The summer programme of ‘Tempo Forte Italia-Grecia’ winds up in Athens

The events on the recently concluded summer programme of ‘Tempo Forte Italia-Grecia 2018’, were all a great success. In particular, the National Institute of Ancient Drama returned on stage at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival to perform Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus at Colonus’, directed by Greece’s Yannis Kokkos and featuring Massimo De Francovich in the role of Oedipus. The performance was staged under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic Mattarella and of the President of the Hellenic Republic Pavlopoulos. Another event, the ‘Rossini Gala’, was held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s Cultural Centre inside the Greek National Opera. The performance, which was attended by the Mayor of Pesaro, Matteo Ricci, and the Superintendent of the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF), Ernesto Palacio, was the first cooperative effort between the Greek National Opera and the ROF. The ticket sales revenue from this event was donated in favour of the victims of the fires that ravaged Greece last July. The summer programme closed with an event dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini titled ‘Il Grande Eretico’ (‘The Great Heretic’) organised by the Italian Embassy in Athens in partnership with the Greek Film Archive, the Italian Cultural Institute, Istituto Luce and the Cinematheque of Bologna. The 17 films screened were presented by cinema experts and critics and accompanied by a photographic exhibition titled ‘The Orients of Pasolini’, displaying photographs by Roberto Villa. Pasolini was also paid a tribute by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which also hosted the photographic exhibition. The autumn programme of ‘Tempo Forte Italia-Grecia’ is due to soon be presented in Athens.