Accessible Screening of the Film "Etel Adnan: Words in Exile" by Vouvoula Skoura

Faithful to its vision of a cinema without exclusions or limitations, the 28th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival presented Vouvoula Skoura’s film Etel Adnan: Words in Exile (2007) with accessible terms at the Pavlos Zannas Theatre, in a special screening held with the support of Alpha Bank, the Festival’s Accessibility Sponsor.

The film was screened with Audio Description (AD) for the blind and the visually impaired, and with Subtitles for the Deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). For this screening, the Festival introduced a further innovation. The spoken languages of the film, apart from Greek, also feature English, French and Arabic. The audio description was provided in Greek, while the description channel incorporated dubbing in four languages. The ADdub initiative opens the way for visually impaired audiences to enjoy international film productions.

The screening is part of the Festival’s tribute to the pioneering Greek filmmaker Vouvoula Skoura. The tribute will showcase a total of 20 films that highlight the multilayered universe she crafts in her work, where history is intertwined with little, fragile human stories. Vouvoula Skoura will also be bestowed with the Festival’s Honorary Golden Alexander, in recognition of her profound and lasting contribution to the art of cinema and to contemporary Greek culture.

Etel Adnan: Words in Exile (2007) outlines a unique portrait of the poet and painter Etel Adnan through a multiplicity of visual fragments, languages, peoples and their identities. The film is based on Adnan’s correspondence with Professor of History Fawwaz Traboulsi, as well as on fragments of her conversations with Vouvoula Skoura, recorded in Paris and on the Greek island of Skopelos.

Introducing the film, Vouvoula Skoura reflected on her long-standing relationship with the Thessaloniki Film Festival, recalling her experiences in the Festival over the past 42 years, as well as the film’s journey through more than 40 festivals worldwide. She also spoke about the poet and painter Etel Adnan and about how they first met: “She was a mesmerizing person. She had a touch of magic. When I met her for the first time in 2003, my way of thinking changed entirely. She was so open-minded that she influenced all of us around her.” Speaking about the making of the film, she added: “When we were filming Etel Adnan, the first bombings in southern Lebanon during the civil war had just ended, and we arrived just as the assassination of the then president Bashir Gemayel took place. As a result, I stayed in Beirut for four additional days until the airport reopened. Something of what I felt for the city during those difficult days found its way into the film.”

Just before the screening of Etel Adnan: Words in Exile, the audience had the opportunity to watch the short film Etel Adnan: Undying Colours (2026) by the Greek-Lebanese director and cinematographer Yorgo Scheib, who has collaborated closely with Vouvoula Skoura over the years and, as he mentioned, learned much by her side. Yorgo Scheib also spoke about his connection with Etel Adnan, referring to their shared origins and emphasizing the importance of approaching the film as an act of resistance to war and destruction.

*The film was screened with accessible terms with the support of Alpha Bank. Accessibility Partner: FILMPIX: IRIS ACCESS SCE. The programme of the 28th TiDF was printed in Braille in collaboration with the Centre for Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind (CERB).