Festival films

Α port-manteau documentary on Culture and Sports in the center of Athens, consisting of ten 10-minute episodes by ten young filmmakers, below 35 years old. Each episode reveals a cultural and sports location in the center of Athens, a site of memory and heritage that spans the past and the present. Shooting was done at a fast pace, while the camera follows the subject and the people involved. A young Greek auteur emerges from each episode of this cohesive documentary.

Α film about African pride, made by two old film-school friends. It is not a classical documentary about Africa – no boy soldiers, no hunger, no safaris – but rather a poetic tribute to the eternal beauty and sublime strength of the continent. An homage to the Surma tribe of Southern Ethiopia, the dandy movement of Brazzaville, and the voodoo wrestlers in Kinshasa. Archaic roots, colonial influence and Western phenomena all exist in today’s Africa. The filmmakers show three unusual facets of the continent. The result pushes the boundaries of cinematic aesthetics. Bold images and daring editing create a captivating way of storytelling, of poetry. A film that will illuminate your view of the Dark Continent.

Τhere is no time for anything but music for the Xylouris family. Three generations of musicians uphold and pass on the vibrant tradition of Cretan music, performing ceaselessly to followers across the world, from a very young age. From 48-year-old Psarogiorgis to his father Psarantonis, credited with reinventing Cretan music, and to his teenage children growing up in Australia, the film follows Greece’s most famous musical clan, to discover the electrifying power of their music and the sacred, yet oppressive ties that hold the family together.

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercqmay have been themost transcendent. With a body unlike any before hers, she mesmerized viewers and choreographers alike. With her elongated, race-horse physique, she became the new prototype for the great George Balanchine. Because of her extraordinary movement and unique personality on stage, she became a muse to two of the greatest choreographers in dance, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She eventually married Balanchine, and Robbins created his famous version of Afternoon of a Faun for her. She had love, fame, adoration, and was the foremost dancer of her day until it suddenly all stopped. At the age of 27, she was struck down by polio and paralyzed. She never danced again. The ballet world has been haunted by her story ever since.

In April 1986, humanity suffers one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time: a nuclear explosion of unparalleled magnitude. Exclusion zones are set up to accommodate the disaster survivors. The village of Dytiatky and its inhabitants refuse to integrate into an exclusion zone and continue to live on their land, with their traditions and histories. There are premature deaths among those displaced and a saving continuity for the Samossiols – those who “resist/ return.” After 25 years, what does this community think about its journey? And what do their grandchildren think? What reasons motivated the disaster victims to flee or to stay? It is in the village of Dytiatky, bordering the “Zone,” with those who “return” and their people that we must seek the answer...

Greece is enduring social conditions that no one in post-war Europe thought they would ever face again. The dream of prosperity has turned into a nightmare and the political scene of the last four decades has been turned on its head. After 13 years of documenting timely issues around the world, Yorgos Avgeropoulos urgently turns his camera on his homeland. He documents the development of the crisis since its early stages, while tracing its impact on the lives of ordinary people whom he observes over time. He witnesses the development of solidarity movements, as well as the rise of fascism, while at the same time he seeks answers from his country’s most significant political figures, from insiders, analysts and key decision makers from the international political scene.

In March 2013, Cyprus became the first Eurozone member state to be subjected to a bail-in on deposits, as a means to rescue the island’s problematic banks. Depositors of the two largest banks of the island experienced a dramatic haircut of their life savings. One year later, an entrepreneur, a pensioner, a German depositor and an ex-bank employee narrate their personal haircut stories. The unemployment rate hits a record high while a group of young people starts an initiative for the future. Meanwhile, a lawyer is prosecuted for an act of civil disobedience. In this documentary, seven stories emerge from the black hole of the banks.

Lydia wants to stay in Holland because she was born here, but her parents have to leave because they are from another country. To make sure they will not be found and sent back, the family has to keep moving, over and over again. Lydia’s made up songs tell the truth: she is tired of moving from school to school, leaving her friends behind.

Graffiti, an art form in public space which is connected to the ego, to rage, to the exploration and the appropriation of the environment that we all live in. Its goal is not only to remind us of human existence but also to communicate. The purpose of this documentary is to explore the role of urban art in the city and through interviews and collective actions to present the art of graffiti as a form of expression and reaction to a financially, morally and politically impoverished city.

All the Rage focuses on the pain epidemic that is destroying the USA. Doctors have been thinking physically but the answer is emotional. According to Dr. John E. Sarno, doctors are wildly misdiagnosing the causes of chronic pain, which is why we are spending billions of dollars on expensive treatments that simply don’t work. There is a growing body of evidence that connects the dots between the mind and body. The film will illuminate these links to jumpstart a comprehensive discussion about the relationship between stress and illness.

The most destructive violence is that perpetrated by the one you love. In France, one in ten women suffers from violence at the hands of her partner. In this sensitive and intimate portrait, Arielle, Christine and Michele tell us what they have not told their nearest and dearest, thus helping us to see that which is not visible. They offer us a message of vitality, courage and hope.

Twenty-five years ago, Petr used to be an urban man studying computer science. Then he met Simona, and they decided to pursue their dream of freedom together. Choosing a traditional lifestyle of self-sufficiency, love and togetherness, the couple lead a frugal, bohemian life in a self-made house in a meadow in the Bohemian Forest, with the bare essentials – and their nine children. Can fatherly love become suffocating for the children? Rejecting a conventional life style means sacrifices for the whole family. Will they be able to fit in with modern society?

Grandmas and grandpas, folk storytellers of rural Greece tell fairytales and stories to the camera. A journey of documentation, initiation and memory. A film dedicated to perhaps the last people of the land in whom the echo of centuries of oral storytelling is still alive. Tales of the plains and the mountains. Fairytales, forever.

What is it that saved Tokyo from a nuclear disaster? A pool of foreign journalists, including reporter Pio d’Emilia, is allowed to enter the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant. Manga animations represent Japan’s history, while digital reconstruction allows for the darker side of this story to emerge, which is so complex from a social and scientific point of view. There are no mere suspects anymore: many defendants should be held responsible for the accident and the consequences it will have on our planet.

A Place for Everyone explores the human geography of a Rwandan village two decades after the genocide. Twenty years later, survivors and killers live again next to each other, while a new generation of young Rwandans has grown up in a society meandering through a fragile reconciliation process. Filmed over four years, A Place for Everyone paints the portraits of Tharcisse and Benoitte, two young Rwandans in their quest for a sanctuary between love and hate, revenge and forgiveness.

Director’s statement: “This is not a film about roads or cars, but about what traffic turns us into. I chose five people whom I accompanied all over town, in their everyday lives. For five months I sat in the passenger seat of their car, listening to them. They are all ordinary people: a delivery boy who spends about 14 hours a day driving around Bucharest; a half paralyzed man who not only drives a car, but also helps other people to avail themselves of cars; a Peruvian-born woman who was raised in a city with equally crazed traffic; a father who recently lost his daughter in a traffic accident; and a policeman who, before December’89, was beaten up by the militia.”

In 2013, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra tours the whole world to celebrate its 125th anniversary: 50 concerts spread over 6 continents. Unbounded passion and lovefor music brings musicians and concert-goers together.Documentary maker Heddy Honigmann lands with the orchestra in Buenos Aires, Soweto and St. Petersburg and showshow the ensemble succeeds in gaining the hearts of people with different cultural backgrounds. A journey to the kernel and the power of music which knows how to touch unexpected emotions and which helps to overcome the pain of living.

The story of the charismatic, complex Mark Landis, perhaps the most prolific art forger in US history. For over 30 years, he’s duped curators throughout the country with precise imitations of a vast range of works, from fifteenth century masterpieces to Picasso. His actions are mysterious to many – while he could fetch millions on the open market, he donates his counterfeits for free, going so far as to pose in such guises as a Jesuit priest or a philanthropic donor. Enter Matthew Leininger, a registrar from Cincinnati who was conned by Landis years ago and who has been pursuing him obsessively ever since. What begins as a game of cat-and-mouse between Leininger and Landis eventually turns into something more surprising and complicated, proving once again that truth can be stranger than fiction.

In 1970, the people of Karmi in Cyprus participate in an unprecedented experience: the shooting of the film Beloved, with a Hollywood cast and crew. This kaleidoscope-like documentary brings us images of that magical time and of the traumatic changes that occurred in the lives of the village’s inhabitants after the Turkish invasion. Four decades later, they return to those beloved old days in a nostalgic journey.

New Model Army have been one of the biggest underground music artists for over a quarter of a century. This film is the story of the band and in particular their charismatic and unconventional lead singer-songwriter and founder Justin Sullivan. This is a very human story of a man who began life in a comfortable middle class Quaker family, yet turned his back on this and headed to Bradford where he met his muse. There he met like-minded musicians and together formed the band which connected with the mood of anger in Thatcher’s Britain, quickly rising to prominence. Then, as international success is within their grasp, the relationship with Justin’s songwriting partner Robb Heaton founders, and Robb dies in tragic circumstances. It is only when the band lose their studio and all their equipment, that Justin comes to terms with the ghosts of his past and pursues a new radical approach to making music which then creates the band’s finest album.

While most young women in her home town of Zambia were busy planning weddings, Esther Phiri had other ideas – To stay single, be a professional boxer and complete the high school education that she abandoned when her family fell on hard times. Her quick and meteoric rise to undefeated world champion took not only the boxing world by surprise but sent emotions fever pitch. But while the global press rushed to portray the image of the strong and confident woman tagged “Zambia’s Million Dollar Baby,” in private, Esther slowly crumbled under the weight of her success. In the pursuit of independence from a husband, her global success had made her a symbol of hope and empowerment and a provider for her family and friends whose demands increased as Esther’s fortune grew.