The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s innovative Live Streaming project was launched with succes on March 18, 2013 with the screening of Steve Hoover’s film Blood Brother.
This is the third consecutive year that the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is implementing the program, in collaboration with the Electro-Acoustic and Television Systems Laboratory at the Polytechnic School of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, under the supervision of Professor Yorgos Papanikolaou.
Through the use of technology, the 15th TDF will reach 5 cities of the Greek periphery - Corfu, Mytilene, Patras, Xanthi and Rethymno -, as well as Nicosia, Cyprus, in collaboration with local University Institutions (Ionian University, University of the Aegean, University of Patras, Democritus University of Thrace, Technological Educational Institute of Crete and Frederick University). Via live streaming, from Monday, March 18 until Friday, March 22, the films and presentations of film directors held at the Olympion theater will be made accessible to every friend of the documentary.
In Blood Brother, the protagonist is a young American, Rocky, who arrives in India as a tourist, to find a new life purpose there. When he visits an orphanage in the Chennai province for children with HIV he decides to stay there and devote his life to them.
American director Steve Hoover attended the screening and made some introductory remarks, explaining that Rocky is a childhood friend of his. He also said that this was the first time he visited Greece. “I am having a great time in Thessaloniki”, he said, thanking Festival organizers for their hospitality.
After the screening of the film, which deeply moved the viewers, the director participated in a Q&A session with the audience both in Thessaloniki and in the cities participating in the live streaming project. Asked about how Rocky found out about the orphanage, Mr. Hoover explained: “Rocky is a professional photographer. When he arrived in Chennai, he was told about the orphanage and wanted to visit. What he saw there initially shocked and appalled him, but the image of the children never left his mind. Even after he left the orphanage, an inner voice told him to return, which he did”.
In the film, a boy named Surya was hospitalized in dire condition. The director said Surya is now doing very well. “The children saw the film and were deeply moved. In fact, Surya felt like a rock star!”, he added.
Asked about the effect the film had on him personally, Steve Hoover said: “I was deeply moved by everything Rocky did. Before going to India, I had no idea about the poverty or the AIDS, and had only a vague idea about what Rocky was doing there. In India I became emotionally attached to many people. I revisited India last December, and learned that Rocky was on a tour visiting other orphanages, in an effort to help them as well”. The director said that all revenue from the film will be dedicated to this cause. Steve Hoover also thought about permanently moving to India, but decided he did not have the strength to do it. He thought he would be better able to help the children with his documentary.
An audience member from Rethymno asked the director about how Rocky is planning to support his own family (the film shows him marrying a young Indian woman). The director replied: “Rocky is essentially unemployed. All his work is financed by donations. His goal is to make something that will last, and in fact he intends to establish small businesses that will give employment to those children when they turn 15 and leave the orphanage. His wife supports him in this effort”.
Addressing another question, Steve Hoover said that the orphanage had been operating long before Rocky visited and that it depended mainly on volunteer work.
Steve Hoover asked the audience for their financial and ethical support, by using the social media tools connected to the film and the project.
