As part of the 31st Greek Film Festival, this special panel discussion celebrates the Australian Premiere of the newly restored 4K version of Maria Plyta’s 1953 film Eva, following its screening in the Cannes Classics section at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival — a historic first for Greek cinema.
Eva was directed by Maria Plyta, Greece’s first female film director and one of the earliest female directors in cinema history. Across her career, Plyta directed 17 feature films — an extraordinary body of work and perhaps the largest number of feature films directed by a woman in the history of Greek cinema.
The panel will welcome Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou, Professor of Film and Television History and Theory at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who is leading important research dedicated to restoring Maria Plyta and her body of work to their rightful place in Greek film history. Through the research project Maria Plyta: The First Known Female Greek Director, this work seeks to bring a remarkable filmmaker from the footnotes of Greek cinematic history into the canon.
Celebrating Plyta’s pioneering legacy, the discussion will also shine a light on women’s voices in film and the importance of preserving and rediscovering the stories of those who helped shape Greek cinema. It will consider the significance of restoration not simply as an act of film preservation, but as an opportunity to revisit cinematic history, while reflecting on the enduring connections between cinema, cultural heritage and the Greek diaspora.
The discussion brings together Prof. Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou, acclaimed film and television director Ana Kokkinos, Prof. Vrasidas Karalis and Dr Sophia Sakellis, with Dr Helen Goritsas as Panel Chair, to share their perspectives on Maria Plyta’s remarkable legacy, the restoration and rediscovery of Eva, and the continuing importance of women’s voices within Greek cinema and its history, while situating Plyta’s pioneering work within the wider history and evolving recognition of women across world cinema.
The 4K restoration of Eva was undertaken by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata, in association with Alatas Films and Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou, and in cooperation with the Greek Film Archive. The restoration was made possible through funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
The panel is presented by Modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney and forms part of the program of the 31st Greek Film Festival.
With special thanks to the University of Sydney, to Professor Vrasidas Karalis for his support in bringing this event together, and to Professor Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou for enabling the screening.
With sincere appreciation to our generous contributors, Matoyla & Anthia Kollaras and Sue & Nick Thliveris.
Eva — Sydney Screenings
The 31st Greek Film Festival includes two Sydney screenings of the newly restored 4K version of Eva:
Betty-Despoina Kaklamanidou is Professor of Film and Television Theory and History at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Fulbright scholar. An internationally recognised film and television scholar, her work spans Greek, European and American screen cultures, with particular interests in gender, politics, adaptation and representation.
Ana Kokkinos is a director, screenwriter, and producer. She directed on the BBC/STAN co-production Ten Pound Poms, the highest rating new drama for the BBC in 2023 and in 2024, she returned as co-executive producer and set-up director on Series 2. Her award-winning feature films, which include Only the Brave, Head On and Blessed are considered to be some of the most groundbreaking and distinctive works in Australian cinema. As a director in TV, her work couldn’t be more diverse. She has directed episodes of The Secret Life of Us and the AACTA winning children’s show Eugenue Sandler PI. She’s directed episodes of some of our most celebrated drama series – Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Hunting and Fires.
Vrasidas Karalis is Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. A leading scholar of Greek cinema, literature and cultural history, he is the author of the landmark A History of Greek Cinema and has written extensively on Greek film and filmmakers.
Helen Goritsas is a filmmaker, screen scholar and educator with a PhD in Screen Arts from the University of Sydney. Her work brings together creative practice, film studies and emerging screen technologies. She has served as President of Women in Film & Television NSW and Director of the Greek Film Festival of Australia, with research and creative practice spanning cinema, screen production and virtual reality.
Dr Sophia Sakellis is an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in Greek women’s cinema, language and translation. Her doctoral research explored the work of significant Greek female filmmakers, including Tonia Marketaki, Frieda Liappa and Margarita Manda, with Maria Plyta’s pioneering work providing an important foundation for this cinematic lineage. Sophia has extensive experience teaching Modern Greek and Translation at the University of Sydney, Macquarie University and UNSW, and is a NAATI-certified English–Greek Professional Translator.
The 31st Greek Film Festival, co-organised by the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW and the Greek Community of Melbourne, returns from 13–25 October 2026, bringing the best of Greek cinema to audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and across Australia.
Header image: Still from the film Eva (1953)
