The Delphi Bank 26th Greek Film Festival concluded with the world premiere of  acclaimed Greek- Australian writer and director Alkinos Tsilimidos’ highly anticipated black comedy The Tavern last night (Sunday 20 October).

Over 600 people including the cast and crew attended the Closing night celebration at The Astor to see the screening of the funny and at times though-provoking film about the dilemmas faced by a Melbourne Greek restaurant owner during one fateful night. Guests were also treated to a drink upon arrival, a gift bag and movie snacks.

This years’ festival line up included 15 acclaimed and award-winning features, 3 fascinating documentaries and some interesting shorts that ran for twelve days, from 9 to 20 October.

The Festival highlights included an evening of Cypriot contemporary cinema double screening of The Bullet Within followed by Pause, the Epiphany screening starring Alex Dimitriades, followed by Q&A session with Caitlin Carmichael (who plays Luka, Dimitriades daughter) as well as Greek Student Film Festival. The most watched film was the Opening night film- Australian premiere of Tassos Boulmetis’ inspiring docu-drama 1968 which screened a total of three times during the festival and was seen by over 1,100 people on opening night alone!

Some of the most popular films included Maria by Callas, the only film to tell the legendary singers story completely in her own words, Perfect Strangers (Greek language- no subtitles) a comedy about seven friends who play a dangerous game during a dinner party, Perimenontas ti Nona a light-hearted comedy about the adventures of two immature 40-somethings (Greek language- no subtitles) and quirky comedy set on an idyllist island In this Land Nobody Knew How to Cry.