48TH THESSALONIKI FILM FESTIVAL
November 16-25 2007
DIGITAL WAVE 02
A large audience attended the opening of Digital Wave 02 which took place on Saturday, November 17th at 21:00 at the Tonia Marketaki theatre. Also attending the opening were the President of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, George Corraface and the Vice-President of the Greek Film Centre, Dimitris Sofianopoulos.
For the second year in a row, Mr. Corraface welcomed everyone to this new section of the Greek program, which focuses exclusively on modern Greek digital filmmaking, saying that he has high hopes for the section. “It was about time for Digital Wave to become a reality”, he said, and compared it to the sensation that rock ‘n’ roll created in the music scene, characterizing Digital Wave as “Greek cinema’s rock ‘n’ roll”. Finally, Mr. Corraface hoped that, “contemporary digital filmmaking will create new opportunities for young directors”.
The President of the Greek Film Centre, Dimitris Sofianopoulos, spoke about the award that is given by the Greek Film Centre for Digital Wave films. “The director and the producer of the winning film will share the amount of 15,000 euros”, he said and added: “There is no way serious way to make a film, there are only serious filmmakers”.
Next, director Tasos Boulmetis introduced his film The dream factory which was screened following the opening of Digital Wave 02. After thanking the President of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, George Corraface and its Director, Despina Mouzaki for selecting his film to kick off Digital Wave, he said that he feels prouder for The dream factory than he does for Politiki kouzina since besides directing the film, he also wrote the scenario.
Regarding the use of digital technologies, Mr. Boulmetis said that “after The dream factory, the film community became more “relaxed” regarding the use of technology and agreed that the result can be acceptable both from a technological and a narrative standpoint”.
Following the film’s screening was a 10-minute performance by Aris Mihalopoulos, which was based on Boulmetis’ film.
According to the Greek Section’s coordinator, Lilet Botasi, this year, 11 films participate in this new competition section of the Greek program, which will compete for a Golden Alexander award as well as the Fischer Audience Award.
The Digital Wave Jury consists of: Panos Koutras, Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, Lida Galanou, Stamatis Tsarouhas, Akis Kapranos and Aliki Danezi Knuchen.
