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The curtain fell on the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival with the awards ceremony on Sunday, 11 March 2018, at a packed Olympion theater. Two steady contributors to the TDF in the last few years, Thanos Zygoulianos and Vassilis Terzopoulos, presented the event.
Two young Italians decide to devote themselves in natural, ecological, chemical-free beekeeping. They start full of passion. They try, succeed, fail, try again. This experiment tests their strength, their knowledge and their friendship, in Rossella Anitori and Darel Di Gregorio’s documentary The Time of the Bees, which was screened on Saturday, March 10 2018 at Tonia Marketaki theater, as part of the 20th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
The film forms part of this year’s TDF tribute “Brave New World”, implemented by the Operational Program “Public Administration Reform” and co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek national funds.
After the screening, the audience had the opportunity to talk with the Italian film directors who attended the event. Asked about the use of chemicals in the traditional beekeeping methods in Italy, the filmmakers said: “The use of chemicals is quite common in Italian beekeeping, which means that many people are now seeking alternatives. Both approaches, though, the traditional and the alternative one, deal with common problems, since very often a whole honey bee colony is wiped out before having time to bear fruits”, Rossella Anitori said. On his part, Darel Di Gregorio said that a large number of independent beekeepers have shown interest in this particular documentary, contributing significantly to the crowd-funding campaign launched for the film’s financing.
Consequently, the two film directors noted that their documentary was the product of a very close relationship with the two main characters, as well as the autonomous community they were living in. “We were recording their life from very close for a period of three and a half years, we were able to see their reactions and thoughts. The first contact with them was very easy, since Darel had been a member of this community in the past for six years, while I have written a book about this kind of communities in Italy”, Rossella Anitori said. She stressed that her Anthropology studies played a part in the way she approached and filmed the two main characters, and explained that the documentary was based on respect towards them and the least possible interventions.
Darel Di Gregorio said that the material was more than 70 hours long, which made it extremely difficult to make the final selection. “At first, we had though to include interviews with the main characters in the final copy of the film, but we chose to rather show the feeling, than the details of what was happening”, he said. As he explained, the key concept in the documentary is time, that alters, forms and molds human relations and plans. “As you may have noticed, our documentary initially revolves around bees and alternative beekeeping, but eventually takes a different path, emphasizing more on people and their interaction”, he concluded.
A special event dedicated to the magic world of books took place in a particularly friendly and warm atmosphere on Saturday, March 10, 2018 in Warehouse C, within the framework of the 20th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
On the occasion of Frederick Wiseman’s latest film Ex Libris: Τhe New York Public Library screening in this year’s event, the festival audience had the opportunity to exchange their favorite books and participate in a conversation with Ioannis Trohopoulos, Head of the Athens 2018 World Book Capital organization, under the umbrella of the Municipality of Athens and UNESCO’s distinction.
Ioannis Trohopoulos shared with the audience some of his thoughts after viewing the documentary Ex Libris: Τhe New York Public Library, a film that presents every corner of this building, revealing a welcoming, open space for everyone, a venue of cultural exchange and education. Mr. Trohopoulos stressed: "I have some thoughts, feelings and words that were born from the very first time I watched this film. Repose and relaxation are two of them... Also, an idea: let's stay with these feelings without having envy or fear that we will never reach up to the standards of the New York Library. I also took notes of some words that I heard in the documentary or came to my mind as I watched it, words that describe a library today: bookstore, information hub, cultural center, shelter. And something oxymoron, in my personal view: in the documentary we saw some rich private donors who financially aided the library, a public organization, driven by their desire for a noble and tranquil world. And this can give food for thought about how culture is born”.
Mr. Trohopoulos also added: "My wish is to live with as less vanity as possible and certainty of self-conceit. We have to take small steps forward, that’s what we need to do, like for example this book exchange that is organized here today. And if I may, I will refer to my own experience as a director of the Veria Central Public Library where hundreds of people have been gathering, I will repeat that what matters are taking small steps without certainties and self-conceit”.
The unexpected, controversial cinema of Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, guests to the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, was at the heart of the event “A Look into the Bizarre: A Discussion with Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor” that took place on Friday 9 March 2018 in the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art. The event was moderated by the film director Athena Rachel Tsangari.
