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43-519: The annual film festival includes a business conference, year-round screenings and programs, all showcasing the cultural diversity of South East Europe through themes, stories and visual artistry. It seeks to establish intercultural connections between artistic communities in the United States and South East Europe. Awards are given in the following categories at the conclusion of the festival: Additional awards have also been presented to honor cinema of

86-677: A Puerto Rican and in Diamond Head as a native Hawaiian . Chakiris appeared uncredited as a dancer in White Christmas (1954) and appeared in a close-up with Rosemary Clooney while she sang "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me". A publicity photo of this generated fan mail, and Paramount signed him to a movie contract. "I got lucky with the close-up with Rosemary," said Chakiris. Chakiris appeared in The Country Girl (1954) and The Girl Rush (1955), dancing with Rosalind Russell in

129-608: A British film, The High Bright Sun (1965), with Dirk Bogarde . He went to Italy for The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen (1965) and France for Is Paris Burning? (1966). He appeared with Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly in Jacques Demy 's French musical film The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). Around this time, his manager cancelled his contract with Capitol Records. However, he enjoyed his time in Europe, saying he had time to "experiment and refine my craft." He also performed

172-609: A career as a pop singer , resulting in a couple of minor hits. In 1960, he recorded a single with producer Joe Meek . Chakiris's fee around this time was reported to be $ 100,000 per movie. His first new film for the Mirisches was Flight from Ashiya (1964), shot in Japan with Yul Brynner and Richard Widmark . The Mirisches reunited Chakiris with Brynner in Kings of the Sun (1963), an epic about

215-568: A career in dance, so he dropped out and moved to Hollywood. He worked in the advertising department of May Company California , a department store, and studied dance at night. Chakiris made his film debut at age 15 in 1947 in the chorus of Song of Love . For several years he appeared in small roles, usually as a dancer or a member of the chorus in various musical films, including The Great Caruso (1951), Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), Call Me Madam (1953), Second Chance (1953), and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953). He

258-500: A city of 50,000 inhabitants, a private volunteer 120 men fire brigade, 13 acres of retail space (482,475 sq.ft., larger than all the department, clothing and dry goods stores in the city), and 1200 employees. The Los Angeles Public Library was also located on the third floor from 1908 until it was forced to move to a larger location when it outgrew the Hamburger space by 1913. For a short time, Woodbury Business College briefly

301-538: A much larger store at the southeast corner of Broadway and Eighth, a location that was outside of then current retail district. Construction started in 1905, with a grand opening held in 1908. This location, which was also known as the Great White Store, was the largest department store building west of Chicago at the time and would eventually become the flagship location for the May Company California. At

344-806: A nightclub act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, his first stage work since West Side Story . The show was successful and led to Chakiris receiving an offer to appear with Jose Ferrer in a TV production of Kismet (1967). He appeared in The Day the Hot Line Got Hot (1968) in France, and The Big Cube (1969) with Lana Turner in America. He made Sharon Vestida de Rojo ( Sharon Dressed in Red ) (1970) in Spain. In 1969, Chakiris did

387-574: A recurring role on the series Superboy as Professor Peterson from 1988 to 1990, and guest-starred on Human Target and the miniseries The Girls of Lido . On stage, he starred in the musical in a Long Beach Civic Light Opera production of The King and I in 1995. On March 23, 1998, on the 70th Academy Awards telecast, he appeared in the "Oscar's Family Album" segment, a historic gathering of 70 actors who have received both competitive and honorary awards seated onstage together. He has given occasional television interviews since then, but

430-540: A space of 46 by 100 feet. Later, it expanded into the north half of the ground floor of the newly built Phillips Block , northwest corner of Spring and Franklin, then in 1887 into the south half. In April 1899 it added the Ponet store 20 feet to the north of the Bumiller Block. In 1899, Hamburger's renovated and took over the entire Phillips Block , all four floors plus the cellar. The space officially opened June 1, 1899, and

473-457: A stage production of The Corn Is Green in Chicago with Eileen Herlie . He enjoyed the experience and it revived his confidence as an actor. He said all the films he made after West Side Story had been "a waste of time...it was difficult to take them seriously...It was my fault and no one else's". Chakiris accepted a dramatic role on TV's Medical Center to change his image. He starred in

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516-538: Is dedicated to SEEfest retrospectives and screenings of archival treasures. In 2011, the festival collaborated with the UCLA Film and Television Archive to organize retrospectives of Slovenian cinema spanning from 1950 to 2010. In 2012, SEEfest presented the tenth anniversary celebration of the Academy Award-winning film from Bosnia Herzegovina, No Man’s Land , directed by Danis Tanović, and it also collaborated with

559-485: Is mostly retired. His hobby of making sterling silver jewelry has turned into a new occupation, working as a jewelry designer for his own brand, George Chakiris Collections, consisting of handmade original sterling silver jewelry. In 2012, he presented a musical about veganism titled Loving the Silent Tears . In 2021, Chakiris appeared in the film Not to Forget (2021), which aims to raise awareness and funds for

602-668: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2012 and 2014. George Chakiris George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor and dancer. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of West Side Story as Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture . Chakiris

645-649: The Austin Film Society on a program of South East European films from the 21st century. That same year, it collaborated with the Los Angeles Filmforum and Harvard Film Archive on a retrospective of landmark 1960-70s short films from Serbia by the internationally acclaimed director Vlatko Gilić. The retrospective was subsequently screened at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California in 2013, and at

688-532: The Broadway -anchored Crenshaw Plaza directly across the street to the south. A proposed store in Hollywood that was planned at the same time was never built. From 1952 to 1992 May opened stores across suburban Los Angeles and Southern California (see table below). May Company-Lakewood opened at Lakewood Center on February 18, 1952, the four-level, 346,700-square-foot (32,210 m ) May Company-Lakewood

731-524: The Mayans , which was a box-office flop. Chakiris went to Italy to make Bebo's Girl (1964) with Claudia Cardinale . He acted in 633 Squadron (1964), a war movie with Cliff Robertson , the last movie he made for the Mirisches. Chakiris later said he made a mistake with his Hollywood films by looking at the "potential" of them instead of the quality of the roles. Chakiris played a Greek terrorist in Cyprus in

774-683: The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2014 The world premiere of Andreas Prochaska ’s Sarajevo , an Austrian-German-Czech co-production, opened the 9th annual SEEfest on May 1, 2014 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, marking the 100th anniversary of the events in Sarajevo in 1914 that led to World War I In 2012, SEEfest was voted by staffers of Flavorwire as one of

817-517: The flagship Downtown store on 8th Street between Broadway and Hill streets, and the May Company Wilshire at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue . The 1926 garage building at 9th and Hill Streets was one of the nation's first parking structures ( Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1001). The Wilshire location has been featured in several vintage films, including Behave Yourself! May Company California can trace its roots to

860-480: The 10 best “under-the-radar” film festivals in America. In 2013, SEEfest received recognitions from the California Assembly, County of Los Angeles and City of Los Angeles “for enhancing the cultural life and creating opportunities for cultural exchange between Southern California and South East Europe” and “contribution to the cultural vitality of Los Angeles.” In 2015, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of

903-462: The 1980s, the parent corporation tried to replace the iconic Wilshire store for several years by getting involved with mall development at Farmers Market. However the development that eventually became The Grove at Farmers Market was delayed for nearly two decades. The St. Louis-based parent company eventually withdrew from the project and the Wilshire store was never replaced when May Company California

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946-663: The May Company in 1925. To keep pace with the extreme growth in population within Southern California during the Great Depression, May Company opened the first branch store in 1939 on Wilshire at Fairfax at a cost of $ 2 million (~$ 34.4 million in 2023). After World War II, a second branch store was opened on October 10, 1947 along Crenshaw Boulevard at the northeast corner of Santa Barbara St. (now M. L. King, Jr. Blvd.). The store would later be integrated into

989-576: The addition of a new nine-story, 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m ) building in 1930 it then measured over 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m ) of floor space. In the mid-1920s May Company also built a warehouse at Grand and Jefferson and in 1927 a nine-story parking garage at 9th and Hill streets. On March 31, 1923, the Hamburgers sold their store to the May family of St. Louis for $ 8.5 million (~$ 118 million in 2023). Thomas and Wilbur May, sons of

1032-466: The building was primary used by small clothing manufacturing companies. In 2013, the then current owners were trying to sell the building since the surrounding area is being actively redeveloped. It was announced in April 2014 that Waterbridge Capital agreed to purchase the property, but had not given out too many details on how they might go about to develop it, except to state it would be mixed-use. During

1075-495: The developer of some other early shopping centers and malls which grew around the initially stand-alone stores, with the Crenshaw location being the first example. The first May Company store, the original Hamburger's, at Broadway and 8th in downtown Los Angeles was closed when it was replaced by the just opened 7th Market Place store in 1986. This building is designated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 459. After its sale,

1118-581: The festival, SEEfest received commendation from the Board of Supervisors of the Los Angeles County for “[giving] American audiences a cinematic view of the people, cultures and dynamics of the 18 participating countries and ethnic groups from Southeastern Europe. SEEfest promotes this region by showcasing its best feature films, documentaries, shorts and animation.” SEEfest was awarded the Festival Grant from

1161-567: The fight against Alzheimer's disease . The movie, directed by Valerio Zanoli, stars Karen Grassle and five Academy Award winners: George Chakiris, Cloris Leachman , Louis Gossett Jr. , Tatum O'Neal , and Olympia Dukakis . May Company California May Company California was an American chain of department stores operating in Southern California and Nevada , with headquarters at its flagship Downtown Los Angeles store until 1983 when it moved them to North Hollywood . It

1204-506: The final episode (March 22, 1974) of The Partridge Family as an old high school boyfriend to Shirley Partridge ( Shirley Jones ). Their kiss goodbye was the final scene in the program's run. He also starred in the Terry Marcel film Why Not Stay for Breakfast? (1979). Chakiris appeared in several episodes of Dallas and had a role on Santa Barbara . Chakiris was top-billed in the vampire film Pale Blood (1990). On TV, he had

1247-570: The first national tour of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company , in the role of Bobby, from 1971-1972. Chakiris worked heavily on TV in the 1970s and 1980s in Britain and the U.S., guest-starring on Hawaii Five-O , Police Surgeon , Thriller , Notorious Woman , Wonder Woman , Fantasy Island , CHiPs , Matt Houston , Scarecrow and Mrs. King , Poor Little Rich Girls , Hell Town and Murder, She Wrote . He appeared in

1290-417: The founder of the May Company, were sent to manage the former Hamburger store. One of the first things that they did was to expand the store again by building adjacent additions on the other parts of the city block. After several more years, the May Company store eventually occupied almost the entire block between Broadway and Hill and between 8th and 9th Streets. The old Hamburger store was officially renamed

1333-491: The latter. He received a positive review from Hedda Hopper . MGM borrowed him for Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), and he danced in Las Vegas. Chakiris had a small non-dancing part in Under Fire (1957). About 1958, frustrated with the progress of his career, Chakiris left Hollywood for New York. The stage musical West Side Story had been running for a year on Broadway , and Chakiris auditioned for Jerome Robbins . He

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1376-459: The merger of May Company California with its sister company J.W. Robinson's to form Robinsons-May , thus ending the May Company California existence. It was also announced that the Wilshire store along with the stores in West Covina, Buena Park, Santa Ana, and San Bernardino were scheduled to close by the end of January 1993. During the early part of this division existence, May Company was also

1419-603: The region and individuals who have made an impact. In 2015, Academy Award-winning actor George Chakiris ( West Side Story ) was honored with the Legacy Award, and Romanian actor Victor Rebengiuc ( Medal of Honor ) received the Lifetime Achievement Award.... In 2016, Croatian film director Veljko Bulajic was honored as the 2016 SEE Film Legend. SEEfest was founded in 2006 by Vera Mijojlić, long-time film critic and cultural entrepreneur. Special curatorial effort

1462-536: The store claimed at that time to have 3.5 acres (150,000 sq ft; 14,000 m ) of floor space and to be the largest retail store in the Western United States . Later Hamburger's added an additional 2,500 square feet (230 m ) onto its back side on New High Street By the start of the 20th century, A. Hamburger & Sons had outgrown its Spring Street location, which had 520 employees working on five floors. The Hamburger family decided to build

1505-681: The store that Asher Hamburger and his sons Moses, David and Solomon had established in Los Angeles after their recent move from Sacramento. This store first opened on October 29, 1881, in a 20-by-75-foot room on Main Street near Requena Street and was original known as The People's Store featuring clearly printed "One Price" tags. In 1882, only one year later, Hamburger's moved to the Ponet-Bumiller Block at 45 North Spring Street (post-1890 numbering: 145 North Spring), southwest corner of Temple, in

1548-458: The time that the Great White Store was opened, the store could boast of having one of the first escalators on the West Coast, several restaurants, a drug store, grocery store, bakery, fruit store, meat market, U.S. post office, telegraph office, barber shop, a dentist, a chiropractor, a medical doctor, an auditorium, an electricity and steam power plant in the basement that was large enough to support

1591-757: Was a dancer in Marilyn Monroe 's " Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend " number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and he appeared in Give a Girl a Break (1953) and White Christmas (1954). He can be seen in the wedding dance in the MGM musical film Brigadoon (1954), and appeared in There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Chakiris was sometimes cast in non- Caucasian roles, including in West Side Story as

1634-609: Was a subsidiary of May Department Stores and merged with May's other Southern California subsidiary, J. W. Robinson's , in 1993 to form Robinsons-May . May Company California was established in 1923 when May acquired A. Hamburger & Sons Inc. . (founded in 1881 by Asher Hamburger ). The company operated exclusively in Southern California until 1989 when May Department Stores had dissolved Goldwater's , based in Scottsdale, Arizona , and transferred its Las Vegas, Nevada store to May Company California. Two well-known stores were

1677-422: Was also located on the fifth floor. Circa 1912, there was a temporary free public menagerie on the fourth floor of 50 animals including a cassowary , a sun bear , an orangutan , a 28 ft (8.5 m)-long python, monkeys and iridescent birds. The store continued to expand until it took up the entire block bounded by Broadway, Hill, 8th and 9th. In 1923, a nine-story addition was built on Hill Street. With

1720-546: Was born on September 16, 1932, in Norwood, Ohio , to Stelianos (Steve) and Zoe ( née Anastasiadou) Chakiris, Greek immigrants from Turkey. He is one of eight siblings. His family moved to Long Beach, California , in 1944. He attended Jefferson Junior High school and was graduated in 1950 from Woodrow Wilson Classical High School , both in Long Beach. Chakiris attended one year at Long Beach City College , but wanted to pursue

1763-648: Was cast in the London production as Riff, leader of the Jets. The musical launched on the West End in late 1958, and Chakiris received excellent reviews, playing it for almost 22 months. The Mirisch Brothers bought the film rights to West Side Story and screen-tested Chakiris. They thought his dark complexion made him more suited to the role of Bernardo, leader of the Sharks, and cast Russ Tamblyn as Riff. Filming took seven months. The film adaptation of West Side Story (1961)

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1806-523: Was hugely successful, and Chakiris won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. This led to a long-term contract with the Mirisch Company . Chakiris played the lead role in Two and Two Make Six (1962), directed by Freddie Francis . Chakiris starred as a doctor in the film Diamond Head (1963), opposite Charlton Heston and Yvette Mimieux . In the early 1960s, he embarked on

1849-524: Was the largest suburban department store in the world. The North Hollywood store, opened in 1955 and originally marketed as part of the Valley Plaza shopping district, was a very large at 452,000 square feet (42,000 m ), and claimed to be the second-largest suburban branch department store in the country, outsized only by a branch of Hudson's in suburban Detroit. On October 17, 1992, May Company California's parent, May Department Stores , announced

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