On Wednesday 2 November at 8.30 pm at Apollon Cinemax Class cinema, the closing ceremony of the 24th Panorama of European Cinema took place with the awarding of the Prizes from the Competition section and the Special Panorama Prizes. The event was followed by the avant-premiere of "The Help", directed by Tate Taylor.

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<p><img height="242" width="364" class="caption" title="Yannis Spanoudakis (President and Managing Consultant of OPAP) , Ninos Fenek Mikelides" src="/images/stories/24-panorama-2.jpg" style="float: right;" /></p>
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The closing ceremony of the 24thPanorama was honoured by the presence of numerous representatives from cinema, the arts and the press as well as by cinema lovers. Apart from the awarded personalities, Anna Filini (the president of the Cultural Organisation of the City of Athens, Yannis Spanoudakis (the president and managing consultant of OPAP, the directors Dimos Avdeliodis, Thodoros Angelopoulos, Vasilis Vafeas, Stavros Ioannou, Nikos Kavoukidis, Vasilis Mazomenos, Nikos Panayiotopoulos, Nikos Perakis, Lakis Papastathis and Yorgos Tsimberopoulos, the authors Thanassis Valtinos and Dora Yannakopoulou, as well as Takis Emmanouil, Olia Lazaridou, Gogo Brembou and Eleni Filini. The ceremony was presented by the artistic director of the festival Ninos Fenek Mikelides.

The Audience Prize was awarded by a five-member committee consisting of readers of "Athinorama" magazine to the russian film "Bedouin" directed by Igor Voloshin. It is the story of a woman who agrees to be a surrogate mother for a gay couple in order to earn the money needed for the daughter's leukaemia treatment.
The Prize from a 5-member committee consisting of students from Stavrakos and New York College Film Schools followed, which was awarded to the french-portuguese co-production "Mysteries of Lisbon" directed by Raoul Ruiz, an idiosyncratic film that follows a jealous countess, a wealthy businessman and a young orphaned boy across Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil where they connect with a variety of mysterious individuals. The Prize was received by the audiovisual media attachee of the French Embassy Elise Jalladeau.
The Panorama Prize was awarded by a Jury consisting of Greek directors: Thodoros Angelopoulos (president), Dimos Avdeliodis, Vasilis Vafeas, Nikos Panayiotopoulos and Lakis Papastathis. The Prize went to the film "Mysteries of Lisbon", while The Prize for best direction went to the french film "Pater" by Alain Cavalier.

<p><img height="289" width="434" class="caption" title="Dimos Avdeliodis, Nikos Panayiotopoulos, Lakis Papastathis, Vasilis Vafeas, Elise Jalladeau, Thodoros Angelopoulos, Ninos Fenek Mikelides" src="/images/stories/24-panorama-5.jpg" style="float: left;" /></p>

Then followed the honourary awards, starting with Nikos Perakis who was given the award by the president and managing consultant of OPAP Yannis Spanoudakis, then Vasilis Vafeas who was given the award by Anna Filini (the president of the Cultural Organisation of the City of Athens) and concluding with Olia Lazaridou, who was given the award by the world famous composer Eleni Karaindrou.
After the closing ceremony, the much awaited film "The Help" (dir. Tate Taylor) was screened, in collaboration with the distribution company Feelgood Entertainment.
The evening concluded at Bacaro bar-restaurant, where the festive spirit dominated the scene.
This year's Panorama opened on 26 October 2011, with the avant-premiere of "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" (dir. Nuri Ceylan). During the next eight days, the friends of quality European -as well as world- cinema had the chance to watch more than 50 films in a series of tributes screened in Apollon Cinemax and Michael Cacoyannis Foundation cinemas. </p>
<p>At the same time, in collaboration with the Hellenic Film Critics Association, a debate took place in the bookshop IANOS, concerning the future of Greek cinema. In the discussion, titled "Greek Cinema: Quo Vadis?", participated the directors Vasilis vafeas, Yannis Ekonomides, Nikos Triantafyllidis and Yannis Fagras as well as the film critics Andreas Tyros and Nestoras Poulakos.
The Panorama of European Cinema was organised for the 24th year, thus renewing a promise to its audience for the promotion of European and Greek cinema, without ignoring the rest of the world production. For 2012, the organisers of the festival promised a celebration for the 25 years of this great Athens Festival.