Although the complete list of films to be screened at the Toronto International Film festival won't be listed until tomorrow, some of the titles have been announced early. Among these is Hard Goodbyes. The plot synopsis is from the website of the Greek Film Center.

Elias, a ten year-old boy who lives in Athens in the late '60s, suddenly loses his father. The members of the family try, each in his own particular way, to deal with the unexpected event… except for the little boy. He cannot shoulder the burden of this separation. He cannot grasp what has happened. He refuses to accept that his father has really died and continues to behave as though he is waiting for him to return from one of his usual business trips. He starts acting strangely with the aim of keeping his father alive inside him. He lies, sends letters to his grandmother as though they are from his father. He continues to play their favorite games with him, acting out both roles of the game. And worst of all he is absolutely sure that his father will return as he had promised so that they can both watch the Americans landing on the moon for the first time on television. But his father cannot keep his promise, which was to be his last. The moon landing takes place. Man takes his leave of his planet, the earth. And so does the little boy who takes his final leave of his father for the first time. Only then does Elias realize that he has been left completely alone. At first he gets angry but in the end he understands. His father could not have done differently. He won't wait for him any more. He grows up abruptly. A new era begins for man but also for young Elias.

Oh yeah! Thanks!

That's a cute boy. 

Love,
Sir Jacob

I have a new favorite film of 2002! Today I was able to see Hard Goodbyes. Wow! This movie is everything it's synopsis suggests and more. Yorgos Karayannis, who plays Elias, delivers the best child performance of the year. It took a lot of skill to play the role of Elias, who goes through a grieving process which is far longer than normal because he refuses to believe that his beloved father will not return. Thankfully the director found a boy up to the challenge. I wish I could find a review that could explain to you all just how good this film is.  Since I can't find one, for now you guys are stuck with just my ratings: movie rating:10/10 boy movie rating 10/10 Must See Film!

While looking for that elusive review, I did find out that Yorgos won the best actor award at this year's Locarno Film Festival (which incidentally is NOT a children's film fest), where the film debuted in August. I was also able to find one still of Yorgos in character.
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AND one shot of him showing off his award in Locarno.
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Sir J,

I'm happy you are enjoying reading about these films.

The print I saw of Hard Goodbyes had English subtitles. Also, I do attempt to add info to the imdb occasionally. Usually I stick to films I see on VHS for this type of work, so I can freeze frame the credits to get all the information down accurately.

I'm generally pessimistic about these types of films getting wider release, which is one of the reasons I make such an effort to see them in whatever venues they are being shown in, but I truly hope that this movie is made available for you (and everyone else) to see someday.

Hey, Zab, that link leads to a nice site. The opening page sure grabs the imagination.

Glad to see something happening with this movie...  it's on my 'must see' list.

Nice of the site to allow us to download the press kit.

Pity there is no trailer...  yet.

Thanks a bunch for these caps, cal. Since this film has yet to be released on video anywhere, I've never seen anything other than the official production stills.

I'm glad someone else here finally got to enjoy Yorgos' performance as well. If we had television networks in the states like the ones you have in Oz, I'd probably stay home more. 

  :lol: Great Pictures;Thank for sharing!!!