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Greek laws for film financing, which were introduced more than 20 years previously, had been the focus for discontent amongst the country’s filmmakers for some time when a group of them formed the Filmmakers of Greece (FoG), a pressure group committed to revising the laws, in March 2009.

FoG claimed that the full £2.7 million of funding raised from a levy on cinema ticket sales and TV stations was not reaching the country’s filmmakers.   They also accused the government of a lack of transparency and of failing to introduce tax incentives, an industry booster which was commonly provided by the governments of other European Union countries.   To demonstrate their anger, FoG members withdrew 18 features, six documentary films and 28 shorts from the 50^th Thessaloniki Film Festival, leaving local organisers with just 65 local films.   FoG also arranged a week of screenings which attracted more than 5,000 people days before the festival was due to open

A Ministry of Culture committee headed by director Costa-Gavras was formed to investigate ways of updating the laws, but its attempts ran aground when the incumbent government was ousted in a general election earlier in 2009.

Konstantinos Kontovrakis, head of Thessaloniki’s Greek film program said of the boycott, ‘It is very sad that the filmmakers who are protesting were not here to support their cause. We have international press and television reporters at the festival keen to cover Greek cinema and current issues. Greek filmmakers cannot afford to close a window on the outside world at this time.’

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