21 Greek films removed from Oscar consideration

The creators of 21 out of the 23 films eligible to represent Greece at the 2025 Oscars have withdrawn their entries from the selection process.

In their letter, they raised “serious doubts about the reliability and validity of the Ministry of Culture’s process” in forming the selection committee. They accused the Ministry of “a lack of transparency that undermines Greek cinema and its professionals” and noted “reasonable suspicions about the intentions behind these actions.”

The letter and statements from those involved reveal that four members of the Greek Film Academy—Vassilis Kekatos (president), Lida Galanou, Kora Karvouni, and Kallia Papadaki—were invited by the Ministry of Culture to join the committee.

Eva Nathaena (“Fónissa”) and Kostas Charalambous (“O Kapetán Michális”) did not withdraw their films from the process.

After phone and email communications lasting several days, they received a viewing link for the nominated films on August 11. Two days later, the Ministry informed them that their invitation had been sent “by mistake” and announced the official formation of the committee, which did not include any of the four members, on the Diavgeia (meaning Transparency) platform.

The new committee includes Evan Spiliotopoulos as president, Dimitris Danikas (who has been previously removed from the Hellenic Film Academy) as vice president, Christina Lazaridi, Panagiotis Rappas, Spyros Taraviras, Vassilis Charalampopoulos, and Asimina Proedrou, who has since resigned.

The Ministry of Culture responded to the 20 creators that the committee had not been appointed before August 13 “according to the provisions of the Law,” as confirmed by Diavgeia. The Ministry also stated that it “remains the guardian of the process to ensure both objectivity and the committee’s integrity.”