March 5 (Thursday) at 16:00 the Branch of the HFC will be holding an evening “Our Melina” dedicated to Melina Mercouri.
In celebration of the centennial of her birthday, the Ministry of culture and sports of Greece announced 2020 the year of Melina Mercouri.
Melina Mercouri (real name Maria Amalia Mercouri) was born on October 18, 1920 and died on March 6, 1994. She is known as the world famous Greek actress, singer and politician and the first female Minister of culture of Greece as well as “the last Greek goddess” and the “woman the fire” as her contemporaries called M. Mercuri.
The evening’s program will include:
- a brief presentation of the biography of M. Mercuri, based on the facts of her life from the book “I was born Greek” (Lviv, 2016, translated from Greek to Ukrainian), performed by Veronika Evdokimenko and Irina Ivanova, the students of the faculty of the Romance and Germanic Philology of I.I. Mechnikov National University of Odessa;
- screening of the movie “Never on Sunday” (languages: Russian, Greek)
“Never on Sunday” (“Ποτέ την Κυριακή”)
Country of origin and year of production: Greece, 1960
Manufacturer/distributor: Melinafilm/Lopert Pictures Corporation
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Duration: 91 min.
Starring: Melina Mercouri (Ilia), Jules Dassin (Homer), George Foundas (Tonino), Titos Vandis (Giorgos), Mitsos Legizos (Captain), of Despo Diamantidou (Despo), Dimitris Papamichail (sailor), Alexis Solomos (faceless), Thanasis Vengos (Thanasis), the Phaedo Georgitsis (sailor), Nikos Fermas (waiter), Giannis Fermis (passenger who missed the tram).
Producer, Director and screenplay: Jules Dassin
Composer: Manos Hatzidakis
Awards: 1960 — The American Academy: best music, best song (Manos Hatzidakis);
1960 —The Cannes film festival: best actress (Melina Mercouri);
1961 The Golden globe: best film;
1961 – The Oscar: best song – “Children of Piraeus” (“Never on Sunday”).
Made by a leading American Hollywood Director and producer, the movie that cost 150,000 dollars and brought the revenues of 6,000,000 dollars, was presented by Greece at the Cannes film festival in 1960.
It was filmed in Greece, in the port city of Piraeus, in the Greek tavern where they play bouzouki, sing and dance Greek dances and, at the same time, “break the glasses and the plates in the Greek style”. The songs composed by M. Hatzidakis and performed by Melina in the film, had been played on the radio Cannes under the French title “Children of Piraeus” even before the film was screened at the festival.
For the 2020 Year of Melina Mercouri, the Ministry of culture and sports of Greece has developed a special program featuring a number of interesting events.
The program developed by the BHFC program includes many events dedicated to M. Mercouri, which will be held throughout the year in collaboration with the partner organizations in Odessa and other Ukrainian cities.
Admission is free