Evia Film Project is returning for its second edition (June 20-24, 2023)

Evia Film Project, Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s green action, kicked off last year, with the aim of offering support to the region of Northern Evia, following the 2021 calamitous wildfires. Evia Film Project’s first edition attracted more than 350 film industry professionals, producers, directors, and journalists from all around the globe, who discovered Evia’s beauties and attended awareness-raising activities on sustainability (environmental footprint, recycling etc.), receiving valuable information on the optimal practices of green cinema that are rapidly gaining ground on a worldwide scale.

This year, the renewed second edition of Evia Film Project is consolidating its place as the third pillar of Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The 2nd Evia Film Project invites us to Northern Evia, featuring a program of films, educational activities, open discussions, music events and a surplus of summertime feelgood mood. From 20 to 24 June 2023, with the support of the Ministry of Culture Sports, Evia Film Project will be held in Edipsos, Limni and Agia Anna, hosting a series of free-admission events.

Τhe 2nd Evia Film Project will be deployed in eight axes:

• Ecologically-oriented films, both classics and recent hits, feature films and documentaries, that raise awareness, inform, incite to action, unveil the repercussions of human-driven activities, praise nature’s magic, and bring forth mankind’s relation to the environment, which will be screened at the open-air movie theaters Apollon in Edipsos and Elymnion in Limni. Apollon, abandoned for decades and renovated last year by the Festival, in collaboration with the Municipality of Istiea-Edipsos, operated as an open-air cinema during the entire summer of 2022.
• Τhe most up-to-date VR technologies will be showcased through films that unveil different aspects of an extended reality. Featuring a similar ecologically-oriented approach, and within the framework of the Immersive: All Around Cinema section of the Festival, the VR films will offer a fascinating experience to the audience of Northern Evia, transcending film genres and immersing the viewer into the environment of each film.
• A top-notch, prestigious international meeting will be held in Northern Evia, as part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s Agora. CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator, a specialized workshop for the development of documentaries, addressed to female and femininities producers and directors. All participants will attend Evia Film Project and receive guidance from documentary specialists on the development of their projects. Within the framework of the program, a series of open-to-the-public masterclasses will be held.
• A fascinating film locations tour in Northern Evia will give prominence to the breathtaking locations of the region that could serve as shooting locations for major productions from Greece and abroad. Acclaimed location managers from around the globe will take part in a unique experience that includes location tours and a specially targeted masterclass.
• Meet-ups and networking events between film professionals. A series of working brunches held every morning, against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape and amidst a friendly ambiance, with the participation of top-notch cinema professionals (producers, sales agents, festival programmers) from all over the world, aiming at the networking and the promotion of both fiction and documentary films. In addition, every evening, once the daily events of the Evia Film Projects have called it a wrap, the Festival guests will enjoy a networking happy hour by the sea.
• An intensive workshop for university students. Renowned filmmakers and cinema experts will share precious experience and their knowledge, as part of a workshop specially designed for the students of the Digital Arts and Cinema Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, based in Psachna, Evia. The workshop is held for the second year in a row following last year’s impressive success.
• Innovative educational meetings are scheduled be hosted by the Festival in Northern Evia, Focusing on the relation between mankind and the environment, the Festival invites kids aged from 7 to 12 years old to attend the educational workshops, become acquainted with cinema and discover its magic against a backdrop of nature. As last year, the meetings will be also attended by the kids of the Evia Film Project guests
• Music nights full of surprises in Northern Evia will serve as true audience magnets: The Festival is hosting a surprise concert and a outside-the-box music event on the occasion of the European Music Day.

Evia Film Project is the Festival’s third pillar of activities, adding its name to Thessaloniki International Film Festival, held in November, and Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, held in March. Its goal is to consolidate Northern Evia, a region severely hit by the 2021 calamitous wildfires, as an international hub of green cinema.

Evia Film Project is carried out thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and in collaboration with the Region of Central Greece, the Greek Film Centre, the Municipality of Istiea-Edipsos and the Municipality of Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna. Thessaloniki Film Festival is teaming up with all institutions and bodies seated in Evia and the Digital Arts and Cinema Department of the National and Kapodistrian University, based in Psachna.