We had a different vision for this edition. Just before its completion, the author Dimitris Fysas (memory) suddenly passed away. The contribution of Leandros Slavis, the support of Sotiris Lampropoulos from the Stavrakos film school, and the generous help of Dimitris’s Family allow us to present this work to the public.

“The cinemas of Athens is the most important book I have written. More important in terms of writing style (exhaustive field research and much less archival work), content, number of readers, and impact on consciousness.” D. Fysas

NEVER HAS A BOOK EMBRACED SO MUCH CINEMA! Two volumes, one thousand pages, years of research. The author and journalist Dimitris Fysas arranges the cinemas of Athens alphabetically from 1896 when the big screen captivated Athenians to 2013. The research thus spans three centuries, but it is not a simple record of venues and films − which is already an extremely difficult task in itself. It vividly captures a journey through space and time, with ethnographic details, events, quotes, spatial elements, advertisements from screenings, and a plethora of films.

This work is the point where, as the author himself writes, “my obsession with the city intersects with my obsession with cinema.” And he continues: “I have three hopes:

• first, that with this I will gain, in the future, some place in the ranks of important Athenographers
• second, that people will remember it when my literature and my other books will have been forgotten (I have no illusions)
• third, that it will be a source, a reference point, and a school to emulate for younger Athenographers.

Now the floor is yours, dear readers.

Athens, 29th of November 2019