Greek film Xenia, directed by Panos Koutras is Greece’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2016 Academy Awards.

After the films triumphal journey in theaters across the world, namely in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Serbia, Croatia, Mexico and soon the United States and the United Kingdom, Xenia has finally made it to the Oscars.

The decision to submit Koutras’ film at the American Film Academy was taken by the Greek Ministry of Culture Committee that sent the film in the first round of selection for films that will represent this year’s global production at the 88th Academy Awards.

Xenia is a film about two teen brothers crossing the country to find their Greek father after their Albanian mother passes away. Their goal is to ensure their Greek citizenship. 

To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter

The second World Duchenne Awareness Day is set to take place on Monday, September 7, and is being marked at the offices of Greece’s Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA Hellas) in Victoria Square, downtown Athens. The event, organized by parent and patient associations, aims to spread awareness about this devastating form of muscular dystrophy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is one of the most common fatal genetic disorders, which affects on average one in every 3,500 newborn boys worldwide. It is caused by errors in the dystrophin gene, the longest gene in the human body. Boys with DMD gradually lose mobility and are wheelchair-bound by the age of 12. In the next period it destroys breathing and heart muscles. The condition carries a life expectancy of 25-30 years and has no current cure.

To mark the day, 500 red balloons will be released after 7 p.m. to represent the 500 boys and men currently living with DMD in Greece.

To read more, please visit: ekathimerini

It may be 'back to school' and 'καλο χειμωνα' for many of us, but a 40 degree heatwave and a city full of tourists sure makes it feel otherwise! With the end of summer still a fair distance away, I must admit to being rather tired of the 'I am Sparta' t-shirts and the ubiquitous 'blue and white fridge magnets' lining the streets of Plaka. Does anybody buy these things? I've had a constant stream of visitors over the past months, and unless I'm mistaken, there have been no blue and white fridge magnets passing between them...

 

But seriously, what's a tourist to do with her eager-to-be-spent euros? What else should we buy for souvenir gifts for those not lucky enough to visit Greece with us?

 

Well, there are many options to be sure - replica pottery, leather sandals (in fact not a bad choice!) key chains, or perhaps your name on a tiny piece of rice (oh yes.). But for the discerning traveller - and the even more discerning local - there is Forget Me Not, a fantastic little shop selling fantastic little gifts and souvenirs of Athens and Greece - with a decidedly hip eye towards modern design and all things 'cool'. I am sure that our in-the-know readers are familiar with this shop - but in case you're not.

 

Forget Me Not is located at 100 Adrianou Street, in a house where the Greek hero Kolokotronis once lived, in the midst of 'I am Sparta' and knock-off luggage shops. You can't miss the yellow painted walls and iconic wooden bench outside the door. There are two levels - the lower level is just outside, around the corner. The main street level sells a range of design items that are sure put you in the 'souvenir hall of fame' category. The lower level continues the theme, with lots of Athens-chic clothing and accessories.

 

Contemporary Greek design, clothing you actually want to wear, unique memorabilia and decidedly cool gifts. It's all here. Even the New York Times has taken notice.

 

Let me be clear - this is not a marketing piece in the least. I just think this is one super-cool shop, and a great example of what 'today's Athens' should feel like. I wish more retailers would take notice.

 

And with an e-shop offering worldwide delivery and free delivery within Greece - everyone on your list can have a taste of the contemporary side of Greece.

 

Until next week,

 

Jack

 

Forget Me Not

100 Adrianou Street, Plaka

Trekking through challenging terrains across the globe, enduring hours of arduous running in hundreds of marathons, breaking numerous athletic records, and constantly pushing his personal limits, Dean Karnazes has rightfully earned his title as the Ultra Marathon Man. Beyond long distance endurance running, the Greek-American athlete also enjoys competing in triathlons, is a successful entrepreneur, best-selling author, philanthropist, and dedicated father.

In 2013, Karnazes took on another title as the official ambassador of the annual Navarino Challenge, which takes place in Arcadia and Messinia, Greece. The three-day sporting event brings together a diverse range of participants in an effort to raise awareness on the issue of childhood obesity, while promoting the benefits of the mediterranean diet. Karnazes speaks with Portes Magazine about the upcoming Navarino Challenge, to take place September 11 through 13, and offers some insight on his athletic career.

What is unique about the Navarino Challenge as a sporting event?
To me it’s a very progressive event, and I’ve done hundreds of different types of running events across the globe. For Greece, this an event that is ahead of its time, and it’s an event conceived for mass participation. The core concept is similar to the original notion of the Ancient Olympics, which served to bring all of the citizenry out in a celebration of fitness and health. The [Ancient Olympics] were not only for elite athletes vying to win a gold medal. All of the participants received a laurel or a Greek wreath, so to me the Navarino Challenge is approachable to anyone regardless if you were an elite runner used to running great distances, or just someone who is going to run their very first challenge. And that’s something that appealed to me from the very beginning, making sure the challenge is not so intimidating so that many people are welcome and encouraged to take part.

How would you compare this sporting challenge to past events or courses in which you have participated?
I don’t know why, but there is something magical about the Navarino Challenge. I think in part people are inspired by me because they think, well here is a guy who runs hundreds of kilometers at a time and he’s out here running a more casual 10 kilometers with me. I think that inspires people, but I think people fail to recognize how much I’m inspired by seeing people who are pushing themselves to their very limit. For me, going out and running a half marathon is not extraordinary, and while it doesn’t necessarily come easy to me it’s less difficult for me than for others. But in this event, people really rise to the occasion and prove to themselves that they are better than they think they are and can go further than they thought they were able.

As the ambassador of the Navarino Challenge, what advice would you give to someone who is participating in a marathon or athletic endurance event for the first time?
Start from the ground up and invest in a good pair of shoes. Then I would say try starting your training program by running a set number of minutes instead of a set number of feet or miles. When you first start out you might just say I’ll commit to running just five minutes straight while pacing yourself, and then work up that way and try to expand that to ten or fifteen minutes as days go by. You’ll find that’s much easier than setting mile goals and much simpler in terms of keeping track of your goal.

You referenced earlier the concept of the Ancient Olympics is reflected in the Navarino Challenge. Can you share with us what ancient Greek wisdom or ideal you think might still apply to athletes and athleticism today?
The Greek ideal of ‘arete’ suggests goodness comes from finding a perfect balance of the mind, body, and spirit. And I think in the Western world unfortunately we have really neglected our body. I mean the Greeks embraced physicality and the balance between mind and body as being important. For example, in Ancient Greece gymnasiums were not only a place of mental learning, but also physical learning, and I really embrace that idea, because when your body is sharp your mind is sharp, and that’s a very ancient kind of notion that the Greeks honored. Other things the ancient Greeks taught us was to dare, to question everything and to go beyond what you think are your limitations. As they used to say “he who dares wins” so in practice I try to be fearless and explore new things, and not be afraid to fail.

In your athletic career, you have participated in countless running challenges across the world. If you had to choose, what would be your ideal natural terrain to run in?
I really enjoy running around Greece. I know it sounds funny to say but it almost feels like a homecoming to me. When I run around Athens, and especially when I run around Messinia, Arcadia, or Laconia or some of the more rural areas, you don’t often see people running down the street. And I can’t tell you how many people stop and just ask me if I want some food or if I want a ride, or they just congratulate me, and it’s really magical to see that you can break through to people in that way. If you think about it, it’s kind of a foreign thing for them to be driving down a road that they’ve been driving down for 20 or 30 years and all of a sudden they see some guy running, and he’s healthy and enjoying it and he’s Greek. I’ve run on all seven continents twice and I’ve run in some of the most exotic and beautiful places in the world, and still running in Greece to me has a certain magic that nowhere else does.

To read this interview in full, please visit: Portes Magazine

Just in time for fall, get ready for a heatwave with temperatures up to 40C!

Sun and high tempartures are in the forecast for the next few days throughout Greece. Northern and eastern parts of the country will experience temperatures up to 36C, while eastern parts will reach up to 38C. The Aegean islands and Crete can expect temperatures up to 37C. In Athens it will reach up to 39C and in Thessaloniki up to 37C.

Here's what to expect for the next few days in Athens:

Thursday: 35C

Friday: 37C

Saturday: 38C

Sunday: 39C

Sources: Protothema & The Weather Channel

He graduated at the top of his high school class, and just came in first in the entrance exam to study Electrical Engineering at Piraeus University. Great news to hear about any student. But what makes this young man’s story so extraordinary is that he’s an immigrant, from Africa.

This is the story of how he went from arriving in Greece alone, at the age of 16, as an “illegal immigrant” in 2011 — to  learning to speak fluent Greek and rising to the top of his class in less than four years.

Meet Julien — an orphaned minor, a refugee who made his way from Africa via Turkey to Greece, was locked up in a detention center on his arrival, and then lived homeless on the streets of Athens — only to find a caring community that helped him thrive, in the poorest region of Greece. Now, he says, “I want to become useful… To give, as much as I am able, to Greece that helped me.”

Which is why his story is so important — and why Julien is more than just the pride of Konitsa. He is a sign of hope for Greece. His story is like so many others — it even mirrors the story of many a Greek immigrant who came to America or Australia. But it tells the tale of a different Greece — one that isn’t being covered on the nightly news.

Julien’s story did make it on the front page of a few Greek national newspapers, and a couple of local ones. And with good reason. As pointed out by New Europe, “Greek university entry exams are notoriously difficult. Families spend a fortune on tutorials and the competition is enormous, more so in major urban centers – Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki.”

How did a poor African immigrant fare better than those with so many advantages?

“We met Julien in the Juvenile Refugee Protection Center of Konitsa, where he has been living for the last three years,” writes Spiros Sideris for the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. “When he arrived in Greece he was 16-years old. At first, he encountered great difficulties.”

As an “illegal migrant” he spent three months in detention centers — a teenager locked in a cell with adults, as is often the case in Greece — in Evros, a border region with Turkey. “Then he was released, with no provision for his welfare,” reports New Europe, and Julien made his way across Greece to Athens, where he lived on the streets in the center of Athens.

Then, a little under a year after his arrival, in October 2012, a public prosecutor intervened in his case, and arranged for Julien to be sheltered at a juvenile protection center, far away from Athens, in Epirus, one of the poorest regions of Greece.

“At the time,” New Europe reports, “he spoke no Greek at all and was depressed.” Employees of the center remember the teenager was always sad, pensive, and his only request was that he may be allowed to go to school, reports AMNA.

His request was granted — and the chance to attend a vocational school in Konitsa made all the difference.

“My parents always told me that the most important thing in life is education. I kept this,” says Julien. Having been deprived of the opportunity to finish school in his native land, “he grabbed the chance” to attend school, reports New Europe.

The school in Konitsa, Julien tells AMNA, became his family, and his classmates and teachers embraced him “from the first moment.” To help him learn the language, a dedicated Greek literature teacher, Mrs. Gianna Nikou, tutored him in the afternoons after school, “free of charge.”

Julien progressed enough to come in first in his class every year — going on to graduate with a 19.8 grade point average (out of 20).

Clearly, Julien stands out in Konitsa, in more ways than one. (People in Konista, reports AMNA, have even become accustomed to seeing him make his way uphill to Stomio Monastery to visit the hermitage of St. Paisius on the mountain above the town.)

But his success holds a lesson, and a promise, for more than just the town of Konitsa.

To Julien, the lesson and promise are clear. “I want to dedicate this success to my parents and my siblings, who are no longer in life,” Julien says as he tries to hide the tears flowing from his eyes, writes Sideris for AMNA. “My parents were the ones who had pressed upon me the value and desire of education since a very young age.”

Indeed, learning a new language and culture has not erased Julien’s memories of the family he lost. The orphaned son of a politician who struggled for democracy, he shows a reporter a bible, “a talisman” he received from his mother he says, before they were separated forever, violently.

Looking back on his own struggle, though, and how far he has come since his arrival in what he calls his new homeland, Julien says, “I thank Greece for supporting me. I thank everyone here in Konitsa, who helped me to stand on my feet and move on.”

When asked how he sees his future, Julien tells AMNA, “I want to go to become a useful and important man for society. To give, as much as I am able, to Greece that helped me.”

To read more, please visit: Hellenext

In September 2015, shooting will begin on the Greek island of Corfu, a six-part drama, The Durrells, based on Gerald Durrell’s popular trilogy of books (My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods— also published as one complete book called The Corfu Trilogy).

The series will air on British ITV and will star Keeley Hawes as Louisa Durrell, a widowed mother of three unruly children trying to pick up the pieces of her life and save those of her children by leaving England and heading to a remote Greek Island. But it’s 1935 and there is no electricity. There is outright refusal and the children revolt. But Corfu is cheap, and an untamed paradise— and the Durrells stay.

“Men Behaving Badly” creator Simon Nye has penned drama series, which is produced by Sid Gentle Films and executive produced by the company’s founder, BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Sally Woodward Gentle (“Whitechapel,” “Any Human Heart,” “Enid”). Sid’s managing director Lee Morris will also executive produce together with Nye. Christopher Hall will produce the series. Prior to setting up her own company, Woodward Gentle was creative director of Carnival Films, the producer of “Downton Abbey.”

Following auditions in Greece for Greek cast members, it was announced that Alexis Georgoulis ("My Life In Ruins") will play the handsome Spiro Hakaiopulos who Louise meets upon her arrival on the island.

Yorgos Karamihos, who was recently in the "Ben Hur" remake will play local Theodore who teaches little Gerry about all the animals on Corfu.

Christopher Sciueref ("300: Rise Of An Empire", "Skyfall") plays convict Kosti. For Sciueref it’s a bit of a homecoming as his parents are from Corfu.

To read more, please visit: Pappas Post

Greece is enforcing its option of an opt-out law that is included in a U.S.-EU deal that allows the US mega grower access to European crops.

Under a law signed in March individual EU countries can seek exclusion from any approval request for genetically modified cultivation across the EU. Specifically, Monsanto sought approval to grow its MON810, a type of pest-resistant corn.

But Greece said no way.

The EU law allows member states to decide themselves, a stipulation that has angered the United States, which wants Europe to open its doors fully to American GM crops as part of a planned EU-U.S. free trade deal.

In a statement this week, the European Commission confirmed that so far only Latvia and Greece had asked for opt-outs from Monsanto’s request to grow their GM crops.

To read more, please visit: Pappas Post

Men and women have often argued about what constitutes the perfect way to flirt. There are several cultures where flirting comes naturally while others appear to be more aggressive and go to extremes, often scaring off their potential dates.

Thrillist posted questions to Reddit and Quora users, asking them to share their extreme flirting stories and then used the statistical data to determine which countries flirt more aggressively.

Greece came first on Thrillist’s list, showing that the financial crisis and the country’s overall situation has not affected Greeks’ confidence levels. “Not only has Athens been named the world’s most flirtatious city, but Greece as a country was dubbed the most sexually active nation,” noted the website.

Furthermore, Thrillist added that according to Dr. Simon Hardy, author of the “The Greeks, Eroticism and Ourselves,” Greeks may have perfected their flirting skills in antiquity during the “ultra-sexual symposiums.”

To read more, and to find out which counties came in second, third and fourth, please visit: Greek Reporter

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered the ruins of an ancient palace with important archaic inscriptions dating back to the Mycenaean age, the culture ministry said Tuesday.

The palace, likely built around the 17th-16th centuries BC, had around 10 rooms and was discovered near Sparta in southern Greece.

At the site, archaeologists found objects of worship, clay figurines, a cup adorned with a bull’s head, swords and fragments of murals. Since 2009, excavations in the area have unearthed inscriptions on tables detailing religious ceremonies and names and places in a script called Linear B, the oldest script to be discovered in Europe.

To read more, please visit: The Guardian.