Most of the prominent filmmakers of New Greek Cinema – a politicised, auterist and art-oriented trend which dominated the Greek filmscape of the 1970s and 1980s – started their careers as assistant directors and film practitioners in the studios of the Greek commercial film industry of the 1950s and 1960s. Theo Angelopoulos, one of New Greek Cinema's leading directors, followed, however, a different path and entered the field professionally as a film intellectual. After studying filmmaking in Paris, he returned to Athens and, from 1964 to 1967, worked as a film critic for the newspaper Δημοκρατική Αλλαγή (Democratic Change), while between 1969 and 1971 he contributed occasionally to the journal Σύγχρονος Κινηματογράϕος (Contemporary Cinema). The time frame of Angelopoulos’ critical activity is particularly intriguing since the 1960s were the formative years of New Greek Cinema. It was also a period of political upheaval and instability in Greece, of exceptional vitality in the arts and, in terms of production and attendance, unparalleled growth of the domestic film culture. This chapter focuses on the most intensive period of Angelopoulos’ critical writing – his criticism for Democratic Change – during the turbulent but creative pre-dictatorship 1960s. It attempts to throw light upon unknown aspects of his cinéphile background; to trace critical attitudes, emerging ideas, early tastes and unexplored influences; and to consider how his criticism relates to his eventual ideas on cinema and filmmaking practices.

DEMOCRATIC CHANGE AND ANGELOPOULOS’ CRITICAL STYLE

Democratic Change, the evening newspaper of the left-wing party EDA, was founded in February 1964, after the liberal Ένωση Κέντρου (Centre Union Party) came to power, and it was closed down by the military Junta in April 1967. In the 1960s, cultural life was hugely significant to the Greek Left as it was a vehicle for resisting the political establishment and promoting oppositional ideas. In line with Lenin's statement about cinema being the most important of the arts and acknowledging film's enlightening potential, the Greek Left was decidedly open to film culture in general (Rafailidis 1966: 124–8). Like other leftist newspapers and journals of the time (such as Επιθεώρηση Τέχνης [Art Review]), Democratic Change gave preference to cinema, and created a prominent space for writing on film.