Hard Goodbyes: My Father

von Penny Panayotopoulou

Frühjahr 1969: Erstmals fliegen Menschen zum Mond. Zur gleichen Zeit fordert das Schicksal von einem kleinen Jungen in Athen, sich der Wirklichkeit des irdischen Lebens zu stellen. Denn Elias Vater stirbt bei einem Autounfall. Seinen Tod will er nicht zur Kenntnis nehmen, er rechnet fest mit seiner Wiederkehr. Schließlich hat er Elias versprochen, am Tag der Mondlandung von seiner Vertretertour zurückzukommen.

Deutschland / Griechenland 2006, 108 min.

10-year-old Elias, a boy living in Athens, makes a pact with his father to watch on television man’s first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of the imagination. They are adventurers and explorers. But chocolate bars left by a father gone on too many business trips are counted, while the countdown to the moonlanding has already begun. The year is 1969. A spaceship takes off, and man soon takes leave of planet earth. And so does Elias’ father. It is the imagination and their shared love of storytelling that allow Elias to transcend the unimaginable. This film is a tribute to the director’s parents.

Actor / Actress	Character

Giorgos Karayanni	Elias
Ioanna Tsirigouli	Mother
Stelios Mainas Christos	Father
Despo Diamantidou	Grandmother
Christos Stergioglou	Unkle Theodosius/Godfather
Christos Bougiotas	Ari

Director	Penny Panayotopoulou
Script	Penny Panayotopoulou
Producer	Thanassis Karathanos
	Costas Lambropoulos
	Penny Panayotopoulou
Production	TWENTY TWENTY VISION
	CL PRODUCTIONS
in co-production mit	Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.
	ERT S.A., Max Productions
	Alpha TV
	Anima Films
	Mythos Productions Ltd
	Greek Film Centre
supported by	Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH
	Eurimages
	Greek Film Center
	Helenic Broadcasting Corp
	ERT S.A.
	Bundesverband Kommunale Filmarbeit
Distributor	Bundesverband kommunale Filmarbeit
World Sales	Greek Film Center
Director of Photography	Dimitris Katsaitis
Editor	Petar Markovic, Angelos Angelopoulos
Sound Design	Kai Tebbel
Re-recording mixer	Klaus Hornemann
Music	Stavros Sofianopoulos

Internationale Premiere:

6 August 2002, 55th Int. Filmfestival Locarno

Festivals / Awards (selection) :

55th Int. Filmfestival Locarno, 2002
–Leopard for Best Actor, Giorgos Karayannis
–Ecumenical Jury Prize, Special Mention
“Because it confronts us with the reality of death as experienced by a young boy, who, step by step and thanks to his inner vision, learns to accept what seemed unacceptable”

43rd International Thessaloniki Film Festival, 2002
–FIPRESCI Prize (“For its acute symbiosis of daily routine and metaphorical sense of life”)
–Best Actor Award: Christos Stergioglou (uncle)
–Greek Film Critics’ Prize: Penny Panayotopoulou

Greek State Cinema Awards, 2002
–Best Debut Film Director Award Penny Panayotopoulou
-Second Prize for Fiction Film Producer: Costas Lambropoulos

5th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, 2002
–Children’s Jury Award for Best Feature Film

19th Mons International Film Festival of Love, 2002
– RTBF Prize
– Coup de Coeur du Jury

1st International Film Festival of Salé, 2004
– Best Screenplay Prize

13th St. Louis International Film Festival, 2004
– Interfaith Award (for “artistic merit, contribution to understanding the human condition, and recognition of ethical, social and spiritual values”)