The New York Greek Film Expo wrapped up its annual festival with record attendance in its 13 screenings across NYC and New Jersey, including a finale weekend at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.
The yearly expo, led by the Hellenic Film Society, which highlights Greek films and filmmakers, wrapped up 11 days of 13 screenings from Oct. 2 to Oct. 12, including venues in Manhattan, Fort Lee in New Jersey and Astoria, along with an array of awards which were presented during the festival and a retrospective on the highly acclaimed Greek filmmaker, Pantelis Voulgaris.
“We are overwhelmed by the audience response to this year’s expo, which saw its largest audience to date, and we’re thrilled that, for many, it was their first time attending a Greek film,” said Maria C. Miles, Hellenic Film Society’s president. ”
The New York Greek Film Expo was launched in 2018 to fill a need for a platform to showcase the work of Greek filmmakers and share their stories with American audiences. Since then, the film expo has grown each year, offering film lovers the opportunity to explore Greek films, in some cases for the first time, and discover many similarities in the stories and lives of people worldwide, regardless of their background or upbringing.
The 2025 Greek Film Expo presented awards such as the Audience Award, which went to a film called “Meat,” a film about a young Albanian man who may take the fall for a murder committed by someone else, directed by Dimitris Nakos and starring Kostas Nikouli, who has won the Hellenic Film Academy’s Best Actor Award at a prior expo for his performance. Actress Katia Goulioni earned Best Performance in a Feature Film for her role in a comedy film called “Murphy’s Law,” directed by Angelos Frantzis.
Filmmaker Michael Roubis’ documentary film, “Takis,” received an honorable mention for Excellence in Social Impact, for his film on a man who devotes his life to rescuing stray animals in Crete, transforming local attitudes and inspiring global support. During the film’s finale weekend, filmmaker Pantelis Voulgaris was honored with the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The film festival also had the opportunity to host an array of Greek actors and filmmakers from Greece who attended the expo and took part in audience Q&As, including an Actors on Actors conversation on Oct. 6 with Greek-American film and TV actor Dennis Boutsikaris and Andreas Konstantinou, who were in four of this year’s expo films.
“This year’s slate of films was exceptionally strong, and we were delighted that so many of Greece’s biggest film stars came to share their films and discuss them with our New York audience,” said Miles.
While the next New York Greek Film Expo 2026 isn’t until next dall, fans of the film festival can still catch a monthly showing of Greek films at “Never on Sundays,” presented by the Hellenic Film Society at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.
To learn more about The Hellenic Film Society or the NY Greek Film Expo, visit their website or follow them at @hellenicfilmsociety
