Though hampered at times by war or political instability, the Greek film industry dominates the domestic market and has experienced international success.

[5] Films during this period, such as Astero (1929) by Dimitris Gaziadis and Maria Pentagiotissa (1929) by Ahilleas Madras, consisted of emotional melodramas with an abundance of folkloristic elements.

Inspired by Italian neorealism, directors such as Grigoris Grigoriou and Stelios Tatasopoulos created works during this period shot on location using non-professional actors.

Other films released in this era, such as The Counterfeit Coin and The Ogre of Athens are nowadays considered some of the greatest works of Greek cinema.

Directors like George Prokopiou and Dimitris Gaziadis are distinguished for filming scenes from the battlefield and later, during the Greco-Turkish War, of the efforts of the Hellenic Army and finally the Great Fire of Smyrna (1922).

This company presented its first movie, Love and Waves (Έρως και κύματα), in 1927, and experienced moderate success in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1930, Dag made an attempt for a speaking movie, The Apaches of Athens (Οι Απάχηδες των Αθηνών), which was based on a Greek operetta by Nikos Hatziapostolou.

The 1931 film Daphnis and Chloe (Δάφνις και Χλόη), directed by Orestis Laskos (1908–1992), contained the first voyeuristic nude scene in the history of European cinema; it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad.

In 1932 Olympia Films presented the speaking movie The Shepherdess's Lover (Ο αγαπητικός της βοσκοπούλας), which was based on a play by Dimitris Koromilas.

[6] During the late 1930s, a number of Greek filmmakers fled Greece due to the hostility of Metaxas Regime and the material lack of ability for producing speaking movies.

One of Finos's earliest productions, Voice of the Heart (Η φωνή της καρδιάς) (1943, directed by Dimitris Ioannopoulos), drew large audiences, to the consternation of the Germans.

[9] In 1944, Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Pilar" in the Sam Wood film, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

[citation needed] Finos Film and director Alekos Sakellarios collaborated on several films in the late 1950s, namely The Hurdy-Gurdy (Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο, 1955) and its sequel, Laterna, ftoheia kai garyfallo (Λατέρνα, 1958), as well as Aunt from Chicago (Η Θεία από το Σικάγο, 1957) and Maiden's Cheek (Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο, 1959).

[citation needed] The 1955 film Stella, directed by Michael Cacoyannis and written by Iakovos Kambanelis, was screened at Cannes, and launched Greek cinema into its "golden age.

"[6] Melina Mercouri, who starred in the film, met American expatriate director Jules Dassin at Cannes while attending the screening, and the two would eventually marry.

[6] The Thessaloniki International Film Festival was first held in 1960, and would subsequently evolve into the primary showcase for emerging filmmakers from Greece and the Balkans region.

[citation needed] The production of Greek films increased after the fall of the dictatorship in the mid-1970s, though the industry struggled with foreign competition and the rise of television.

When the left-leaning Panhellenic Socialist Movement was elected to power in 1981, actress Melina Mercouri, a member of the party, was appointed Minister for Culture.

[14] Dogtooth, Attenberg and Alps are part of what some film critics, including Steve Rose of The Guardian, have termed the "Greek Weird Wave," which involves movies with haunting cinematography, alienated protagonists and absurdist dialogue.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, compared the film to the previously mentioned, saying that "It (self-evidently) does not have the humour of those movies by Yorgos Lanthimos and Athina Rachel Tsangari and by that token, less of their richness and inventiveness.