Festival films

A documentary-road movie filmed at Black Sea (Efxinos Pontos) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the day when Mustafa Kemal "landed" in Samsun and began the second and most violent phase of the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus. The following people are speaking in the documentary: -Maria Els, President of the Government of Upper Bavaria, -Paul Kleiser, Political Scientist, -Ani Telian, President of the Armenian Community of Munich, -Georgios Vlachopoulos, lawyer in Munich

This creative documentary focuses on the period 1914–1923, peaking with the arrival of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Samsun on May 19, 1919. That was the year when the second phase of the genocide of the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turks, launched in 1914, began. That was when the genocide of the Greeks of the Black Sea (Pontic/Pontian Greeks) reached its climax, with tens of thousands of victims. In this documentary, the impoverished, uprooted, long-suffering survivors, their descendants, the historians and activists of the genocide speak about the genocidal crimes. Through new and archive footage, sketches, archive photos, and newspapers, this documentary leads to the discovery of the truth beyond denial.

From an outsider’s perspective, things are going well for Lukas Graham. Every time lead singer Lukas Forchhammer sets a new goal for himself, he achieves it. He is signed to a major international label, he works with some of the greatest music producers, he is flown around to perform his hit song ‘7 Years’ on the world’s biggest stages. On top of this, Lukas becomes a father for the first time. From an insider’s perspective, it is a lot to juggle all at once. Dreams can easily transform into nightmares from one moment to the next.

How can schools support the building of a future-proof, “different” society? This film explores two self-organized preschool educational projects in Greece, which use a combination of alternative educational methods. “The Little Tree” in Thessaloniki operates on the values of libertarian education and experiential learning. In the forest school “Little World” on Lesbos island, everyday local and refugee children play together and learn from each other.

Almost half the players on the Israeli National Soccer Team are Muslim, including the captain. The team’s diverse group of players causes controversy, especially during an important European tournament, most of it provoked by racist fans and the media. The players have their loyalty questioned by all sides, while they’re trying to guide Israel’s national team through the year’s biggest international challenge.

Α filmmaker arranges meetings with strangers on dating apps and asks them to make a film with him. Α series of unconventional relationships will result in a fragmented story about love, disappointment, and desire. A tender portrait of love stories we hardly see onscreen, a sensual exploration of gay intimacy (and its social and sexual interactions), as they get under the skin.

With a noted speech by renowned sci-fi author Philip K. Dick as its spearhead, this hallucinatory documentary dives down the whirlpool of philosophy, science and conspiracy theory. Blending contemporary cultural milestones such as The Matrix with interviews of real people shrouded in digital avatars, the film lures us into a world of mirages, challenging the very notion of reality and living experience. If life is no more than a simulation game, maybe it’s high time we redefined the definition of who we are...

Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. An immersive portrait told in his own words and through the creation of a new commission inspired by his life, the documentary fully profiles this brilliant and enigmatic man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, was determined to build one that would.

“Reality does not exist” is the motto of the chaotic and open music band of Aera Patera. Now that some of the band members, tired by the endless chaos, demand some structure, Jimmy - the band’s leader - has to compromise or to battle once more with the reality “that does not exist”. Airland is a handmade, independent documentary. A mixed-technique film about chaos, creation, deconstruction, escapism. A film about failure, about being mistaken.

Over the ages, people stand helpless before the uncontrollable force of the rendering of evil. Despite the establishment of laws and moral values, the notion of vendetta remains alive. Reason is rarely in a position to tame the demon of revenge, who in ancient Greece had a name: Alastor. The film looks into the needs and roots of revenge. Lively renditions from ancient Greek tragedies intertwine with current events and experiences, looking for the answer to the troubling question: Why do we kill each other?

Alkis, my friend Alkis who paints with his head, whose brush becomes his tongue and whose paint becomes his voice. Τhrough his mother’s words and my personal view of him.

Ismail and Hakan leave their village for the first time to start working in a gigantic all-inclusive hotel at the Turkish Riviera. They observe the colorful bikinis, the un-emptied plates, the different ways of addressing other people, and gradually discover new opportunities to move ahead in life. All-In explores the coming of age within the European dream, but that comes at a cost. Initial kindness turns into indifference. In All-In, the hotel functions as a microcosm for a more universal story about the loss of innocence, when newcomers try to adapt to our capitalistic first world societies.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of our shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing, and justice. As surveillance technologies become a fixture in everyday life, the film interrogates the complexity of an objective point of view, probing the biases inherent in both human perception and the lens. A self-reflexive exploration that makes room for both ambiguity and the sublime, employing verité, performance, and archival research to frame and reframe, underline and undermine.

„Altered States of Consciousness” is a film about the possibilities of our brain. A poetic journey deep into the world of thoughts of people with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. Where do the boundaries of our minds lie and how much does culture confine or even extinguish our creativity in everyday life and even in love?

Amber is a 17-year-old teen. Together with best friend Sebastian, the two queer youngsters share a world far away from the judging eyes of society. When they are together, anything feels possible. We get to hang out with Amber and Sebastian during this identity-building period, when they share everything from dreams and parties to new friendships. But when Amber falls in love with Charlie, something starts to challenge their utopian world. Trust issues begin to emerge, and in the midst of it all Amber has to face going through their transition alone.

Four human profiles are sketched, during the Amorgos Film Festival. A builder tells us about his craftmanship, a journalist describes an old handicapped artist of Asfondylitis, a shepherd is one of the few inhabitants of Asfondylitis and a female performer is hiking with a small group of people, reciting Homer’s Odyssey and playing the ancient lyre. All of them are enchanted by the scenery and the old rocks that define the island of Amorgos.

The filmmakers first met Stefan in 2015, in the therapy ward of Brandenburg Prison. As the filmmakers follow an ice-cold woman-killer through the last years of his prison term, they face some uncomfortable questions. Can anyone really know what is going on inside this (or any) man? Truth and falsehood blend in a cascade of presumption, in a thoughtful experiment with what the makers define as “proximity film,” bringing together different aspects of identity performance and registers of intimacy.

Only another day, then Caroline will be perfect. The woman in her mid-fifties lies on her hospital bed and says goodbye to her old self. For the first time she feels whole. But that moment vanishes before Caroline can enjoy it. Immediately after her gender reassignment surgery, Caroline receives a message that her father is going to die. The fragmentary memories of places at the Rhine where she was abused as a child and teenager increasingly haunt Caroline's presence. She seeks help from a psychologist. In weekly therapy sessions, Caroline embarks on a journey into her past self.

As time goes by and life is changing, Captain Manolis along with his wife Kalliopi, an elderly couple in the Greek island of Kalymnos, are about to spend a whole different Easter due to the pandemic crisis.

You hardly ever see or hear anything about young homeless people, and even when they do appear in a film, the portrayal of their lives may not be very accurate. In this radically new approach to the subject, homeless youth appear not only in front of the camera, but also behind it. Experimenting with microphones and music, or coloring the film negative, working collaboratively with the filmmakers, these people create a project that exudes creativity and resilience, and above all feels completely sincere.

Anna Wich was a German photographer who decided to live and work in Athens when the Greek military junta collapsed in 1974. Shunning the picturesque beauty of postcard-perfect Greece, Anna Wich chose to turn her lens onto the neglected faces of the country: daily life in the city, places and peoples, the old district of Elaionas that has turned into a disadvantaged neighbourhood, stray cats... But also onto the true relation between modern Greece and Antiquity, as well as onto the magic of the sea. However, Anna Wich’s creative identity is only an excuse for a deeper reflection. A reflection on the identity of a German woman,who was born after WWII, who was nurtured in a Europe where everything is cast into doubt and who chose to live in an introverted, almost agoraphobic Greece. It’s also a reflection on our country that didn’t succeed in embracing the ideas of progress, of emancipation from the national legend, of a creative dialogue with the Western world to which Greece chose to belong... A documentary film on loss.