Κινηματογράφος Ολύμπιον, Movie theater in central Thessaloniki, Greece.
Κινηματογράφος Ολύμπιον is a movie theater located at Aristotelous Square in central Thessaloniki, featuring two modernized screening halls and offices of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The building includes two cafes on the premises that overlook the Thermaikos Gulf waterfront.
Construction began in 1938 under building permit no. 236, planned to hold three cinemas, a ground-floor patisserie and eight flats; an Italian aircraft damaged the unfinished structure during World War II. The present form was designed in 1948–1950 by civil engineer Zak Mosses. The first Greek Film Festival was held here from 1960, and since October 1998 the building has housed the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
The building's name comes from Mount Olympus, and its balconies have served as a podium for Greek politicians giving pre-election speeches. Since 1998 it has housed the Thessaloniki Film Festival, which runs the annual documentary festival Images of the 21st Century in these halls. A permanent display shows reproductions of the HELLAFI collection of 274 hand-painted Greek film posters from 1950–1970.
The Olympion occupies a listed six-storey building at Aristotelous Square 10, with the 676-seat Olympion hall and the 192-seat Pavlos Zannas hall on the upper floors, reached by lift or stairs; two café-bars serve the foyers. Both halls are winter first-run cinemas in the Europa Cinemas network, so programming leans on European films.
The two screening halls are named Olympion and Pavlos Zannas, each operating as a separate program space within the same building. This setup allows the venue to present different types of films simultaneously throughout the day.
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