The European Film Academy (EFA) has added the White Tower to its Treasures of European Film Culture list. Thessaloniki’s popular landmark, a monument of Byzantine cultural heritage, featured as a natural cinematic backdrop for the 1988 film “Landscape in the Mist” by Theo Angelopoulos. Through this film, Greece’s “northern capital” became widely known to the international film audience.

The Treasures of European Film Culture catalogue is part of a series of initiatives by the European Film Academy to create a pan-European network honoring film heritage. The network connects film libraries, film archives and film organizations with the aim of sharing and utilizing information on anniversaries and events that highlight and promote European cinema and filmmakers. It also aims to promote the actions of Europe’s institutional organizations that develop film industry strategies.

The EFA’s choice of the White Tower resulted from a long-standing cooperation with the Greek Film Center and its directorate for international audiovisual productions, the Hellenic Film Commission, which organized the relevant actions together with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki and Theo Angelopoulos’ family. The European Film Academy and European Film Culture have contributed to the promotion of Greece’s cinematographic and cultural heritage as well as in attracting the interest of European filmmakers in the country.

The White Tower, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, is one of the 35 iconic film sites and landmarks around Europe. Others on the list include: the Lumière Institute in Lyon, France; the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa, Ukraine; the Plaza de España in Seville; the Bergman Center on the isle of Fårö in Sweden; the Casa Rossa in Stromboli, Italy and the Café des Deux Moulins in Paris.

This article was previously published in Greek at kathimerini.gr.