Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-10-16

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 2nd Bread Festival in Thessaloniki celebrates World Bread Day

[02] Dalianidis passes away

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] 2nd Bread Festival in Thessaloniki celebrates World Bread Day

The 2nd Thessaloniki Bread Festival at Aristotelous Square continued on Saturday with a "bread parade" in which children from all over Greece paraded in traditional costumes and displaying the plethora of local breads from all over the country.

Bread with ornate designs and sculptures made of dough are also on display.

The Bread Festival winds up on Sunday with local bakers giving out to visitors the traditional "Thessaloniki koulouri", the famed bread rings covered in sesame seeds. The target is to distribute one million "koulouria" to the public

The Thessaloniki koulouria (plural of koulouri), or simitia, are perhaps the most popular street food in Greece, and simitia vendors can be found on most street corners. The Thessaloniki koulouri has Byzantine roots and its origins are from Constantinople (today's Istanbul), where Greeks and Armenians were the first bakers.

The Greek word "simiti" derives from the Turkish "simit", which comes from the Arabic "semiz", which in turn derives from the Greek "simigdalis" meaning semolina or hard wheat, while "koulouri" is a diminutive of the ancient Greek "kollyra", or "kouloura" (circle), as the circular bread was called.

Caption: File photo by ANA-MPA

More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form

[02] Dalianidis passes away

He will be buried at Athens' First Cemetary on Monday afternoon after a civil service, in accordance with the deceased's request.

The "Gentle Knight of Popular Cinema", as he was called, was born in Thessaloniki in 1923 and studied at the Drama School of the Thessaloniki Conservatory. After graduating, he went to Vienna, where he studied dance.

He started out as a dancer, a choreographer and actor in musical theater, but soon expressed his love for cinema. In 1949 he appeared as an actor in the film Two Worlds. In 1958 he began writing screenplays. His first screenplay was Crazy Girl. His directorial debut took place the following year, with the film The Scamp (I Mousitsa), which established him immediately.

He continued writing screenplays for romantic comedies and adapting plays which he directed for various production companies up until 1961, when he began working for Finos Film. His first film with Finos, "Downhill" (Katiforos) was a huge success. Since then he worked exclusively for Finos Film up until 1977, when the company's last film, Training Old Man Yorgis, was made.

In 1962, with his film Some Like It Cold, which was a box-office hit, Dalianidis introduced a film genre which had not existed up unti that point: the Greek musical, although he preferred to call it "musical comedy". The same success accompanied his next musicals (all featuring music by Mimis Plessas), establishing Dalianidis as the master craftsman of this genre.

He also made social dramas, starring Zoi Laskari, which were also hugely popular, while he continued adapting plays for the big screen.

An extremely prolific filmmaker, he made numerous films each year (most of them on his own screenplays), and was steadily number one at the box-office.

The year 1970 marked his debut as a stage director with the play Marijuana Stop. Everything Dalianidis touched turned to gold. Following the end of commercial cinema in Greece, he moved on to TV (1974), writing and directing Luna Park, which ran successfully for several years. Another popular series of his was The Lion Cubs. In the early eighties and until 1985, filmgoers flocked to the movie theaters to watch his films about the problems faced by the younger generation, the first of which was The Jackals, in 1981. Starting in 1986 he began making films on video, while his ability to adapt to changing conditions and always retain his unrivaled popularity was verified once again with his successful series made for private television (Penthouse, et al.).

Dalianidis worked with all film genres (drama, comedy, the musical, and the detective film), directing more than 60 films throughout his career and leaving his personal mark on all of them. Above all. however, his importance stems from the fact that he changed the timing and pace of Greek Cinema, by introducing into it an American philosophy. The public followed him faithfully -during the sixties his name was as big as the name of Aliki Vouyouklaki- and, very soon, so did his colleagues.

Dalianidis' style of fixed shots, singing, dancing and stylized poses caused a sensation and made his films immediately recognizable. Greek cinema is divided into the years before and after Dalianidis. He may not have been the greatest director to ever pass through Greek cinema, but he is the one who defined it more than any other.

An adopted child, Dalianidis frequently spoke of his great love for his adoptive mother, revealing once that his love for her was the reason he did not leave Greece later for an international career. "It was unthinkable to me to leave behind an old woman after all that she had given to me."

Caption: Filmmaker Yiannis Dalianidis. (ANA-MPA file photo)

More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

The economy and National Bank of Greece estimates that banks will soon begin extending financing were the main front-page items in Athens' newspapers on Saturday.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Banks beginning to extend financing - What the governor of National Bank said after his meeting with the prime minister".

APOGEVMATINI: "He (prime minister George Papandreou) succumbed to Simitis (PASOK former prime minister) - (Planned) Parliamentary fact-finding commission on the economy will examine only the period 2007-2009".

AVGHI: "Prime minister gave no substantive reply to Tsipras question in parliament on planned Qatari investment in Astakos".

AVRIANI: "The country is sinking and the government is setting up new parliamentary fact-finding commissions".

ELEFTHEROS: "Welcome to the parliament of the 'country of corruption', Mr. Papandreou - Tsipras (SYRIZA parliamentary group leader) openly challenges the slandering prime minister of the country".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "The bad news...after the (November local government) elections - Derailment of the deficit brings new package of extraordinary measures".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "The millions that don't exist - How small and medium size enterprises are being fooled with the NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework)".

ESTIA: "Greece is humiliating itself - The government tolerates violation of the law".

ETHNOS: "Deluge by waves of illegal migrants - All the border crossings into the country full of 'holes', especially Evros".

IMERISSIA: "VAT smart-card - Electronic shield against tax evasion".

KATHIMERINI: "The five fields of corruption in the AEI (higher education institutions) - Immense funds managed".

NIKI: "Tax Bureau strike against big-time debtors - Confiscation of property".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Government policy on unemployment: Reinforcement of capital instead of measures to protect the unemployed".

TA NEA: "Extraordinary support for the financially weaker - It will have a permanent nature and will be paid every year in October or November".

TO VIMA: "PPC (Public Power Corporation): 1 billion euros in profits and it wants new increases in prices - It increased the electricity rates 32 percent in four years".

VRADYNI: "Pension at 70 - New increase in retirement ages foreseen".

More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article