High admissions for El Greco

by Vitor Pinto

10/12/2007 - Yannis Smaragdis’ El Greco, the fictional biography of master painter and sculptor Domenicos Theotocopoulos, alias El Greco, has become the most successful Greek film of the year. After winning the Greek cinema State Award and the Audience Award at the latest Thessaloniki Film Festival, the film is also making a splash at the local box office with over 600,000 admissions so far.

Shot in Greek, Spanish and English, the film stars British newcomer Nick Ashdon as El Greco alongside Juan Diego Botto. The Spanish-Argentinean actor plays Cardinal Niño de Guevara, whose realistic portrait marked the beginning of El Greco's problems with the Spanish Inquisition.

Produced by Athens-based Alexandros Films, which also handles international sales, El Greco became the first co-production between Greece and Spain (La Productora). The €7m film was also backed by Greek broadcaster Nova.

The Spanish theatrical release of El Greco is set for the first trimester of 2008.