El Greco | |
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Directed by | Yannis Smaragdis |
Written by | Screenplay: Jackie Pavlenko Yannis Smaragdis Book: Dimitris Siatopoulos |
Produced by | Eleni Smaragdi Raimon Masllorens Dénes Szekeres Georgios Fragkos |
Starring | Nick Ashdon Juan Diego Botto Laia Marull Lakis Lazopoulos Dimitra Matsouka Sotiris Moustakas† Dina Konsta Giorgos Christodoulou Dimitris Kallivokas Giorgos Charalampidis Thodoris Zoumboulidis Lida Protopsalti Constantinos Isaias Katerina Helmi Fermi Reixach Roger Coma |
Cinematography | Aris Stavrou |
Edited by | Giannis Tsitsopoulos |
Music by | Vangelis |
Distributed by | Audiovisual |
Release dates |
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Running time | 119 minutes |
Countries | Greece Spain |
Languages | English, Greek, Spanish |
Box office | $8,246,050 Greece [1] $674,095 Spain [2] $3,493 Bulgaria [3] |
El Greco is a Greek biographical film about the life of the Greek painter of the Spanish Renaissance, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known worldwide as El Greco. Based on the fictionalised biographical novel, El Greco: o Zografos tou Theou (El Greco: the Painter of God), by Dimitris Siatopoulos, it was released in 2007, directed by Yannis Smaragdis and written by Jackie Pavlenko. The main cast features prominent contemporary Greek actors like Lakis Lazopoulos, Dimitra Matsouka and Dina Konsta, and includes popular actors of the Greek cinema of the 1960s such as Sotiris Moustakas and Katerina Helmi, who, along with Juan Diego Botto, Laia Marull and others, surround the leading actor, Nick Ashdon, who portrays El Greco.
The film tells a fictitious story of Domenicos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco, a great Greek artist of the 16th century with an uncompromising character, who sets off from his homeland Crete and goes to Venice and finally Toledo, in search of freedom and love. There he is confronted by his greatest adversary, the Spanish Inquisition, but his creative consciousness and power make him stand out and overcome barbarity and ignorance.
Being imprisoned and awaiting execution by the Spanish Inquisition, Domenicos (Nick Ashdon) writes out his story, thus parts of his life play out in extended flashbacks. Born on the island of Crete, which was at the time part of the Republic of Venice, he falls in love with Francesca (Dimitra Matsouka), daughter of the Venetian governor of Crete. But his father is preparing a political rebellion and as a result Domenicos leaves the island and moves to Venice, away from the young woman. There he meets the famous painter Titian (Sotiris Moustakas) and the Spanish priest Fernando Niño de Guevara (Juan Diego Botto). Guevara immediately shows a confused interest in Domenicos, and, when roiled[ clarification needed ] by the Greek - and fighting personal demons - calls Domenicos before the Inquisition where he must defend himself against charges of heresy. It must be emphasized that the entire story is fictional, El Greco was never prosecuted by the Inquisition, but got well paid assignments from high-rank Inquisition leaders, like Fernando Niño de Guevara, Grand Inquisitor of Spain from 1600 to 1602.
An audio CD with the original soundtrack composed by Vangelis, El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack , was released in Greece on December 20, 2007, by Universal Music Greece, only a few days after the international release of the 25th Anniversary edition of the Blade Runner soundtrack. It consists of 18 tracks, 15 of them composed by Vangelis while the other three involve source material from within the film. This is the third project by Vangelis regarding El Greco, following Foros Timis Ston Greco , an album released in 1995, and an expansion of it with three more tracks in 1998, titled El Greco .
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known professionally as Vangelis, was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as for the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
Heraklion or Herakleion, sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a municipal population of 179,302 (2021) and 211,370 in its wider metropolitan area, according to the 2011 census. The greater area of Heraklion has been continuously inhabited since at least 7000 BCE, making it one of the oldest inhabited regions in Europe. It is also home to the ancient Knossos Palace, a major center of the Minoan civilization dating back to approximately 2000-1350 BCE, often considered Europe's oldest city. The palace is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Greece, second only to the Parthenon in terms of visitor numbers.
Doménikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. El Greco was a nickname, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, often adding the word Κρής, which means "Cretan", in Ancient Greek.
The cinema of Greece has a long and rich history. Though hampered at times by war or political instability, the Greek film industry dominates the domestic market and has experienced international success. Characteristics of Greek cinema include a dynamic plot, strong character development and erotic themes. Two Greek films, Missing (1982) and Eternity and a Day (1998), have won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Five Greek films have received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Heraklion is one of the four regional units of Crete. The capital is the city of Heraklion.
Juan Diego Botto Rota is an Argentine-Spanish film, stage and television actor.
El Greco, 1541 – April 7, 1614) was a prominent painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, whose dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century.
Yannis Smaragdis is a Greek film director.
Lakis Lazopoulos is a Greek playwright, actor, comedian, script writer, producer, tv presenter, writer, columnist, songwriter and performer. He was ranked 83rd by the public in Skai TV's Great Greeks in 2009. In 2010, Forbes ranked Lazopoulos as the most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece.
Sotiris Moustakas was a Greek Cypriot actor born in Kato Platres, Limassol. His acting career lasted for over four decades, with 1960s–80s as his most successful years. He was described as an "Actor without a Label" cause of his variety of playing in theatrical plays, films, television movies, television series, videotape/videocassette movies and many more with great reviews and success in all of them. He became internationally famous with his role "Mimithos" in 1964 Oscar-winning film Zorba the Greek. After that he became a national star in Greece, being part of the Golden Age of the Greek Cinema (1950s–1970s). His last cinema performance was in 2007 Goya Award-winning film El Greco, where he played "Titian". He gave his voice in the Greek dub of 2007 Disney film Meet the Robinsons, as his last role. He mainly played comedy roles throughout his career. Moustakas was regarded as one of the greatest Greek comedian actors in history.
El Greco is a soundtrack album featuring the music score for the 2007 film El Greco, by Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in Greece and Cyprus by Universal Music Greece. The film, directed by Yannis Smaragdis, follows the life of Greek painter, Doménicos Theotokópoulos, as he travels to Italy and Spain where he becomes known as El Greco. Vangelis previously worked with Yannis Smaragdis on his 1996 movie about the Greek poet Kavafis. It won the award for best music score at the 48th Greek State Film Awards in 2007.
El Greco (1541–1614) was a Greek painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance.
Laia Marull Quintana is a Spanish actress. She has won three Goya Awards — Best New Actress for Fugitives (2000), Best Actress for Take My Eyes (2003), and Best Supporting Actress for Black Bread (2010). She was also nominated for European Film Award for Best Actress for Take My Eyes.
God Loves Caviar is a 2012 Russian-Greek drama film directed by Yannis Smaragdis.
The Museum of El Greco is located on the edge of the village of Fodele in Crete, west of the city of Heraklion. It celebrates the mannerist painter El Greco, who grew up in the village.
Testosterone is a Greek film directed by Giorgos Panousopoulos. It released in 2004 and it stars Dimitris Liakopoulos, Natalia Dragoumi, Dimitra Matsouka and others. The film won the third best film award and the award of the best leading actor in the Greek State Film Awards. The film was shot in Naxos.
Slaves in Their Bonds is a 2008 Greek drama film directed by based on the eponymous novel by Konstantinos Theotokis. It was Greece's submission to the 82nd Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Portrait of Fernando Niño de Guevara is a 1600 painting of cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara by El Greco, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.