Since 2001 The Edinburgh Greek Festival has offered audiences at Edinburgh Filmhouse a comprehensive account of the achievements of Greek Cinema and news of new developments. 

The Festival was started to represent Greece and its culture to Scotland. There was, and is, a sympathetic interest in Greece, a strong tradition of Classical Studies and a network of Scottish Hellenic Societies fostering a cultivated awareness of both the Ancient and Modern aspects of Greece and its Greek History. 

Our festival aimed to reach and consolidate this core of Scottish Philhellenism and to also appeal to the general audience of cinema-goers interested in exploring the film culture of a European neighbour.

The way Greece talks to and about itself has found echoes in Scotland as Scottish political and artistic life has developed over the past 20 years. Edinburgh in particular has found itself changing at a pace unknown perhaps since the 18th century. This old city is now European in makeup as well as in outlook and significant numbers of Scots are now in live contact with Greece and its people, some learning Greek at the city’s two Greek Schools and we now have a growing number of Scottish-Greek children.

Our festival has developed into an authentically Scottish-Greek experience. Our live events began by offering a platform from which Greece could address Scotland and have become a series of forums in which we can all explore where we are and where we might go next, artistically, filmically and politically.

This website is designed to offer news and publicity about the festival, to entice new audiences to get involved and to  start many conversations.

The Festival is now run by the Edinburgh Greek Festival Trust, a recognised charity. The 2014 Festival had been part-funded by Creative Scotland and has been programmed in collaboration with James McKenzie, Project Manager at Screen Education Edinburgh. Filmhouse understood the potential of a Greek Festival years ago and have fostered its development ever since. The Greek Film Centre are an indispensible guide to all Greek festivals and we have benefitted from the guidance and practical help of Liza Linardou, their Festivals Coordinator, of Maria Komninos of the Greek Film Archive and of Dr Victoria Solomonidou of the Greek Embassy in London.

Image from The Enemy Within by Yorgos Tsemperopoulos, photo by Katerina Paspaliari.