Athens is one of the few European cities where you can watch a movie in an open-air cinema. This type of cinema is known as therino in Greek (theros means summer) and can be found in many city neighborhoods. It has always been a favorite place of the Athenians for a summer night out. The movie is not always important, as long as you sit and watch while drinking a cold beer and eating a snack.

Perhaps the most special of these cinemas is, in my opinion, Zefyros in Petralona. The history of Zefyros begins in the distant year 1932 when it started as a venue for variety shows. In the following decades, it was converted into a cinema following the rise in popularity of cinema as a form of entertainment and the heyday of Greek cinema. In the 1980s, its owners make a brave decision that will result in Zephyros differentiating itself and becoming a favorite destination for the city’s cinephiles. They decided that Zephyros would show only older classic films and more recent works by important world cinema artists. As a result, it became a favorite haunt of Athens’ cinephiles, where they discover a revealing, original, demanding, restless, and authentic cinema. Here is where viewers, myself included, got to know the worlds of Bunuel, Welles, Tarkovsky, Ozu, Bergman, and many more emblematic filmmakers.

Today, in defiance of contemporary trends, Zefyros continues its solitary course, and every summer evening is full of people who want a genuine cinephile experience.