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The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is pleased to launch collaboration with the 47th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), hosting the IFFR Live event for the first time in Thessaloniki, Greece, from Friday 26 January to Sunday 28 January, 2018, at TIFF’s Stavros Tornes theatre (Warehouse 1, Thessaloniki Port).
A multifaceted artist who fully embodies the term “independent filmmaker”, American director, writer and producer Sara Driver is given a carte blanche in the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to select some of her favorite films that will be presented in this year's event.
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival celebrates the fascinating art of documentary in its 20th anniversary edition that will take place March 2-11, 2018.
We invite you to experience reality like never before with documentaries from all over the world, special tributes, important guests, sidebar events and many film surprises that highlight our devotion in actively promoting the documentary genre for the past two decades.
THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
EUFORIA II Program 2016-2017 (Creative Europe-Media) is completed
Students make short documentaries about the refugee issue:
Screenings & Awards
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, main administrator of the European educational program EUFORIA (Creative Europe-MEDIA), is happy to announce that the second edition of the project (EUFORIA 2016-2017) is successfully completed with its last phase: the EUFORIA Student Digital Short, a special school students’ documentary screenings and awards event held on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at TIFF’s packed Stavros Tornes theatre (Warehouse 1, Thessaloniki Port, Greece).
In the framework of the EUFORIA Student Digital Short project, 200 secondary education students from Greece, Hungary and Poland worked in 24 groups and filmed 24 short documentaries that highlighted this year’s topic "Forced Displacement”, depicting their thoughts and feelings about migration and refugees.
Regarding the groups, 10 out of 24 came from Greece, 8 from Poland and 6 from Hungary. It is worth noting that the groups from Greece consisted of students from Greek schools, as well as children refugees who attend schools in Greece. The documentaries that were jointly created by these groups were the result of excellent collaboration and interaction that was developed between them.
Following the films screenings, which were warmly applauded by the audience, the jury bestowed the awards.
The jury consisted of:
-Malgorzata Jakubowska, professor in the Department of Audiovisual Culture and Medias, University of Lodz (Poland)
-Ferenc Biro, educational expert (Hungary)
-Lina Mylonaki, journalist, film historian, Phd in Film Studies, AUTH
The awards of the EUFORIA II Student Digital Short are the following:
Jury Award (Greece):
The award was bestowed ex aequo to the documentaries:
Athinaios Metoikos (1st High School of Aghia Paraskevi, Αthens)
The jury’s rationale: “the documentary highlights the ways of how refugees can be successfully integrated in modern European societies through the story of a political refugee. His portrait reveals a character who is so friendly and sapient in his relation with the students, so authentic and welcoming; a personality that we can remember after the end of the film”.
Yesterday’s Foreigners, Today’s Friends (2nd High School of Chalkidona, Thessaloniki)
The jury’s rationale: “a deeply emotional story that transfixes the audience with the passion of its characters, mainly through the story of a young Syrian refugee and his forceful attempts to integrate in the local community of a Greek village”.
Jury Award (Poland):
Asma (General Secondary School no 2 Łódź, Poland)
The jury’s rationale: “an authentic and emotional story with a clear sense of shape and purpose, which succeeds in growing empathy to the viewers towards the refugee issue”.
Jury Award (Hungary):
From a Foreigner’s Point of View (Szent László Gimnázium, Hungary)
The jury’s rationale: “the film’s plot line is successfully developed, revealing an intriguing story about tolerance and respect for strangers, which is personified in the narration of its protagonist; an Indian immigrant living in Budapest”.
In addition, taking into account the unique skills and features of each film group, the EUFORIA II educational team took the initiative to present a series of honorable awards:
Best Artistic Achievement Award
Suppliants of Yesterday, Today's Supplicants
(2nd Junior High School of Ilioupoli, Athens)
Best Film Memory Award
Refugee in my Homeland
(1st Junior High School of Lagada, Thessaloniki)
Best Film Research Award
Destination Sapes
(Intercultural Junior High School of Sapes, Komotini)
Best Film Alliance Award
Sonder
(16th High School of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Information and Documentation Centre on racism, ecology and non violence “Antigone”).
Best Film Gastronomy Award
Briyianni with Greek Salad
(Vasileiadis School in collaboration with the Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors Arsis, Oraiokastro - Thessaloniki)
Best Innovative Script Award
It’s all Greek to Me
(Accommodation Centre for Unaccompanied Minors Iliaktida, Mytilene)
Best Film Innovation Award
Mytopia
(Evening High School of Mytilene)
Best Film Award
Friendship’s Experiments
(1st Junior High School – Refugee Accommodation Center Softex, Kordelio – Thessaloniki)
EUFORIA (European Films for Innovative Audience Development) is an innovative Film Education project designed to support the idea of film in school, focusing on Secondary Education and offering a variety of benefits for Film Education in European countries. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is the main administrator of the EUFORIA project, responsible for the organization, coordination and supervision of the program’s common activities applied by the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki (TIFF’s educational institution), the University of Spoleczna Akademia Nauk – San in Poland and the cultural organization Laterna Magica Kulturális és Oktatási Szolgáltató Kft in Hungary.
In a warm atmosphere, the curtain fell on the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival with the awards ceremony on Sunday November 12, 2017 at a packed Olympion theatre.
The evening started with a small twist: TIFF director Orestis Andreadakis took the stage to present the event, but was humorously “replaced” by Andreas Konstantinou, the protagonist of Pantelis Voulgaris’ new film The Last Note, who became presenter.
