NYWIFT Blog

By Katie Chambers

As former NYWIFT Board Member Maria C. Miles finishes up her first year as President of the Hellenic Film Society, we sat down with her on the eve of the New York Greek Film Expo to discuss her time with the organization and what we have to look forward to at this year’s fest.

Mary is the founder of an entertainment law practice with offices in New York. Maria’s practice focuses on all areas of entertainment law, including film (narrative and documentary), music, literary publishing, and digital media. She has represented award-winning producers, directors, writers, actors, television hosts, multi-platinum recording artists, and corporations in the fashion and sports industries related to their entertainment matters. Maria is the Executive Director of the Hellenic Films Society, USA, and served as Secretary of the board of New York Women in Film & Television. She continues to serve NYWIFT as their legal counsel. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema and the School for Visual Arts, as well as an Adjunct Instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Hellenic Film Society President and NYWIFT Member Maria C. Miles

Congrats on your first year as President of the Hellenic Film Society. What are some highlights you can share from the last season?

Thank you, Katie. It’s been a great deal of fun and hard work. We have brought our audiences more of what they want–the greatest and latest Greek films available during our monthly screening series, Always on Sunday, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.

We also launched a new short film program called It’s Greek to Me. After listening to our global community, we realized how important it would be to shine a light on Greek American filmmakers. So, in May, we held our inaugural shorts program at the Museum of the Moving Image to much success. In fact, one of NYWIFT’s board members, Gretchen McGowan, graciously judged the top 20 films, along with our other judge, David Irving of NYU Tisch. They selected the top 8 films to be shown at MoMI.

This summer, we presented Stelios, a biopic of Stelios Kazantzidis, one of Greece most beloved singers, to a sold-out screening at the North Fork Arts Center in Greenport, Long Island. And furthering our mission, we are curating the Chicago Greek Film Expo for a second year. It’s collaborations like these with other organizations that make all of us better together.

Give us a preview of this year’s festival… what can we look forward to in 2025?

The Hellenic Film Society is showcasing seven of Greece’s most recent and most lauded films from the past year. We will be hosting many of the directors and actors from Greece who have brought them to life and who will do post-screening Q&As with the audience.

As you might imagine, this is a costly undertaking, but our audience really enjoys getting up close and personal with the talent and they, in turn, like to come to New York to watch American audiences experience their films for the first time. This year, we are fortunate to be joined by directors Angelos Frantzis (Murphy’s Law), Dimitris Nakos (Meat), Penny Panyotopoulou (Wishbone), Vladimir Subotic (Utopolis), and Yorgos Zois (Arcadia), Additionally, we will be joined by three of Greece’s biggest stars, Katia Goulioni, Andreas Konstantinou, and Angeliki Papoulia. In fact, Angeliki stars in Arcadia, which was just selected by Greece as its submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) for Best International Feature Film.

In addition, with the cooperation of the Voulgaris family, we will be paying homage to master filmmaker, director Pantelis Voulgaris. This retrospective has been in the works for a year. We are proud to present Mr. Voulgaris’ first feature film, The Engagement of Anna (1972) which was recently restored, along with his latest film, The Last Note (2017). We are also showing two of his mid-career blockbusters, Little England (2013), and Brides (2004) starring a young Damian Lewis and co-produced by Martin Scorsese. To be able to span a 50+ year career in film is truly astounding.

NYWIFT is of course very excited to return to co-present two women-driven films at the festival this year. We’d love to hear about them and why they were selected as a program highlight this year.

We are tremendously grateful to have NYWIFT’s support year after year. The generosity of spirit to help support and lift other organizations like the Hellenic Film Society is what makes NYWIFT so unique.

This year, NYWIFT and Hellenic Film Society will co-present Wishbone directed by Penny Panayotopoulou and written by Penny and Kallia Papadaki. Penny has charted an incredible career as writer and director, winning many international awards over the years. One of her most breathtaking films is Hard Goodbyes: My Father, released in 2002. She has navigated a wonderful career over three decades as a director and writer. I can’t wait for her Q&A after the film.

The second film we are co-presenting is Little England by Pantelis Voulgaris, based on the bestselling book written by Mr. Voulgaris’ wife, Ioanna Karystiani. Little England focuses on a love triangle between two sisters in love with the same man, and their mother’s sinister plan. The Hollywood Reporter called the film “a woman’s picture in the most positive sense of the word…impeccably acted…the trio of female protagonists is never less than mesmerizing…” This film puts women’s stories and their lives in the forefront. We rarely get to see women shine so brightly. Andreas Konstantinou, who plays the man at the center of the triangle, will be joining us for the Q&A after the film.

What has been your favorite moment leading the organization so far? And greatest challenge?

I can’t pinpoint a favorite moment, but I can point out a favorite emotion. As a volunteer-run and operated not-for-profit, the Hellenic Film Society is a true work of love. Every time I greet the audience before a screening, I am humbled and grateful for their interest and support.

As you know too well, when there is no guarantee that anyone will attend or enjoy it. To have repeated sold-out screenings with people excited to see the next film we will present is truly incredible. It’s the community we are building with this communal experience that only film can provide that makes all our work worth it. It’s not only about building a community of cinephiles, but Greek film cinephiles.

The greatest challenge is having limited resources. We rely on local, city, and state grants, as well as institutional sponsors and private benefactors. We are tremendously grateful to everyone who chooses to support us whether through direct donation or attending our events. We have extraordinary sponsors who step up to support our efforts. We could do nothing without them.

What have been some of the exciting developments in Greek cinema our community should know about?

The current state of the Greek film industry is reminiscent of our independent film boom in the ‘90s and 2000s. There is no studio system in Greece, so all Greek film is, technically, independent. With more productions shooting in Greece, the experience level of both above and below-the-line personnel has grown exponentially. And, with European co-productions being so popular, budgets have increased, allowing for bigger and better films.

The actors are second to none. They work in film, television and theater. After all, Greeks did invent drama and comedy! Of course, as any independent filmmaker can tell you, distribution is a real challenge domestically and internationally. Through the Hellenic Film Society, we try to offer these filmmakers an opportunity to have their films seen in the US spreading Greek culture and language with them.

The annual New York Greek Film Expo, a Greek film festival for all New Yorkers, will be held October 2-12 in theaters in the New York metro area. In addition to the latest films from Greece, this year’s program includes meet & greets and Q&As with visiting actors and directors.

The program also features a retrospective of films by one of Greece’s most prominent directors, Pantelis Voulgaris.

 Movies will be shown at Directors Guild Theater (October 2) and Village East Theater in Manhattan (October 3-5); the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, NJ (October 7 & 8) ; and at the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria (October 10-12).

All films in Greek with English subtitles.

For tickets, schedules, and more info please visit www.hellenicfilmsociety.org.

NYWIFT’s co-presentation of Little England will take place Friday, October 10, 2025. Learn more.

(Images courtesy of the Hellenic Film Society)