The Wretches Are Still Singing

The Wretches Are Still Singing (Greek: Τα Κουρέλια Τραγουδάνε Ακόμα..., romanized: Ta Kourelia Tragoudane Akoma...) is a 1979 Greek dramatic experimental independent surrealist underground art film directed by Nikos Nikolaidis. It is the first part of the "Years of Cholera" trilogy continuing with Sweet Bunch (1983) and ending with The Loser Takes It All (2002).

The Wretches Are Still Singing
Theatrical release poster
Τα Κουρέλια Τραγουδάνε Ακόμα...
Directed by	Nikos Nikolaidis
Written by	Nikos Nikolaidis
Produced by	Nikos Nikolaidis
Starring	Alkis Panagiotidis Konstantinos Tzoumas Rita Bensousan Hristos Valavanidis Dora Kalogridi Gioula Kazoni Maritina Passari Antigoni Amanitou Youla Anagnostou Dimitris Politimos Olia Lazaridou
Cinematography	Stavros Hassapis
Edited by	Andreas Andreadakis
Music by	Jerry Lee Lewis Bo Diddley Julie London Bill Haley Little Richard Sarah Vaughan The Platters Brenda Lee Roy Orbison Nat King Cole Connie Francis The Everly Brothers
Release date	September 1979 (1979-09) (Thessaloniki Festival of Greek Cinema)
Running time	118 Minutes
Country	Greece
Language	Greek

Plot

The director studied the transformation of social values using the example of a group of five friends who meet after a long separation and share with each other the details of their difficult lives. The film became the symbol of the 1950s generation and reflected his personal views on the problem of alienation in the modern world. The film was shot in a surreal way with a predilection for the aesthetics of the Marquis de Sade. In it, for the first time in Nikolaidis' filmography, one can see the characteristic elements of film noir which became part and parcel of Nikolaidis' unique approach in the majority of the films that followed. The film follows four men who had been adolescents in the 1950s and are now in their forties. A fifth person, a woman, who has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals due to unspecified disorders, also appears. Efi Papazachariou, who wrote an article about it in World Film Locations: Athens, stated that it is "one of the most unconventional Greek films."^[1]

Accolades

The film won the Best Director Award and the Athens Film Critics Association Best Picture Award at the Thessaloniki Festival of Greek Cinema in September 1979, where, furthermore, Hristos Valavanidis won the Best Actor Award, Marinos Athanasopoulos won the Best Sound Recordist Award, and Andreas Andreadakis won the Best Editor Award.^[2]

Cast

• Alkis Panagiotidis as Alkis
• Konstantinos Tzoumas as Konstantinos
• Rita Bensousan as Rita
• Christos Valavanidis as Hristos
• Dora Kalogridi as Dora
• Gioula Kazoni as Thief
• Maritina Passari
• Antigoni Amanitou as White Clothes-Wearing Lady
• Youla Anagnostou
• Dimitris Politimos as Dimitris
• Olia Lazaridou as Vera

References

1. Papazachariou, Efi (2014). "The Wretches Are Still Singing/Ta Kourelia Tragoudane Akoma... (1979)." In Sifaki, Eirini, Nikolaidou, Afroditi, and Poupou, Anna (editors). World Film Locations: Athens (World Film Locations Series). Chicago, Illinois: Intellect Books. p. 62. ISBN 1783203595.
2. Γενικά 1979: Βραβεία Ελληνικός κινηματογράφος. Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης (Πληροφορίες: Βραβεία) (in Greek). Retrieved 6 December 2014.

Further reading

• Peter Cowie, International Film Guide 1981, London: Tantivy Press, 1981, 512 pages (ISBN 0498025306).
• Νίκος Γεωργίου Νικολαΐδης, Τα Κουρέλια Τραγουδάνε Ακόμα...: Σενάριο, Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις Γνώση, 1980, 97 σελίδες. (in Greek)

External links

• The Wretches Are Still Singing at Nikos Nikolaidis (Film Director/Writer/Producer)
• The Wretches Are Still Singing at IMDb
• The Wretches Are Still Singing at the Greek Film Archive Film Museum: Home Page Digital Archives, Filmography
• The Wretches Are Still Singing at 5 Books, 6 Films, and... Nikos Nikolaidis: Films
• The Wretches Are Still Singing at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Wretches Are Still Singing at The New York Times Movies