CEREMONY IN HONOR OF VAHAGN KARAPETYAN
IEK ACME honored the director Vahagn Karapetyan at a simple ceremony that took place at the John Cassavetes theatre, as part of the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The film Odysseas, which is the directing debut of the young artist and student of the Art Academy of the IEK ACME Educational Group, is screening in the Stories to Tell section of the Festival.
Vangelis Moisis, Public Relations executive of IEK ACME, noted: “Vahagn Karapetyan came to Greece as an immigrant, without knowing a word of Greek, and in three years managed to get a certificate in knowledge of the Greek language, to continue his studies under difficult circumstances, and to manage to have his film included in the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival”. Then, on behalf of the Educational Group, film director Kostas Monas, Director of the IEK ACME Art Academy, gave an honorary plaque to the artist.
The film Odysseas sheds light on invisible aspects of the lives of immigrants in Thessaloniki, and focuses on the “Odysseas” School for Immigrants, posing significant questions on the subject of immigration. Through their stories, the students and teachers of the school give an answer to these questions, speaking about the Greek language lessons given there on a volunteer basis, of the more specialized purposes of the training methods, and about the activities of the school’s theater team. Personal and at the same time collective stories are highlighted in the documentary, stories of people from Albania, Afghanistan, Iran and the Ukraine, who came to Greece looking for a better chance. The deeper significance of the Odysseas School for Immigrants is also discovered, which is not only a space for the learning of the Greek language, but also a place for the fruitful meeting of people from different countries with different cultures.
