With the audience at the Olympian cinema giving a long standing ovation, Mr Nikos Perakis receives the Golden Alexander who bestows it on him 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival for his entire contribution to cinema. The award is given by the great German director Volker Schlendorfwhile praising Perakis, revealing details of the collaboration between them.

An enjoyable three hours, with one of the most distinctive and daring voices of modern Greek cinema, were spent last night by the participants in the honorary event for Nikos Perakis, where they had the opportunity to communicate with him, to witness his special humor, but and see one of his sharpest and most imaginative creations, the 1987 film “BIOS + State”.

“I am overjoyed today to receive this award alive“, he said when receiving the Golden Alexander, making the audience laugh. “Don’t laugh because earlier, walking on the beach sidewalk, I saw the beast tied up in the harbor and at the same time I did a blondeexplained Nikos Perakis, describing the …accident he had because of the cruise ship that distracted him, while he usually watches his steps.

“We honor the man who changed modern Greek comedy. Nikos Perakis since the 80s and with iconic films such as “‘Arpa Colla”, “Loofah and variation” and the one we will see next, comments on the modern Greek reality in a merciless way“, emphasized the artistic director of the Festival, Orestis Andreadakis.

Of course, he emphasized that before the 1980s, Mr. Perakis was a very important set designer who made sets for emblematic films – mainly of German cinema – one of which, “Tamburlo”, won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979 , and the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film.

The director of this particular film, Volker Schlendorf, from the Olympian stage, revealed that his first collaboration with Nikos Perakis was even earlier, during the filming of the film “The Lost Honor of Katarina Blum”, which he made together with his partner Margarete von Trot in 1972.

“But because we were delaying finding the lead actress, he told us “you know, I have to leave, I have to shoot my first feature film in Greece”” said Mr. Schlendorf, saying that until then none of the team had any idea that Perakis’ vision was to become a director. “Of course, the scenery he had left before leaving was a real revelation. The action of the film mainly took place in a police station, which we all know is the most boring setting. But Nikos had the idea of ​​making some walls movable, rolling. So they would slowly open up as the film progressed to include the rest of the cast and open up the set” he explained, saying that the same technique was subsequently followed by many creators, such as Ken Adam in the film “SOS Pentagon Calling Moscow” by Stanley Kubrick, and is an innovation for which Nikos Perakis has not been given the credit he deserves.

Nikos Perakis Award

According to him, one of the main reasons why the Greek creator is being awarded is his amazing contribution not only to German cinema, in which he passed a high spirit of humor and aesthetics, but also because he gave a different perception of political responsibility through comedy and satire in Greek cinema.

A typical example is the film “BIOS + state” that followed, which embellishes the incurable pathologies of Greek society, the timelessness of which was pointed out by the audience after the end of the screening.

The film was screened in terms of universal accessibility for all viewers, as part of the relevant program of the Festival.