59th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL || 1-11/11/2018
LIFE LESSONS TRIBUTE
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
Nelson Mandela
Cinema can teach us a lot and education can be an enlightening experience. The two of them combined could contribute to a better world. A kaleidoscope of fascinating stories with education in their core is presented in 5 films of recent production that will have their Greek premiere in Thessaloniki, as part of the free-admission tribute “Life Lessons” showcased in the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
The films:
Philippe Lesage’s Genesis (Canada) captures the anguish and pleasure of first love by observing 16-year-old Guillaume who realizes his feelings for his best friend, as well as his stepsister Charlotte who experiences her first heartbreak. Teenagers also take centre stage in Keith Behrman’s Giant Little Ones (Canada), a heartfelt coming-of-age story about self-discovery, centered on two best friends whose flawless life is irrevocably changed due to an unexpected incident. High school also provides the backdrop in Rust by Aly Muritiba (Brazil), a film that deals with the repercussions of how teenagers use social media and the unsettling response of a teenage girl to a viral video featuring her.
Two of the tribute’s films examine the challenges that emerge in university. A Paris Education by Jean Paul Civeyrac (France) looks at a young man who arrives in Paris to study filmmaking in Sorbonne, where he is trained in art, friendship, love and political idealism, paying thus tribute to the Mecca of cinematic mythology in Europe. Thomas Lilti’s The Freshmen (France) follows two first-year Medical School students who prepare for the competitive annual exam. They discover the true meaning of education and an anatomy lesson on lifetime friendship.
All venues that host the screenings of the tribute “Life Lessons” are accessible to people with disabilities.
The tribute “Life Lessons” is implemented through the Operational Program "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning" and is co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and National Funds. Its co-funded projects deal mostly with the improvement of education and employment in Greece. Its main targets relate to the development and promotion of human resources skills, activities against unemployment, strengthen social cohesion and social inclusion of vulnerable social groups, improvement of the quality of education & lifelong learning, awareness on environmental education, linking education with the labor market.
This is the third tribute of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival funded by the Operational Program "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning".
