasted Youth special is its empathetic embrace of a heart-breaking world in transition. It doesn’t pass judgment. But it raises questions and, just as important, keeps us cinematically engaged.

“As a citizen, the easiest thing to do is blame the politicians for the last 30 years of fake prosperity,” Papadimitropoulos said. “But I think we are to blame, too, because we took that pill. We said, ‘Let’s take the easy way out, even though we know it is not right’. Now we’re paying the price.”

Papadimitropoulos has made an impressive USA debut with Wasted Youth, his second feature. The film was chosen to open the 40th Rotterdam film festival, and was shown in New York at the Disappearing Act IV Festival.

Wasted Youth will be shown at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival in June and at the New York Greek Film Festival in October.

Born in 1976 in Athens, Papadimitropoulos studied media and film in Oxford and Athens. In 2003, he directed his first short, Pendulum. In 2008, Argyris made his first feature film, Bank Bang, which became a major commercial hit in Greece, and won the First Time Director Award from the Hellenic Film Academy. He has directed more than 100 commercials, and started his own production company, Oxymoron Films.

This article should interest investors in The New York Times (NYSE: NYT), Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Daily Journal (NYSE: DJCO), Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN), Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), Media General (NYSE: MEG), E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP), McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI), The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), Dex One (Nasdaq: DEXO), Martha Stewart Living (NYSE: MSO), Meredith (NYSE: MDP), Private Media (Nasdaq: PRVT), Reed Elsevier (NYSE: ENL), Reed Elsevier Plc (NYSE: RUK), Dolan Co. (NYSE: DN), Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM).

Who Loves You, Baby? Evokes the Great Telly Savalas

Feeling nostalgic for ‘70’s glam and cool, sexy Greek guys? Hurry down to the Soho Playhouse where Tom DiMenna is brilliantly channeling Telly Savalas, the macho Greek with the growly voice in Who Loves You, Baby?.

Celebrating Telly Savalas

“Who loves you, baby?” was a famous Savalas line from TV’S popular Kojak. Written by Hunter Nelson, and developed over a three-year period, the show takes the premise that sex and romance were for real in the ‘70’s. It’s ironic, touching and hilarious. With his shaved head and brown eyes (so Telly-like), DiMenna introduces himself as a “legitimate, card carrying sex symbol,” and admonishes: “Put the porno away. Wear a silk shirt. Learn about life.”

Set in a bar/lounge at the Soho Playhouse, Alex Leonard plays cocktail music that gets you in the mood. For an hour plus, you’re in a never-never Telly world. DiMenna captures the quality that made Savalas special. He himself seemed to spoof his macho self. A good guy, Telly created special intimacy with his audience. “Greeks don’t threaten. They utter prophecies,” says DiMenna/Savalas. We particularly appreciated comic-noir lines like: “Have you ever fallen in love and had a baby by a gal you met by the cigarette machine?”

The actor puffs on an electronic cigarette, drinks a Tequilla Sunrise (the lollipop that Savalas used in an attempt to break the smoking habit comes out later), and points to the current lack of alpha males like himself on the small screen. Telly was Kojak, a no-nonsense Greek cop. And as DiMenna points out --who do we have now? David Caruso of CSI. The actor/comic says: “The fish are disappearing. Your whiskey’s watered down. What’s missing is guys like me.”

During the production, brother George arrives for a loving reunion, and the two break into a Zorbas dance. Savalas himself would probably have approved of DiMenna’s rendition of You've Lost That Loving Feeling.

I met the real Telly back then, having a Scotch/Rocks in the Westbury Hotel Bar on Madison Avenue after lunch, and creating his own party by bringing his drink out to the sidewalk. A charmer, he dazzled me and my eight-year-old nephew Nicholas who loved him as Kojak.

Savalas played the title character in Kojak, a cop show set in New York, airing from October, 1973 to March 1978 on ABC TV. Kojak’s Greek-American heritage, shared by Savalas, was prominently featured in the series. Initially, the character was Polish but the actor rechristened the character, and it worked. Telly’s brother, George, appeared as a character on the show (a brother playing a brother).

In 1999, TV Guide ranked Theo Kojak Number 18 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.

DiMenna, 32, an Italian-American became addicted to Savalas watching old clips from his TV shows. Three years ago, he teamed up with Hunter Nelson to create the comedic tour de force. “What started out as a comedy show became a celebration of ‘70’s charisma,” says DiMenna. The actor, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he played quarterback on the football team, also spent a year in Italy playing with the Bologna Warriors. Growing up in Connecticut, his mother, a cabaret singer, frequently brought him into New York, often to “Don’t Tell Mama,” home of classic cabaret.

DiMenna has worked with the Second City in Chicago, done improv, and performed Shakespeare in London. Who Loves You Baby played last summer at New York’s Fringe Festival.

Taylor Negron directs the “surreal retro-lounge act.” Our Chief Editor at Wall Street Greek talks of a welcoming Negron, accompanying "The Greek" for a bite after the show. Markos Kaminis described Negron as “a candid and engaging man who earned his fame as a film actor and comedian, but with depth that is perhaps better explained by the man’s artwork and skill with the written word.”

The show’s on every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. through April, 2012 at The Huron Club, Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street (off Sixth Ave). The theater is easy to reach, three blocks from the Houston Street (1 train) and Spring Street (C & E) subway stops. Contact: TellySavalasLive.com and get tickets here.

Other critics have weighed in on the show:

“You will not see a funnier play than Who Loves You Baby?! As Savalas, Tom DiMenna is hilarious and cool like Telly.” New York Theater Com.

“Who Loves You Baby? is hilarious. Tom DiMenna is front and center as a dead ringer for Savalas. It’s a brilliantly breezily bombastic performance.” Nitelife Exchange.

Editor's Note: This article should interest parties interested in The New York Times (NYSE: NYT), Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Daily Journal (NYSE: DJCO), Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN), Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), Media General (NYSE: MEG), E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP), McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI), The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), Dex One (Nasdaq: DEXO), Martha Stewart Living (NYSE: MSO), Meredith (NYSE: MDP), Private Media (Nasdaq: PRVT), Reed Elsevier (NYSE: ENL), Reed Elsevier Plc (NYSE: RUK), Dolan Co. (NYSE: DN), Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM).

Opa Greek Cultural Cruise - Penelope's Diary

As the world focuses on the tragedy of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, I’m packing my bag for the "Opa Greek Cultural Cruise," sailing Feb. 11 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. We’ll be sailing aboard a splendid new Italian ship, the MSC POESIA. On last year’s cruise we were drilled in life-saving, not once but twice, wearing lifejackets and going to our stations, so kudos to TravelGroup International! The music and entertainment were exceptional, as were my fellow travelers. I hope that all travelers and “Wall Street Greek” readers in particular will enjoy smooth sailing and good memories of this year’s cruise season. I’d like to share the diary with you that I kept on last year’s trip.

Relative tickers: Nasdaq: ASCA, OTC: ARHN.PK, OTC: BYNEF.PK, NYSE: BXG, NYSE: BYD, NYSE: CCL, Nasdaq: CNTY, OTC: CLMDY.PK, Nasdaq: NYNY, NYSE: FLL, OTC: GXYEY.PK, OTC: GBCS.PK, Nasdaq: WOLF, Nasdaq: ISLE, Nasdaq: LACO, NYSE: LVS, NYSE: VAC, Nasdaq: MPEL, NYSE: MGM, Nasdaq: MCRI, Nasdaq: MNTG, AMEX: UWN, Nasdaq: PENN, NYSE: PNK, NYSE: RCL, NYSE: MCS, OTC: TWOC.PK, NYSE: MTN and Nasdaq: WYNN.

"OPA CRUISE" DIARY

Friday –I arrive in Miami from New York City on a cold March day, wearily dragging my brightly labeled bag, to join two-hundred other Greek-Americans. We’ve signed on for the week-long “Opa” cruise to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Costa Atlantica, an extravaganza of an Italian ship inspired by film maker Federico Fellini. It’s a glittering world, away from telephones and e-mail, with nothing do but dance, converse (because Greeks take conversation seriously) dine (forget ordinary eating – this is big-time cuisine), swim, catch the sun, and maybe gamble. It’s my second year as an “Opa” adventurer. Magically, my bag’s whisked away to a gem-like cabin with a balcony overlooking the sea. Also awaiting me, my “Opa” card (a handy, on-board credit device), and a blue and white beach bag. I already feel rejuvenated.

Organized by Dr. Cary and Ellen Pantazis as a fund-raiser for the Ocala, Fla. Church, and orchestrated by TravelGroup International’s remarkable Faye Weissblum, the “Opa” trip’s notable for genuine hospitality. No question goes unanswered. No request is ignored. Leaving my cabin, I swiftly walk to the small gaming casino and touch the magical one cent slot machine where last year I won $620.00. We’re still on land. The machine will have to wait.

That night in the Coral Lounge, an elegant grotto with blue walls and white fantasy trees, Greeks from twenty-two states – California to Massachusetts, Utah to Florida -- and the United Kingdom -- gather. The Aegean Duo -- singer and bouzouki player Steve Tavelaris and musician Nick Mouganis tune up, joined by band leader Nick Travelis. Irresistible Greek music fills the air. The dancers move to the floor and the party begins.

Saturday – Decisions, decisions: Greek dancing lessons with Mary Girmis? Fun and games in the Game Room? Swimming? Basking in the sun? Mambo lessons?

I opt for the Rev. Michael Soter’s religious service, a beautiful way to start a sea voyage. Father Soter blends faith with good humor. “My only other cruise was with the military,” he admits with a twinkle. “I think the services we have every day remind people that you can enjoy yourself without losing your spiritual focus.” Despite conducting his service in the Paparazzi Room, surrounded by blow-ups of Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni in the film La Dolce Vita, with his purple vestment and the chanting of the service participants, authentic Orthodox spirit prevails.

After the prayer service, I head for the Dante Disco, inspired by The Inferno. The dance lessons are heaven, and I meet “Opa” cruisers refreshing their dancing skills. James Teagarden of Dallas, Texas, son of a Greek mother, a young bachelor, says: “I’m already having the time of my life.” Has he met any lovely young Greek ladies? “Not yet,” says Jim. “But it’s early in the cruise.”

Dancing is the heart of the “Opa” cruise, and the music is exceptional. That night in the Coral Lounge, I talk with the AegeanDuo, musician Nick Mouganis and singer and bouzouki player Steve Tavelaris of Rochester, N.Y. (The third music maker is the amazing Nick Travelis, who also has a group called the AegeanDuo…but that’s getting complicated. We’ll catch Travelis later.)

Mouganis, an adjunct professor of Greek mythology, also has an environmental contract business. Steve is in real estate. Says Mouganis: “Business frees us up to take our music seriously.” Both are married with children, and have brought their beautiful wives on board with them. Steve’s wife, Mary, and Nick’s wife, Lynn, are both non-Greeks but speak Greek fluently and have taught their children Greek. We’re impressed!

Together for over thirty years, the men create a unique, authentically Greek sound. Committed musicians, in the 1970’s, Nick went to Greece with his wife and spent eight months collecting and recording folk music. With a repertoire of between 3 and 4 thousand pieces, they tailor their music to their audience. Says Steve: “We make sure that the energy’s there. It gets people up. People will say to me ‘I’m too tired to dance,’ and two hours later say ‘I danced and danced and didn’t want to stop’.”

Sunday – It feels like we’ve been cruising for a week, but it’s only Sunday. It’s time for our first port of call. Although Grand Turk’s fabled for its blue water and sky, today is overcast. Some opt to stay aboard the ship. With two companions, I book a taxi guide. The well-informed Carlos points out Turk’s many churches and the original source of its income – salt, dug out by slave labor. Most food is imported. A pathetic cow, lacking pasture land, drifts through a garbage dump. Fortunately, islanders prosper on the tourist industry. I buy a small pocketbook for a niece. Carlos tells me to bargain but the store proprietor wisely says: “You want it for a gift – so no bargaining.”

Unfortunately, I miss the lecture by Dr. Gary Pantazis on “Greek Pathologists Who Have Saved Countless Lives,” but receive a glowing report from a fellow “Opa” traveler.

And then it’s time for dinner. I’m charmed not only by the many choices on the menu (no wonder Costa plans so many exercise classes), but by my table mates: cousin Dino Smiros, a retired businessman, and his wife Mary, an artist, of Syosset, Long Island; Joanna Pappas, a kindergarten teacher from Long Island; my sister, Helen King, of Madison, N.J.; Dr. Corinne Courpas, an M.D. and her husband, Dr. Anthony Courpas, a pediatrician of Baltimore, Md; and Fay Rellas, a teacher, and her husband, Judge John Rellas, of Naples, Fla. Conversation topics range from the poet Cavafy to whether it’s wise to indulge in five courses every night . Food-wise, I decide to try everything!

After dinner, I head for my favorite one-armed bandit, but it’s been appropriated for the night. I watch yearningly from another machine and lose money, feeling like a lover who’s been betrayed.

But then it’s on to the Coral Lounge, where the main attraction is a show by comedian Jim Dailakis. I take my seat in the second row stoically, and with a mild burp, having just consumed a sublime serving of “gnocci with five cheeses.” In New York, I live on Lean Cuisine and an occasional minute steak, so my palate is in a delightful state of sated shock. As Greek comics go, I believe I’ve seen it all. Are any surprises possible?

From the moment he lands on the stage in a perfect split (he’s studied martial arts since age 15), Dailakis proves himself a show-stopper. A witty, acerbic observer, Dailakis combines Chaplinesque body gesturing with the off-beat observational skill of the late George Carlin. The audience loves his act as he walks the fine line between brazen lampoon and satire. Why do Greeks live so long? “Church aerobics,” says Dailakis, demonstrating the life-giving up and down actions.

Inspired by Al Pacino and Hollywood, Dailakis moved to New York from Perth, Australia fifteen years ago to study acting. “I’m a Greek who couldn’t wait tables, so a friend suggested – you can always make money in comedy. I tried it once or twice, and it took off. I went home to Australia, where I was offered a three-month tour. The three-month comedy tour is still going.” Dailakis, a writer as well as a comic, creates all of his own material. “What makes comedy funny is the truth. When I get a big laugh, I know that I’ve just gone into the audience’s childhood, because we all have the same parents, the same uncles. I love that.“

Dailakis has written a film, All My Friends Are Getting Married, which goes into production this year, and of course, he’ll play a leading role. “It’s about five guys determined to stay single – but one by one they give in. I’m the one who holds out.”

Monday– We dock at Tortola and I rush ashore to explore the island with four companions and our guide Bage. Even with a seat belt, it’s a wild ride. Steep, narrow roads feature hair-raising turns. Dr. Anthony Courpas observes wryly, “In comparison, the Greek mountain roads look like the streets of Paris.”

Tuesday– Land, ho! Catalina Island. Determined to meet “the real people of the Dominican Republic,” I book a tour that visits an air-conditioned cigar factory. Our bumpy jeep then moves through miles and miles and miles of sugar cane. In the middle of cane fields, our guide stops, opens a bottle of rum, pours drinks all around, and sells us hats to help raise funds for school uniforms.

Exhausted, my eye-balls weary from gazing at sugar cane, I half-wish I had gone to the to the lovely beach, but wrong choices form part of cruising. Consider Odysseus and his mythic booboos, including stopping off at Circe’s island where the enchantress turned his men into swine. (Odysseus did rescue them and forged a warm relationship with Circe.)

Back aboard, we’re treated to a wonderful Greek dinner including spanikopita, fish and baklava, followed by cocktails in the Coral Lounge.

Comic Jim Dailakis performs again. He’s only brilliant! Bravo, Jim!

Dancers fill the floor. “Opa”!

Wednesday– Today it’s “Opa” at sea, with a Greek Festival Party by the pool. The entire ship dances to Greek music, and dines on an outdoor buffet of Greek specialties including souvlakia and baklava. “Opa” cruisers feel their kefi in the sunlight.

Between dances, we chat with several “Opa” stalwarts, including Ernie Memphis, famous for his dancing. Ernie and wife Victoria are committed “Opa” cruisers. “We’re already signed up for next year’s cruise,” says Victoria. “The islands are unimportant. We enjoy the people.” Says Ernie: “We never book a fancy room. We say just get us aboard and put us inside next to the engine. This year, Faye called and said we’re upgrading you to a suite, because you deserve it. That was beautiful.”

Dr. Dean Loomis and his wife Toula, skilled dance partners, have been onboard since the first cruise. “It’s wonderful to be Greek for a week,” says Dr. Loomis. After dancing the afternoon away, Dr. Loomis will give a fascinating lecture on “The Spirit of 1776 and 1821: The Legacy of Our Greek American Heritage.”

We’re enchanted by Tula Serves, 87, of Canton, Ohio, recently crowned Miss Senior America, 2010-2011. What’s the secret to her vibrant appearance and personality? “A positive attitude,” the former teacher proclaims. After trying out for the Costa Talent Show, Tula performed Whatever Lola Wants with Marlene Dietrich insouciance while flaunting a black feather boa, and was a huge hit.

Thursday– We visit famous Nassau, the Bahamas, and learn that Greeks arrived here shortly after the Revolutionary War. Today they own jewelry shops and restaurants. On to Paradise Island and Atlantis, the 500-million mega resort, creation of Merv Griffin and Donald Trump. An outrageous pink fantasy, it features a huge gambling casino and a justifiably world-famous aquarium.

Hard to believe, but it’s time to pack suitcases, and prepare to disembark tomorrow. Not before talking to the charming Nick Trivelas who has been an integral musical part of every “Opa” cruise. The band leader, bouzouki player and full-time musician, formed a rock ‘n roll band, but Greek music won out. After studying electrical engineering in college, “the music business drew me back.” As for “Opa,” Nick says: “This cruise is so much fun. I love cruising to begin with, and mixing Greek culture in with it is just phenomenal.”

Ellen Pantazis of the Ocala Church and Faye Weissblum of TravelGroup International, have already begun planning next year’s trip. More than forty have already signed on for the cruise!

Ellen’s brainstorming some intriguing new events, but regardless, “What I like most about the cruises is that every year I see my friends. You make new friends. You see friends you had previous years. It’s almost like a little village, a reunion, and there’s a wonderful familiar feeling. You meet a Greek in any area and have these commonalities. That’s what this trip is about.”

On our last night aboard ship, the musicians put away their instruments. They won’t be playing tonight. I pack my suitcase, itemizing all the things I didn’t do: I didn’t swim with the Dolphins! I didn’t go to the beach! I only sat on my balcony for an hour! I never made it to the fancy restaurant on the top deck! I didn’t see all the Greek movies! But I had a wonderful time.

It’s late. I take the elevator down to the small casino. My favorite machine is free. I put in a twenty and win fifty. I’m tempted to play on, and hear the merry jingle of bells, but take my money and run. I won’t push my luck. I’ll save it for next year.

This article should interest investors in resorts and casino operators including Ameristar Casinos (Nasdaq: ASCA), Archon Corp. (OTC: ARHN.PK), Banyan Tree Holdings (OTC: BYNEF.PK), Bluegreen Corp (NYSE: BXG), Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD), Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Century Casinos (Nasdaq: CNTY), Club Med (OTC: CLMDY.PK), Empire Resorts (Nasdaq: NYNY), Full House Resorts (NYSE: FLL), Galaxy Entertainment (OTC: GXYEY.PK), Global Casinos (OTC: GBCS.PK), Great Wolf Resorts (Nasdaq: WOLF), Isle of Capri Casinos (Nasdaq: ISLE), Lakes Entertainment (Nasdaq: LACO), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), Marriot Vacations Worldwide (NYSE: VAC), Melco Crown Entertainment (Nasdaq: MPEL), MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM), Monarch Casino & Resort (Nasdaq: MCRI), MTR Gaming Group (Nasdaq: MNTG), Nevada Gold & Casinos (AMEX: UWN), Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN), Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), The Marcus Corp. (NYSE: MCS), Trans World Corp. (OTC: TWOC.PK), Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) and Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

The Greek Films of 2011 Reflect the Day's Greece

While Greece struggles with psychic and economic woes, young film-makers are creating art out of adversity. Witness New York City’s Fifth Greek Film Festival 2011. The films were bitter, shocking, controversial, experimental, original, dynamic, awash in tragedy and black humor. The overly sentimental and vapid Gold Dust turned us off, but we thrilled to the Greek neo-noir of Tungsten and Knifer, as well as the risk-taking, sad kookiness of Attenberg. Says actor Vangelis Mourikis, who performed in all three films: “Film has come out of the studios and into the streets to deal with real life and the issues that are hot. Attenberg is a film of the streets because it’s part of the new reality.”

Greek Films of 2011

Attenberg
The controversial Attenberg, Greece’s entry for Best Foreign Film Academy Award nomination opened the festival. The quirky, anomalous film from talented director Athena Rachel Tsangaris refuses to offer comfort and joy. Re the title Attenberg: the nature documentaries of Sir David Attenborough inspire the characters who occasionally imitate animals.

In Attenberg, we encounter a tender, fatalistic father suffering from terminal cancer. Played by Vangelis Mourikis, the dad is the warm, beating heart of the film. “I’m boycotting the 20th century,” the father says. “I’m an old atheist, a toxic remnant of modernism. I’ll leave you in the arms of a new century without having taught you anything.” He also comments re the new Greece: “We built an industrial colony on top of sheep pens and thought we were creating a revolution.”

Ariane Labed portrays his daughter Marina, 23. She becomes her dying father’s friend and only support. It’s a coming-of-age film skewed to love and death. Sex forms the text and subtext of this film. With her father’s encouragement, the virginal Marina seeks a sexual encounter with a young man played by Yorgos Lanthimos, the director of last year’s Dogtooth.

At the end, the camera holds on a wasteland. You could be on the moon, but it’s Greece. Attenberg will be released in the USA by Strand in 2012.

Actor Mourikis, Attenberg’s father, in New York in conjunction with the festival, talked with Wall Street Greek. His distinctive, expressive face, with the huge black eyebrows draws you to the screen. It’s a Greek face, Zorbaish even. The actor’s in love with film, to the point of turning down theatre and TV roles. With forty films to his credit, Mourikis says: “The mythical world exists only in film, on the big screen. You can lose yourself in a film. It’s a different dimension, like drugs without drugs!”

Mourikis grew up in Athens where his father, a film buff, early on took him to the movies. “I would yell back at the screen.” He went to Australia to study film, and has also lived and worked in England and Italy.

Mourikis appeared in three films at the festival, including Tungsten, and says: “I die in most of my films at the end. I like it!”

Tungsten
Tungsten’s fabulous in so many ways, from its characters to its black and white cinematography. It’s a day in the life of disparate Athenians: a ticket tram inspector, played by Mourikis, a job recruiter, two young slackers – one half-heartedly looking for a job, the tram inspector’s wife, and the recruiter’s girlfriend. Tungsten takes its title from the metal with the highest boiling point, as it portrays characters burning with rage and frustration. Drenched in irony, the film moves to the beat of city life.

Trapped in no-exit lives, the characters make tragic wrong choices. One young slacker applies for a job. He’s interviewed by an impatient recruiter. Later we see the recruiter being browbeaten by his boss. Having a boring repetitive position can be almost as bad as not having a job! Director George Georgopoulos has a degree in sociology as well as film and it shows; the young director shows a keen insight into social structures and the dilemmas of Greece’s urban dwellers.

The director made the film for 5,000 Euros, or $6,000 with the agreement that all involved would share in the profits. Says Georgopoulos, “Tungsten’s an honest little film. I wrote, directed and edited the film.” As for Tungsten’s tragic conclusion, he admits: “I couldn’t have done it any other way. It wouldn’t be me!”

The film mirrors Athens today. But Georgopoulos began writing the script “during the Olympics, when Greece seemed like the center of the world.” Commenting on Athen’s young film-makers, Georgopoulos told Wall Street Greek: “We know each other and there’s a special energy. There’s a very collective spirit here.”

Knifer
In Knifer, an angry, possessive, paranoiac husband keeps two black dogs for protection. Suspecting his neighbors of threatening himself and his dogs, he hires his nephew Nikos to watch the dogs. Nikos moves in a torpor, a creature who lives to eat and sleep, his eye-lids at half-mast. It takes Aleko’s sexy wife, Gogo, to snap Nikos awake. While Aleko walks his dogs at night, his nephew and wife, the predatory Gogo, engage in raw, desperate sex. It’s sad, funny and evokes our compassion as we see the brutish Aleko traveling into the dark.

In black and white, Knifer takes us inside a bleak Athens, a nowhere place with empty people knocking against each other. After stabbing his uncle to death, Nikos calms himself sitting on the edge of the bed in a rented hotel space and eating a huge bag of chips.

Knifer is cynical and rampant with black humor. It won seven Hellenic Academy Film Awards, including for best director and cinematography. Director Yannis Economides says it reflects the “dog eat dog life.” Knifer has a web site that offers a fascinating interview with the director.

Editor's Note: This article should interest National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK), Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (Nasdaq: VLCCF), TBS Int'l (Nasdaq: TBSI), Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping (Nasdaq: XSEAX), American Commercial Lines (Nasdaq: ACLI), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), ITA (Nasdaq: ITUB), Banco Santander (NYSE: STD), Westpac Banking (NYSE: WBK), UBS (NYSE: UBS), Lloyd’s Banking Group (NYSE: LYG), Barclay’s (NYSE: BCS), Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB), Banco Latinamerican (NYSE: BLX), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), European Equity Fund (NYSE: EEA), Vanguard European Stock Index (Nasdaq: VEURX), Powershares FTSE RAFI Europe (NYSE: PEF), Europe 2001 (NYSE: EKH), S&P Emerging Europe (NYSE: GUR), Ultrashort MSCI Europe (NYSE: EPV), Vanguard Europe Pacific (NYSE: VEA), Wisdomtree Europe SmallCap (NYSE: DFE), Wisdom Tree Europe Total Div (NYSE: DEB), iShares S&P Europe 350 (NYSE: IEV), Morgan Stanley Eastern Europe (NYSE: RNE), DWS Europe Equity A (Nasdaq: SERAX), DWS Europe Equity B (Nasdaq: SERBX), Fidelity Europe (Nasdaq: FEUFX), Fidelity Europe (Nasdaq: FIEUX), ICON Europe A (Nasdaq: IERAX), Pioneer Europe Fund (Nasdaq: PBEUX), ProFunds Europe 30 (Nasdaq: UEPIX), Putnam Europe A (Nasdaq: PEUGX), Rydex Europe 1.25x (Nasdaq: RYAEX).

Vassilakis - Cool Greek Jazz Artist

The Onassis Center in New York City exploded this year to the sweet saxophone and singing of Dimitri Vassilakis and his band. A jazz artist who is a scholar and teacher, but first and foremost a performer, Vassilakis managed to trump the roar of a huge crowd of gregarious Greeks indulging mezethes and wine (because the Onassis Foundation knows how to stage a party.) He brought the crowd down to a simmer to tune into his and his group’s renditions of music from the Beatles, Chet Baker, and Nina Simone.

Vassilakis - Cool Greek Jazz Artist

A tall, slender man with a shaved head, and a long, bony, and arresting face, Vassilakis vibrates with the music – his long hands twitching, his face moving in reaction to his other players. He alternates between playing the saxophone and singing in a lightly accented, smoky voice. His rendition of songs including Nature Boy and Time After Time comprise their own classics, and can be found on the recording, Across the Universe. On this CD, Vassilakis brings Greek passion to songs including Fool on the Hill and God Bless the Child.

Born in 1961, Vassilakis first earned a degree in Chemical Engineering at Athens University before surrendering to his great love, music, and ultimately, jazz. He moved to London in ’86 to study at the Royal Academy -- “I was very fortunate to have a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation” -- then did post-graduate studies in jazz for a Master’s Degree. “It was brand new, and the level was amazing at the Royal Academy.” Vassilakis went on to earn a Ph.D. in music.

He returned to Greece to teach, compose and perform. Says the multi-talented Vassilakis: “Playing is still my favorite thing – singing and playing the saxophone.”



According to the musician, jazz was “underdeveloped in Greece” when he first started performing there. “But as we started to produce and play – myself, fellow musicians and then my students – we developed a jazz scene in Greece that’s still evolving.” This summer, Vassilakis took his talent to the Greek islands, performing in venues on Mykonos and other popular spots. In the fall, he’ll go to Chicago where his brother, Pantelis, is the Chair of Acoustics at Columbia College. Vassilakis will give a concert, perform with a classical orchestra, and make a recording. He’ll then move on to New York and Boston. And if you haven’t seen or heard him, we suggest you watch your jazz calendars. Or catch the CD Across the Universe, dedicated to his wife, Elena, and son, Nestor.

Vassilakis has another intriguing gig. The super-luxurious Bentley car company commissioned him to make a CD To Bentley, and provides him with a car and driver for transportation to major festivals.

His web site: Dimitrios Vassilakis

This article should interest investors in The New York Times (NYSE: NYT), Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Daily Journal (NYSE: DJCO), Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN), Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), Media General (NYSE: MEG), E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP), McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI), The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), Dex One (Nasdaq: DEXO), Martha Stewart Living (NYSE: MSO), Meredith (NYSE: MDP), Private Media (Nasdaq: PRVT), Reed Elsevier (NYSE: ENL), Reed Elsevier Plc (NYSE: RUK), Dolan Co. (NYSE: DN), Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) and Borders (NYSE: BGP).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

The Readers of Homer Thrills New York on its Epic Tour

Wall Street Greek Film & Theatre Columnist Penelope Karageorge got the opportunity to partake in the New York City reading of Homer's Odyssey late last fall. Penelope provides a review of the touring event for you here. The Readers of Homer is a unique touring spectacle, using audience participation to maximize the fun. It has been taken the world over, including to Chios, Greece, a legendary home of Homer, and certainly the ancestral home of Wall Street Greek founder Markos Kaminis.

Article interests NYSE: DIS, NYSE: DWA, NYSE: CNK, NYSE: RGC, NYSE: RLD, NYSE: LGF, Nasdaq: RENT, Nasdaq: CKEC, Nasdaq: LSTZA, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: PSO, NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B, Nasdaq: SCHL, Nasdaq: CRRC, NYSE: NED, Nasdaq: PEDH, NYSE: BKS, Nasdaq: AMZN, Nasdaq: BAMM, NYSE: BGP, OTC: LYFE.OB, Nasdaq: NOOF, OTC: PUBM.OB, OTC: IFLM.OB, Nasdaq: PTSX, Nasdaq: SAPX, OTC: AFFW.OB, NYSE: TWX, Nasdaq: NWSA and Paris: VIV.PA, NYSE: NBG, NYSE: OTE, NYSE: CCH, NYSE: TK, NYSE: NM, NYSE: NNA, NYSE: NMM, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: OSG, NYSE: ISH, NYSE: EXM, NYSE: SB, NYSE: SEA, NYSE: GNK, NYSE: DSX, NYSE: DAC, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: SFL, NYSE: NAT, NYSE: SSW, NYSE: GMR, NYSE: DHT, NYSE: BC, NYSE: MPX, Nasdaq: DRYS, Nasdaq: TOPS, Nasdaq: EGLE, Nasdaq: SINO, Nasdaq: PRGN, NYSE: KSP, Nasdaq: ESEA, Nasdaq: SBLK, Nasdaq: ONAV, Nasdaq: VLCCF, Nasdaq: TBSI, Nasdaq: GLNG, Nasdaq: XSEAX, Nasdaq: ACLI.

The Readers of Homer Thrills New York on its Epic Tour

Hundreds of New Yorkers turned on to the master Greek poet Homer, with an extraordinary marathon reading of The Odyssey at New York’s 92ND St. Y. Staged by the Readers of Homer and led by the remarkable actor/theatre director Yiannis Simonides, this reading nourished the soul and the stomach. A dinner preceded the reading with succulent roast lamb, as well as other delicious Greek foods – many dishes replicating those found in The Odyssey, and wine. During the marathon, participants could step out for honey and yogurt reinforcement, or a glass of wine.

But the thrills didn’t stop there! Just as mind-blowing, LyrAvlos played hand-made instruments replicating those from the Homeric era. Fantastic! Represented in New York by Panagiotis, Olga and Michalis Stefas, LyrAvlos is totally unique. And the Choreo Dance Group! One had to be there at 1 a.m. when the dancers, dressed as sirens, lit up the theatre as they sinuously moved up the aisles.

A total of two hundred readers participated, reading for between two and three minutes and remarkably, it proceeded as smoothly as moonlight on the Aegean. I was thrilled to be one of the readers, Number 59. Before the program, Simonides provided readers with complete instructions, via the charming Oxford U. graduate Stephania Xydia, PR woman for the program. I learned my exact minute, 23:26 and was given my lines. (Odysseus encountering the Cyclops in his cave)

Although I could have left the auditorium at any time previous to presenting, I found myself totally mesmerized. It was extraordinary to hear the great Homeric poetry read aloud. Although I’ve read and reread The Odyssey – kicking it off with a child’s version – and taught it at CUNY, The Readers of Homer brought vibrant life and color to Homer’s work.

The program began at 7 p.m., and ended at 8 a.m. with Four Meditations on War, a musical piece scored for bass-baritone and string quartet, conducted by composer Mark Latham. Created during some of the bleakest days of the war in Iraq, the composition reflected the complexity of the Homeric theme of war and all that arises from it: courage, cowardice, beauty, fulfillment, heroism and love.

Born in Constantinople and raised in Athens, Simonides is a Yale Drama School graduate and Emmy-award winning documentary producer. He has served as professor and chair of the NYU Tisch SOA Drama Department, and as executive director of COSMOS FM. He continues to tour the world with The Apology Project, a Socrates dramatization based on Plato, written and directed by the amazing Loukas Skipitaris.

Simonides and the Readers have brought Homer to Montevideo, Uruguay and Kos island in Greece. On April 30, 2011, the group staged a marathon reading of Homer’s Iliad at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California.

Readers of Homer can only be described as wonderful, an amazing group that we hope will flourish forever. We urge anybody who has the opportunity to attend and/or be a part of the Homeric readings to get involved. If you’re interested in participating or even making a contribution, you can go to the website: Thereadersofhomer.org



This article should interest investors in Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) and Borders (NYSE: BGP), National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK), Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (Nasdaq: VLCCF), TBS Int'l (Nasdaq: TBSI), Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping (Nasdaq: XSEAX), American Commercial Lines (Nasdaq: ACLI).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

Dogtooth Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film

Greek Film Flirts with Oscar!

Wall Street Greek Film & Theatre Columnist Penelope Karageorge takes a close look at Dogtooth, Greece's Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film. Karageorge speaks with the film's stunned Writer/ Director Yorgos Lanthimos, and several others about the film and the Greek film industry, as Dogtooth takes the stage among the world's best.

Article interests NYSE: DIS, NYSE: DWA, NYSE: CNK, NYSE: RGC, NYSE: RLD, NYSE: LGF, Nasdaq: RENT, Nasdaq: CKEC, Nasdaq: LSTZA, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: PSO, NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B, Nasdaq: SCHL, Nasdaq: CRRC, NYSE: NED, Nasdaq: PEDH, NYSE: BKS, Nasdaq: AMZN, Nasdaq: BAMM, NYSE: BGP, OTC: LYFE.OB, Nasdaq: NOOF, OTC: PUBM.OB, OTC: IFLM.OB, Nasdaq: PTSX, Nasdaq: SAPX, OTC: AFFW.OB, NYSE: TWX, Nasdaq: NWSA and Paris: VIV.PA, NYSE: NBG, NYSE: OTE, NYSE: CCH, NYSE: TK, NYSE: NM, NYSE: NNA, NYSE: NMM, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: OSG, NYSE: ISH, NYSE: EXM, NYSE: SB, NYSE: SEA, NYSE: GNK, NYSE: DSX, NYSE: DAC, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: SFL, NYSE: NAT, NYSE: SSW, NYSE: GMR, NYSE: DHT, NYSE: BC, NYSE: MPX, Nasdaq: DRYS, Nasdaq: TOPS, Nasdaq: EGLE, Nasdaq: SINO, Nasdaq: PRGN, NYSE: KSP, Nasdaq: ESEA, Nasdaq: SBLK, Nasdaq: ONAV, Nasdaq: VLCCF, Nasdaq: TBSI, Nasdaq: GLNG, Nasdaq: XSEAX, Nasdaq: ACLI.

Dogtooth, Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film

Greece's Dogtooth, a ground-breaking, tragi-comic film written and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Dogtooth faced enormous competition in the international arena, with 66 films from around the world in contention.

"Getting nominated was unexpected. It has made me and my collaborators extremely happy," Lanthimos exclaimed.

In Dogtooth, a husband and wife keep their children imprisoned in their house, where they play weird games and learn a language devised by their parents, while indulging in bizarre, sexless sex. It's funny, offensive, tragic and brilliant.

If Lanthimos was surprised, actor Christos Stergioglou, who plays the father, said he was "in a state of shock" over the nomination. "The film shows what stupidity can lead to – when you want to control everything, even under the pretext of love and protection. It is both a very serious and ridiculous subject!" Stergioglou said.

"This nomination is a fine tribute to Lanthimos," said NYC Greek Film Festival director James DeMetro. "He has made a strikingly original film that deserves the attention it has received worldwide. But the nomination is also wonderful for the Greek film industry. Greek films are shown all over the world, but the American market has been resistant and unwelcoming. This nomination is bound to attract attention to the Greek film industry. It sends a clear message that Greek filmmakers are turning out world class films that deserve to be seen."

The New York Greek Film Festival early committed to Dogtooth with a screening and panel discussion on the film, an event so successful that it had to move to a larger venue to accommodate an overflow crowd. An exceptional panel including Dan Georgakas, editor of Cineaste Film Quarterly; psychologist Dr. Tom Mallios; and Vangelis Caltychos, Columbia University professor, analyzed the film and discussed the intriguing issues that it raised.

A.O. Scott, film critic for The New York Times, pointed out: "Mr. Lanthimos is part of a Greek generation of filmmakers whose work is iconoclastic, formally daring and sometimes abrasive. These directors, in turn, are part of a loose network that spreads across much of the world, linked by the promise of festival exposure and the challenge of raising money in a worldwide climate of economic constriction."

"Their work is almost invisible here, though it commands a fair amount of attention in the flourishing and contentious cinephile wing of the blogosphere. But it is nonetheless available to anyone with the curiosity and patience to navigate the new, fast-evolving cosmos of V.O.D. and streaming Web video... a whole world of movies is out there waiting to be discovered."

Time Out New York senior film critic Joshua Rothkopf named Dogtooth one of the Ten Best Films of 2010.

The Oscars will be awarded tonight, Sunday, February 27, in Los Angeles. Films competing with Greece's Dogtooth include Denmark's A Better World; Canada's Incendies; Mexico's Biutiful; and Algeria's Outside the Law.



This article should interest investors in Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) and Borders (NYSE: BGP), National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK), Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (Nasdaq: VLCCF), TBS Int'l (Nasdaq: TBSI), Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping (Nasdaq: XSEAX), American Commercial Lines (Nasdaq: ACLI).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

Wall Street Fandango

Director Stephan Morrow Directs Brilliant, Uncon- ventional Shisgal Comedy

Wall Street Greek Film and Theatre Columnist Penelope Karageorge gets into the creative mind of Greek-American Director Stephan Morrow, as the two discuss famed Playwright Murray Shisgal's work, Wall Street Fandango.

(Photo left to right: Playwright Murray Shisgal, Director Stephan Morrow, Director Ulu Grosbard, actress Rose Gregorio, a Tony nominee)

Article interests NYSE: DIS, NYSE: DWA, NYSE: CNK, NYSE: RGC, NYSE: RLD, NYSE: LGF, Nasdaq: RENT, Nasdaq: CKEC, Nasdaq: LSTZA, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: PSO, NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B, Nasdaq: SCHL, Nasdaq: CRRC, NYSE: NED, Nasdaq: PEDH, NYSE: BKS, Nasdaq: AMZN, Nasdaq: BAMM, NYSE: BGP, OTC: LYFE.OB, Nasdaq: NOOF, OTC: PUBM.OB, OTC: IFLM.OB, Nasdaq: PTSX, Nasdaq: SAPX, OTC: AFFW.OB, NYSE: TWX, Nasdaq: NWSA and Paris: VIV.PA, NYSE: NBG, NYSE: OTE, NYSE: CCH, NYSE: TK, NYSE: NM, NYSE: NNA, NYSE: NMM, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: OSG, NYSE: ISH, NYSE: EXM, NYSE: SB, NYSE: SEA, NYSE: GNK, NYSE: DSX, NYSE: DAC, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: SFL, NYSE: NAT, NYSE: SSW, NYSE: GMR, NYSE: DHT, NYSE: BC, NYSE: MPX, Nasdaq: DRYS, Nasdaq: TOPS, Nasdaq: EGLE, Nasdaq: SINO, Nasdaq: PRGN, NYSE: KSP, Nasdaq: ESEA, Nasdaq: SBLK, Nasdaq: ONAV, Nasdaq: VLCCF, Nasdaq: TBSI, Nasdaq: GLNG, Nasdaq: XSEAX, Nasdaq: ACLI.

Wall Street Fandango

Can dynamic director Stephan Morrow succeed in bringing Wall Street Fandango, an absurdist tragic-comedy by Murray Shisgal, to the Broadway stage? In Fandango, two financial industry men – a super-successful, rule-breaking bon vivant and a plodding hedge-fund manager - forge a close friendship that leads ultimately to a reversal of fortunes. Fandango is timely, provocative, hilarious, and smart. It takes risks with performer duets, a "rap" solo, a ballet interlude, and breaking the fourth wall – performers addressing the audience directly.

We talked with Greek-American Morrow (originally Morros - changed by a grandfather) at The Cupcake, a coffee shop near The Actor's Studio. Loaded with opinions, Morrow could easily be at home in Europe's talking capital, Athens, a city for which he claims an affinity.

"Drop the N word from your vocabulary," Morrow insists, kicking off our conversation. "Networking is the N word. You have to develop collegiate relationships with people, with fellow artists, with colleagues. You're not selling shoes. Networking does not apply to the arts!" Morrow leans across the table, his face dark with concern.

Morrow segues from personality to personality as he talks. "I was very influenced by Elia Kazan. He really gave me a break when he mentored me into The Actor's Studio in the mid-eighties. I learned dramaturgy from Kazan. I learned structure from Kazan. He was the moderator in the unit, so I'm pretty astute about why a play does or doesn't play."

A long collaboration with Norman Mailer led to his staging Mailer's The Deer Park at the Actor's Studio. Playwright Shisgal saw the work, was impressed, and asked Morrow to direct Wall Street Fandango. Morrow hadn't known Shisgal, the author of the enormously successful Broadway hit Luv and co-author of the film Tootsie, despite the fact that they were both in the playwright/director unit at The Actors Studio. "I noticed this older man who would occasionally bring a lot of gravitas to his criticism. I was flattered when Murray offered me the play."

Morrow read the script with astonishment and delight. "I found it better and more literate than about ninety percent of what I'd seen on Broadway," Morrow recalls. "What I like most about it is that it's not TV writing on stage, which just bores the hell out of me. There's a difference. There's the voice of the playwright and there's an emotional action forward. Don't forget. Stage is part of ritual, and there's magic."

At three staged readings, audiences gave a major "thumbs up" to Wall Street Fandango, and 45 Bleecker committed to giving the play a run. But overnight and without warning, the theatre was forced to close, sending Fandango into production limbo.

But Morrow's not giving up on Wall Street Fandango. "I honestly believe it will make it to Broadway, and when it does, it will be a huge hit and play forever." Of course he would be delighted to meet with any Greek or other "angels" with a love of and instinct for good theatre!

Meanwhile The Theatre for the New City has commissioned him to direct a play by an L.A. writer, John Steppling, Dogmouth. "It's about hobos on trains, like Aryan nation guys – they're despicable but it's good writing. I always try to find the humor in the dramas I direct. If I see a production, and there's nothing to laugh about, I figure there's something wrong with it. Everything has humor in it. Hamlet has humor."

A veteran of the Off Off-Broadway arena, Morrow is dedicated to keeping modern classics alive, and founded The Great American Play Series. Morrow grew up in the Fort Hamilton section of Brooklyn. A graduate of the University of Buffalo, he began his theatre career at the Now Theatre Repertory Company in Buffalo.



This article should interest investors in Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) and Borders (NYSE: BGP), National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK), Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (Nasdaq: VLCCF), TBS Int'l (Nasdaq: TBSI), Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping (Nasdaq: XSEAX), American Commercial Lines (Nasdaq: ACLI).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

New York City Greek Film Festival of 2010

Fearless, Passionate & Original!

Wall Street Greek's Theatre & Film Columnist Penelope Karageorge leads off her foray into the blogosphere with her critical review of the fearless films and filmmakers of the New York City Greek Film Festival of 2010.

Article interests NYSE: DIS, NYSE: DWA, NYSE: CNK, NYSE: RGC, NYSE: RLD, NYSE: LGF, Nasdaq: RENT, Nasdaq: CKEC, Nasdaq: LSTZA, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: PSO, NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B, Nasdaq: SCHL, Nasdaq: CRRC, NYSE: NED, Nasdaq: PEDH, NYSE: BKS, Nasdaq: AMZN, Nasdaq: BAMM, NYSE: BGP, OTC: LYFE.OB, Nasdaq: NOOF, OTC: PUBM.OB, OTC: IFLM.OB, Nasdaq: PTSX, Nasdaq: SAPX, OTC: AFFW.OB, NYSE: TWX, Nasdaq: NWSA and Paris: VIV.PA, NYSE: NBG, NYSE: OTE, NYSE: CCH, NYSE: TK, NYSE: NM, NYSE: NNA, NYSE: NMM, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: OSG, NYSE: ISH, NYSE: EXM, NYSE: SB, NYSE: SEA, NYSE: GNK, NYSE: DSX, NYSE: DAC, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: SFL, NYSE: NAT, NYSE: SSW, NYSE: GMR, NYSE: DHT, NYSE: BC, NYSE: MPX, Nasdaq: DRYS, Nasdaq: TOPS, Nasdaq: EGLE, Nasdaq: SINO, Nasdaq: PRGN, NYSE: KSP, Nasdaq: ESEA, Nasdaq: SBLK, Nasdaq: ONAV, Nasdaq: VLCCF, Nasdaq: TBSI, Nasdaq: GLNG, Nasdaq: XSEAX, Nasdaq: ACLI.

New York City Greek Film Festival of 2010

This past year's New York City Greek Film Festival unreeled a dazzling array of new Greek films – audacious, controversial, entertaining, thought-provoking cinema with that special "Made in Greece" stamp. The best films from Greece refuse to play it safe. Greek auteurs are fearless, passionate, and original.

STRELLA - Strella takes us on the emotional journey of a transsexual and her father. An extraordinary film, it works on many levels: as tragedy, as comedy, as sheer entertainment, as a moving human drama. Writer/director Panos Koutras coaxed brilliant performances out of non-theatrical actors (A transsexual who looked like Maria Callas was not easy to cast). Mina Orfanou won the Hellenic Film Academy's Best Actress award for her unforgettable portrayal of Strella. Yannis Kokiasmenos was superb as the father, and Betty Vakalidou unforgettable as Mary, a surrogate mother. A gritty, close-up look at a fascinating subculture.

THE BUILDING MANAGER - A Greek family man suffers through a midlife crisis. He's caught between the devil (a sexy girl half his age whom he encounters in the Eden-like nursery where he goes to buy trees) and the deep blue sea (his mother) – and, of course, his wife. Hats off to the auteur Periklis Hoursoglou, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, with his real-life wife, Vangelio Andreadaiki playing his wife, and their two sons cast as sons in the film. An absorbing film - warm, human with an insightful take on contemporary Greek life.

PLATO'S ACADEMY - What's not to love about a gentle comedy featuring four Greek slackers who spend their time watching, and criticizing Albanian immigrants working around them? Antonis Kafetzopoulos gives a brilliant performance as Stavros, capturing all the nuances of this likeable loser. Separated from his wife, Stavros lives with his mother. When mama discovers a "lost" Albanian son, Stavros asks in dismay: could he be Albanian? This subtle, funny, ironic movie brings its point home: the new Greece has arrived. A delightful performance by Titika Sarigouli as the mother. Filippos Tsitos directed and co-wrote the film.

THE ISLAND - The Number One Top Grossing Film of the Year in Greece, it's another example of what Greeks do superbly: satire, lampooning themselves in the spirit of Aristophanes. Who killed the prominent citizen in the close-knit village? The police chief, the mayor, the priest, the sexy widow, the young son of the police chief who wants to design women's clothing? Everyone has a past and a delicious secret to hide. The performances are right-on in this fast-paced, well-written film directed by Christos Dimas. It's not always politically correct, occasionally tasteless, but extremely entertaining.

BLACK FIELD - Magnificent cinema- tography characterizes this unusual film written and directed by Vardis Marinakis. The year is 1654. A Janissary (a Greek recruited by force at a young age to serve in the Turkish army) turns up wounded at a remote cloister. A nun with a dark secret (she's actually a man) nurses him to health. The two flee into the woods together. Despite a muddled screenplay, the film's eroticism and scenery saves it. Won the Hellenic Film Academy's Award for Best Cinematography.

AMERICA, AMERICA - A work of art by the brilliant Greek-American Elia Kazan, the film chronicles his uncle's struggle to go from Anatolia to the USA. This was Kazan's personal favorite, and he put his heart and soul into the production. The cinematography is extraordinary, as are many of the performances including the lead played by Kazan discovery and Golden Globe Award winner Stathis Giallelis, taking the honors for "New Star of the Year" for his performance in the film. After the screening, the actor, who lives in New York, was interviewed by noted film critic Foster Hirsch. Giallelis offered a fascinating look at Kazan and the making of the film, including Kazan's obsession to get all the details right. Released in 1963, the film has been remastered and is available in DVD - a must for any Greek-American film lover.

DARK ODYSSEY - Set mostly in New York's Washington Heights in the 1950's, this Greek-American classic, written and directed by William Kyriakis and Radley Metzger, stars the remarkable Athan Karas. A Greek sailor jumps ship in New York and goes looking for the man who ruined his sister's life. But the sailor falls in love, goes to a party at a Greek home, and dances. Karas, who died last year, made an extraordinary contribution to Greek dance in America, and does an unforgettable dance on screen. Cineaste editor Dan Georgakas, director Metzger, and actor Lowell Byers, grandson of Karas, offered their insights on Dark Odyssey after the screening.

FOUR BLACK SUITS - A comedy written, directed and starring Renos Haralambidis, who also wrote the film score! Two down and out undertakers, an unsuccessful actor, and an ex-con try to turn their lives around. On the promise of a large fee, they carry out the dying wish of a Greek who lived abroad to carry his body, on foot, from Athens to his native village. We happen to love Haralambidis, so we'll go and see just about anything he does. Won the Audience Award at LA's Greek Film Festival.

DOGTOOTH - In this award-winning Greek drama from young director Yorgos Lanthimos, a husband and wife keep their children imprisoned in their house. The teenagers play weird games, learn a language devised by their parents to further cut them off from the world, and engage in bizarre, sexless sex. It's funny, offensive, tragic, and brilliant. The film played to a packed house at NYU'S Cantor Film Center, followed by a panel discussion with Dan Georgakas, Cineaste Editor; Vangelis Calotychos, professor, Columbia U., and psychologist Dr. Thomas Mallios.

COLOSSI OF LOVE - A documentary focusing on the Kamaki, the young suitors who perfected the art of seducing tourists in the '70's and 80's. To make this doc, director Nikos Mystriotis interviewed many of the Kamaki who waxed nostalgic about the time, the girls, the dancing, what they wore and the fun they had.

WITH HEART AND SOUL - Written and directed by Pandelia Voulgaris, this epic of the Greek Civil war focuses on two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides. Voulgaris, one of Greece's seminal film makers, dedicated the film to the thousands of victims who lost their lives on both sides of the conflict. Wonderful in so many ways, the film offers a great deal to admire – including Voulgaris's heart-rending depiction of young fighters who tease each other, kill each other, and even fall in love.

SUGARTOWN - Directed by Kimos Tsakiris, this important documentary takes an in-depth look at Zacharo (Sugartown) in the Western Peloponnese, almost destroyed in the fires of 2007. A total of 45 residents lost their lives, but the money provided to rebuild this community was lost or misused. The mayor behind much of the scandal blatantly tells almost all.

Three delightful shorts by Greek-American teenagers, winners in the No Limits 2010 competition co-sponsored by The National Herald and The New York City Film Festival, rounded out the festival: DE NADA: directed by Gracie Brett, 13; DON'T BE A LIAR, Mafia Stories Part II, directed by Dennis Latos, 18; and AROMA, directed by Michael Kontaxis, 16.



This article should interest investors in Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) and Borders (NYSE: BGP), National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK), Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (Nasdaq: VLCCF), TBS Int'l (Nasdaq: TBSI), Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping (Nasdaq: XSEAX), American Commercial Lines (Nasdaq: ACLI).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.