16th THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL –
Images of the 21st Century
March 14 – 23, 2014
Images of the 21st Century
March 14 – 23, 2014
GREEK PROGRAM
59 Greek - feature and short - films will be screened during the 16th TDF. 26 of these are included in the various International Program sections and 33 in the Greek Panorama section.Politics and social issues are at the heart of this year’s production, in relation to the crisis of course, though not one-dimensionally so. Optimism and solidarity seem to become the motto of many of the films, along with alternative approaches in artistic, creative and lifestyle choices. History and memory, always a driving force for Greek documentary filmmakers, are prominent in a number of films this year. Immigration, human rights, ecology and intriguing human stories complement the multi-layered reality that the Greek films capture.
We hereby present to you some of the Greek films that will be screened during the 16th TDF:
Stelios Kouloglou traces German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s story in The Godmother, while Emily Yannoukou and Alexandros Papanikolaou follow in Hope on the Line SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras during the 2012 election campaign that resulted in his party becoming, for the first time, the second largest one in the Greek Parliament. The battle to bring Henry Kissinger to the International Criminal Court of Justice to have him tried as a criminal of war is only part of Greek journalist Elias Demetracopoulos’ adventurous story, which he narrates to director Robert Manthoulis in A Time for Heroes by Angelos Kovotsos and Kalliopi Legaki. A young rapper guides us through life in Libya after Gaddafi’s fall, focusing particularly on how it has affected the country’s youth in Yusef’s Song by Costas Pliakos, whereas a group of Kurdish immigrants in Thessaloniki share their experiences in Morteza Jafari’s Dreaming of Democracy.
The Lost Signal of Democracy by Yorgos Avgeropoulos is a chronicle of the events that followed the closure of ERT, Greece’s public broadcaster, in June 2013. A newly unemployed man decides to create a mobile kitchen for people in need in The Other Human by Stathis Galazoulas, whereas theatre groups discover new ways of artistic creation amidst the crisis in The Art of Crisis, Theatre Matters by Katerina Patroni and while a pharmacy owner and his assistant spend their days adrift in Myrna Tsapa’s At the Pharmacy.
Women have always fought for their basic human rights, and Greek female filmmakers attest to their struggles with three different documentaries this year. Anneta Papathanasiou demonstrates the social stigma and unimaginable barbarity that Afghani actresses suffer in Playing with Fire, Nina Maria Paschalidou’s highlights the ways in which Turkish soap operas become an inspiration for women in Arabic countries to raise their voice against injustice in Kismet and Christina Pitouli investigates the clitoridectomy practice through testimonies from African communities in Spain in Bref.
Human stories that resemble fiction novels surprise us with their twists and turns, as in Dimitris Statiris’ Relentless that tells the improbable story of a young man who survived against all odds by boxing his way through a difficult life in the grim Milan outskirts, in Alexandra Anthony’s Lost in the Bewilderness that follows the leads and records the aftermath of a parental abduction crime story, or in Yorgos Zervas’ Louis, 7 Times you Fall, 8 Times you Get Back on the Horse that presents the story of a restless man who refuses to give up despite life’s obstacles.
Emotionally charged is Elias Yannakaki’s Kalavryta-People and Shadows, which showcases survivors’ testimonies from the Kalavryta massacre, cinematically revealing is Vassilis Douvlis’ Affection to the People that brings to light the censored frames from films that were screened during the Greek junta and ecologically conscious is Alikes by Ira Dika and Yorgos Savoglou about salt production in Northern Greece.
Art is the center of attention in Dimitris Koutsiabasakos’ Becoming An Actor, which lends an ear to young actors and their agonies, in Menelaos Karamangiolis’ Should I Stay or Should I go?, which introduces a very interesting theatre group that specializes in the docu-drama genre, while highlighting immigration issues. And artists get their close-ups in documentary portraits like Iro Siafliaki’s Genevieve Clancy, Instants of Life about the French poet and philosopher and Yannis Vamvakas’ Panagiotis Tetsis "Playing... with Colours" and Menios Karayannis’ ARIKA. A., about the Greek painters Panagiotis Tetsis and Dimitris Andrianopoulos, respectively.
Last, but not least, snapshots of the Greek experience are presented through Avra Georgiou’s Dollars for a Saint, which dances to the rhythm of the Saint Symeon feast in Mesolongi and the ensemble doc Life in the Borderlands by Babis Tsoutsas, Agatha Darlasi, Eleni Lambropoulou, Yannis Nikolaou and Mihail Arman Pogosian that weaves together stories of people who live on the island of Patmos.
THE FILMS:
10000 Nights, Costas Anestis, 2013, 50’, Greece
128 Keratea: A True Story, Grigoris Economides, Vaios Syrros, 2013, 70’, Greece
2013 Open Air Cinemas in Athens, Magdalini Remoundou, 2013, 45’, Greece
A Breath in the Aegean, Apostolis Asimakopoulos, 2013, 65’, Greece
A Tale of Two Isles, Mihalis Stavropoulos, 2013, 78’, Greece
About the End of the World, Yannis Misouridis, 2013, 56’, Greece
Affection to the People, Vassilis Douvlis, 2013, 91’, Greece
Alikes, Ira Dika, Yorgos Savoglou, 2014, 35’, Greece
ARIKA. A., Menios Karayannis, 2013, 79’, Greece
At the Pharmacy, Myrna Tsapa, 2013, 41’, Greece
Becoming an Actor, Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, 2014, 61’, Greece
Boxer, Yorgos Panteleakis, 2013, 90’, Greece
Bref, Christina Pitouli, 2013, 30’, Spain, Greece
Cretativity, Manolis Kritsotakis, 2013, 80’, Greece
Dokime, Yorgos Kravvaritis, 2013, 27’, Greece
Dollars for a Saint, Avra Georgiou, 2013, 57’, Greece
Dreaming of Democracy, Morteza Jafari, 2013, 26’, Greece
Forest of Gold, Stratis Vogiatzis, 2014, 24’, Greece
Genevieve Clancy, Instants of Life, Iro Siafliaki, 2013, 75’, Greece, France, Portraits
GR. Work in Progress, Elena Zervopoulou, 2013, 83’, Greece
Hope on the Line, Emily Yannoukou, Alexandros Papanikolaou, 2013, 73’, Greece, France
Ioannina, City of Contemplation and Legends, Panos Kyparissis, Fanis Douskos, 2013, 73’, Greece
Kalavryta-People and Shadows, Elias Yannakakis, 2014, 111’, Greece
Kismet, Nina Maria Paschalidou, 2013, 58’, Cyprus, Greece
Life in the Borderlands, Babis Tsoutsas, Agatha Darlasi, Eleni Lambropoulou, Yannis Nikolaou, Mihail Arman Pogosian, 2014, 50’, Greece
Lost in the Bewilderness, Alexandra Anthony, 2014, 98’, USA, Greece
Louis, 7 Times You Fall, 8 Times You Get Back On The Horse, Yorgos Zervas, 2014, 62’, Greece
Noose, Vassilis Loules, 2013, 12’, Greece
Our Lovely Nicos, Alexis Cleanthous, 2013, 85’, Cyprus
Palikari (Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre), Nikolaos Ventouras, 2014, Greece, 92’
Panagiotis Tetsis "Playing... with Colours", Yannis Vamvakas, 2014, 100’, Greece
Playing with Fire, Anneta Papathanasiou, 2013, 80’, Greece
Point of no Return, Alkmini Boura, 2013, 52’, Greece, Germany
Polka in Athens, Katerina - Martha Clark, 2013, 60’, Greece
Portraits of Tomorrow: Krito the Acrobat, Grigoris Vardarinos, 2013, 28’, Greece
Portraits of Tomorrow: The Phantasmagoria of Defeat, Anastasia Christoforidou, 2013, 30’, Greece
Postlude, Nicos Ligouris, 2013, 9’, Greece, Germany
Relentless, Dimitris Statiris, 2013, 53’, Greece, Italy, Portraits
Shall I Feed the Ants?, Emilia Milou, 2013, 19’, Greece
