Join Hellenic Film Society & NYWIFT as we proudly co-present Wishbone during New York Greek Film Expo 2025! Followed by an audience Q&A with Director Penny Panayotopoulou. Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Luchina Fisher.
Date: Sunday, October 5, 2025
Time: 3:30pm ET
Location: Village East Cinema (Second Ave at 12th St, New York, NY 10003)
Courtesy of Hellenic Film Society
Wishbone
Director: Penny Panayotopoulou
Screenplay: Penny Panayotopoulou, Kallia Papadaki
2024 | 123 mins | NY Premiere | In Greek with English subtitles
Cast: Giannis Karampampas, Konstadinos Avarikiotis, Alexandra Sakellaropoulou, Garoufalina Kontozou, Eleni Mavridou, Thalia Papacosta, Mirto Alikaki, Nikolas Papagiannis
When his brother dies unexpectedly, a financially strapped hospital security guard is forced to care for his young niece. As expenses pile up and ownership of the house he shares with his mother is threatened, he becomes involved in a medical scam that would have him give false testimony against a dedicated doctor in exchange for money. Theater actor Giannis Karampampas, in his first leading film role, gives a mesmerizing performance and proves himself a screen actor to watch.
Winner Thessaloniki Film Festival 2024 Audience Award
Followed by audience Q&A with director Penny Panayotopoulou. Moderated by NYWIFT Board member Luchina Fisher.
*Use discount code NYWIFT20 at checkout
Please note: NYWIFT will also co-present Little England at the festival on October 10th. Learn more here!
Penny Panayotopoulou is a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. She holds a LLB in law from University of Athens and a degree in film and photo arts from the Polytechnic of Central London. Her debut short film Eldorado won the Best Film Award in the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the State Quality Award by the Ministry of Culture, and an honourable mention from the CNC. It was part of the competition at the international section of the Clermont Ferrand film festival.
Her debut feature film Hard Goodbyes: My Father (2002) premiered in the 55th Locarno Film Festival where it was awarded the Bronze Leopard for Best Actor, and the ecumenical jury prize. In the Thessaloniki International Film Festival the film won the FIPRESCI prize and the award for Best Actor. Among numerous international festivals, the film participated in the Toronto International film Festival in the Discovery Section, and set out for an acclaimed international career followed by many awards at many festivals worldwide. September (2013), premiered in the official competition of the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to critical acclaim, was nominated for six Hellenic Film Academy Awards and won the award for best leading actress. Wishbone (2024) is her third feature film.
(Photo by Robby Klein/Contour by Getty Images)
Luchina Fisher (Moderator) is the Emmy Award-winning director and producer of The Dads, about five fathers of trans kids bonding on a weekend fishing trip. The short documentary, executive produced by Dwyane Wade and acquired by Netflix, received the 2024 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Program and a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD. Her directorial debut, Mama Gloria, about a Black trans elder activist, was nominated for a 2022 GLAAD Media Award and broadcast on PBS. She is also the director of the award-winning short documentary Team Dream, executive produced by Queen Latifah, and co-director of the award-winning feature documentary Locked Out, about the barriers to Black homeownership. She is currently finishing a feature-length documentary with some of the dads from her Emmy-winning short and a project about the unsung history of Black queer presence in music, which won the 2023 PitchBLACK Film Forum. She is a visiting professor in film at Fairfield University and has taught documentary filmmaking at Yale.
The Hellenic Film Society presents its annual New York Greek Film Expo, a Greek film festival for all New Yorkers, October 2-12, 2025. For additional information on all films, theaters, tickets, and showtimes, CLICK HERE.
About the Hellenic Film Society USA
The Hellenic Film Society USA (HFS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization rooted in the belief that Greek cinema should be part of the American cultural landscape. Based in Astoria, NY, the organization promotes feature films, documentaries, and film shorts made by Greek filmmakers and those of Greek descent, as well as films that promote the cultures of Greece and Cyprus.
In addition to presenting its annual film festival, HFS collaborates with the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image on Always on Sunday, a series of monthly Greek film screenings.
Village East Cinema
Second Ave at 12th St
New York, NY 10003
programs@nywift.org
Join the conversation on social media:
#nywift | @nywift
NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
