As reported in Variety and Deadline, the Hellenic Film Academy, Greece’s national cinema organization, has expressed its “outrage” and is demanding clarification from the Ministry of Culture following a series of “chaotic” government-enforced reversals that have disrupted the process for selecting Greece’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards. The “confusion” started in early August when the Ministry of Culture, as is typical, appointed a committee of Greek film professionals to choose the country’s submission for the international Oscar category. The committee included filmmaker Vasilis Kekatos, film critic Leda Galanou, actress Kora Karvounis, and screenwriter Kallia Papadakis. All four agreed to participate, with Kekatos, “best known for his Cannes Palme d’Or-winning short film The Distance Between Us and the Sky” appointed as the committee president.
The issue with these reports is that they completely overlook the true reason behind the committee’s replacement: the controversy surrounding Kekatos’ Palme d’Or victory, which we have previously covered and outlined here. This is in addition to the fact that in recent months the Greek film industry was abuzz with alleged rumors about Vasilis Kekatos’ behavior both on and off set, which several Greek filmmakers have described to us as allegedly “toxic.” These allegations include allegedly failing to give proper credit to creative partners, public firings, and showing general disrespect toward cast and crew. Specific examples of this behavior were recounted to us as follows:
I have three very close associates, very esteemed as well, that had been working with Mr Kekatos and were either fired or quit because of his extremely bad behaviour. Although, as XXX said, we have not cooperated professionally with him, we did rent our company XXX to him for the shooting of his series, and I was very sad to see that his art director, had destroyed our company logo because *he* [Kekatos] insisted that they put another sticker on top of ours. This is minor, I guess, but the allegations and condemnations of his behaviour from our very legit associates are definitely true”
XX is right about Kekatos appropriating queer cinema as a straight guy…. He doesn’t pretend to be gay. He is very inappropriate with many women actually, outrageously flirting and some times in an insulting way. He is definitely a malignant narcissist and what is upsetting now, is that he is trying to become the poster boy for transparency and accuses the Ministry for shady behaviour in order to take peoples’ attention away from his own actions.”
Funny thing about Kekatos is that it is always ok for him to screw other people, but not so nice when somebody screws you :)”
While it is clear why the Greek Ministry of Culture wants nothing to do with Kekatos, it remains unclear why the local media continues to shield him while allowing misinformation to circulate. We urge the Greek film community to keep providing us with information about Kekatos so that we can ensure it is accurately reported. Our organization’s only purpose is to make sure that the film community retains its morality by showing no tolerance towards those that abuse their power and try to manipulate their way to success in the entertainment industry, or abuse others.
UPDATE: Following the publication of our initial article, several Greek filmmakers have reached out to us with insights into why the Cannes controversy has received limited coverage in Greek media. According to these sources, Eleni Kossyfidou and Panos H. Koutras, who are at the center of the Cannes incident, allegedly have strong connections within local media circles. These connections, our sources suggest, have effectively shielded them from scrutiny in Greek news outlets. It remains to be seen how long this protection would last.
TheOneWhoKnows
What your readers don't realize is that this sort of thing, in Greece, is a "national sport." Manipulation, bribery, not paying taxes or having any sense of morality towards others, including paying off people under the table are ingrained in Greek culture (which has led to the country's financial collapse in 07-08). The Greek film industry and journalists don't think that this sort of thing is that much of a big deal. In fact, they are probably proud of these people for being able to manipulate the Cannes Film Festival and bring home to Greece such a prestigious award. Shocking but very true, any Greek person would attest to this.