The spots of the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Thanasis Neofotistos, director of the film AirHostess-737, which won a total of 22 awards and was screened at 80 major international festivals, among which Toronto, Sundance, Locarno and Clermont-Ferrand was assigned with directing the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s spots. This year’s spot draws inspiration from the Festival’s large-scale tribute and main exhibition on Ghosts, interweaving the three Fates of the Ancient Greek mythology with the process and the stages in the creation of a film: the birth of the original idea, the building of the story and the editing, which gives the film its final shape and form.

The director’s note:

“Clotho is to be able to gather material from this world,

to compose a starting point for the next one.

Lachesis is to strive every moment for the rhythm,

the one that allows life to flow .

Atropos is to stoically accept life’s most noble,

yet unjust responsibility, to define a moment and call it The End”.

These are the 3 Fates for us. An inspiration that was created by trying to keep the meaning of the vital importance of cinema in our lives and at the same time the loose connection to the concept of “ghost” as something that has always existed without our freedom of choice but affects us significantly. Thus, these wonderful mythological entities that had the immense luck and responsibility to determine the fates of people, for us represent all 3 stages of filmmaking. Clotho gives birth to the idea. Lachesis, with emotions, makes the story. And Atropos, in the editing process, looks for the most important moment to “cut” the film.

The Festival’s spots:

Clotho Lachesis Atropos The three Fates (full version)

The director’s bio:

Thanasis Neofotistos is a film director, writer & architect from Greece. He is also a member of the European Film Academy (EFA), a Berlinale Talents alumnus and the Head Programmer of the Student International Competition of the Drama International Short Film Festival. Most importantly, he is an active member of the LGBTQI+ community! His short films, AirHostess-737 (16’-2022), Patision Avenue (13’-2018), Route-3 (12’-2019), Greek School Prayer (20’-2014) have premiered and won awards at prestigious film festivals, such as Venice, Sundance, Locarno, Toronto and Clermont-Ferrand! The movie AirHostess-737 recorded hundreds of thousands of views at the New Yorker site, where it is screened. It also snatched the Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Short Film, earning a spot in the shortlist for the European Academy Awards. In addition, after having won the Grand Prize at the Seattle Film Festival, it made it to the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Short Film. He is currently in the pre-production stage of his debut feature film, which he envisions as his personal coming-of-age Greek tragedy, titled The Boy with the Light-Blue Eyes (*aka Peter and the Wolf).