makis PAPADIMITRIOU

Actor Makis Papadimitriou answers the big question "what should I watch tonight" by discussing with us his 5 favourite films. Is humor the answer to life's difficulties? Castaway on an island: scary or dreamy? Does he do graffiti? A conversation on religion, chickens, Koufonisia and pantomime.

One of the 21st century's best comedies, an outrageous satire that was banned in many Muslim countries as it took aim at Islamic fundamentalism, with heroes the Coen brothers would envy. Riz Ahmed in his first major film role. — Driven by a desire for greatness, Omar is determined to become a jihad soldier in England. With his friends, he decides to make a decisive move that will make everyone talk about them and their cause. Problem: they lack the organisation. — Best British Debut Award | BAFTA Awards | 2011 Independent Camera Award for Best First Film | Karlovy Vary Film Festival | 2010

An exquisite specimen of cinema that expresses social and moral dilemmas through the Irani cinematic perspective and tradition. An elegy to the people we dreamt we would become but have buried deep inside instead. With awards at the Venice and Thessaloniki International Film Festivals. — A respectable medical examiner is involved in a car accident where an 8 year-old boy is injured. The man tries to reimburse the boy’s father and transport the child to the hospital, but to no avail. The next morning in the hospital, he encounters the body of the boy that had been sent there for an autopsy. The first ruling, however, indicates death by poison. — Best Director - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2017 Best Actor (Navid Mohammadzadeh) - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2017 FIPRESCI Prize | Thessaloniki Film Festival | 2017 Special Jury Award | Thessaloniki Film Festival | 2017

More political and humanist than ever, the tireless Ken Loach is looking for human worth behind the coldness of bureaucracy, statistics and numbers and rightfully wins the second Palme d’Or of his career in Cannes. — Daniel Blake is a 60-year-old carpenter from Newcastle. After a heart attack, he's going to need for the first time the help of the state to survive, but the convoluted bureaucracy is leading him nowhere. He crosses paths with a single mother with similar problems and, finding unexpected friendship and warmth in each other, they join forces and try to fight back. — Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival | 2016 Audience Award | Locarno Film Festival | 2016 Audience Award | San Sebastián Film Festival | 2016

An Oscar-nominated animation of astonishing beauty for both kids and adults. This visual poem of allegorical wisdom about the magnificence of nature and our uniqueness within it, is the first co-production of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli with France. — A man gets shipwrecked on a beautiful desert island, where turtles, crabs and birds are the only inhabitants. Every time he tries to leave by building rafts, a red turtle stops him. When the turtle is transformed into a woman, a love story beyond words begins. — Nominated for Best Animated Feature | Oscars | 2017 Audience Award | Athens International Film Festival | 2016 Special Mention | Athens International Film Festival | 2016 Special Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard | Cannes Film Festival | 2016

Another honest drama from the talented director Asghar Farhadi, awarded by the Academy with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. A story so powerful that it touches your soul. — A couple is forced to leave their Tehran apartment, which is falling to pieces, and move into another one. While working together on the production of the play "Death of a Salesman", their relationship begins to change. — Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2017 Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini) | Cannes Film Festival | 2016 Best Screenplay | Cannes Film Festival | 2016