Festival films

The film 2 is a story about a couple and the crisis in their relationship. The original way to save something between them is a film about themselves. This co-production could be the medicine for stagnation. Everyday reliving their past could be an idea for their future. Their documentary film production is interrupted by an unexpected visit of an unwanted guest. A mirror image for them are two friends, who are at the beginning of something between them, looking for their own place in life. Based on the drama written by Martin Heckmanns Das wundervolle Zwischending.

Mustafa and his wife live 200 meters apart, in villages separated by the Israeli West Bank Barrier. When informed of his son's accident, Mustafa rushes to the checkpoint but is denied entrance due to a bureaucratic technicality. In a world of brutal absurdity, a 200-meter distance is transformed into an agonizing 200-kilometer odyssey. A tale of fatherly love that plunges us into a dark reality, shedding light into the invisible barriers erected by lifelong οppression.

Vangelis is on vacation in India, but various phone calls from Greece keep disrupting his peace and quiet. Far from home, he sees that his life has no substance. Many things need to change. He returns to Greece and four years later he returns to India with his childhood friend Costas. He also wants to bring a gift, a rickshaw, to an Indian friend. During their journey, the two friends realize that they no longer have anything in common. Taking the rickshaw to its destination, their fate has something else in store...

Martin tried to fight the system and is now on the run. Inspector Ambroz is on his trail, aware that asking the right questions is more important than seeking answers – especially in this world of Machiavellian organizations, secret experiments, and two-way time travel highways. In the borderline between a metaphysical thriller and a sci-fi political manifesto, this hybrid mix of collages, found footage, and dreamlike imagery resembles a Russian doll of endless enigmas.

Micka is a young woman living in a... crazy family. Her mother, Pasta Flora, is a nutcase, her little sister is out of control, while her – practically divorced from her mother – dad is a kind, chicken-hearted doormat of a person. Despite being engaged to Mickey, on their eve of their wedding, Micka flies off to Venice and gets married to Andreas, who – after finding out where he’s got himself into – separates Micka and takes on knocking some sense into this family of loonies.

Mary Hussain, a woman in her sixties, living in Dover, had converted to Islam after her marriage to Ahmed. Following his unexpected death, she discovers that her husband led a secret life across the Channel. In a state of shock, she sets off to Calais, yearning to uncover the truth. A heartwarming drama that weaves the portrait of two women separated by cultural differences yet sharing a profound common bond.

Benjamin, a trans man still transitioning, and Aude, are happily living in Brittany. The couple is about to step into uncharted territories, though, as there is no alternative for having a child other than Benjamin carrying the baby. Faced with answerless questions and dilemmas way out of the ordinary, they are forced to reshape their entire life. Deconstructing the sanctified image of feminine motherhood, this heartwarming journey of self-determination reflects our times’ fluidity, questioning all predetermined roles and identities.

In 1988, Věra Chytilová delivered a striking tragicomedy that left its mark on the 30-something generation of that period. The protagonists of this caustic group portrait are pals who enjoy a tipple, all kinds of hi-jinks, and no-strings sexual adventures. Auditor Pepe, vet Dědek and restaurant manager František are financially secure and enjoy life with their similarly fun-loving girlfriends – at least until the moment when Pepe collapses and ends up in hospital. The film unerringly skewers not just the moral decrepitude of the late 1980s, but also the incompatible relationships between men and women, members of a new, showily non-conformist generation beset by boredom, alienation, amorality and spiritual emptiness.

The film is not available online

Félix spends a passionate night with Alma in Paris, who hops on a train the following day to join her family in the south of France. Félix, determined not to let her slip away, embarks on a delirious carpool ride, along his banlieue homie Chérif and their reluctant driver Édouard, an upper-class mamma’s boy. A crosscutting and playful illustration of the various social and cultural layers that intersect French society, matched by the eternal questions of love and friendship.

356 BC. A letter that Queen Olympiada receives from her son Alexander becomes a trigger for unions, memories and visions of the great commander to unfold, right before he takes his last breath.

In the wake of a disaster, Aliki and her husband Petros take their young son Panagiotis to a provincial seaside town, seeking refuge. Working temporary jobs, Aliki and Petros try to put their lives back together so they can return home to Athens. When Aliki begins to realize that the plan is not working – or worse, may not even exist – the distance between her and Petros begins to grow.

Vangelis scrapes by as a small-time weed dealer. He hopes to switch to a steady job but his prior arrest record won’t allow that. When his neighbors threaten to call the cops on him, his life changes overnight. He leaves his apartment, drops his stash and takes refuge at his sister's house where he meets her boyfriend, Petros, a bouncer tied to the local underworld. Petros offers Vangelis a way out, by involving him in various crime deals, which can provide easy money and respect among the underworld. Only problem is Vangelis doesn’t want to be part of this world

Luisa, a freshman Law student, breaks away from her conservative family background and joins an Antifa commune in Manheim, Germany. Divided into non-violent moderates and restless firebrands, Luisa finds herself faced with a crucial question: is violence justified when fighting against fascism? A fervent youth-in-revolt drama that explores the intersected paths between personal motives and political convictions, while addressing a call of awareness against the scourge of Neo-Nazism.

In a landscape of decaying nature, enwrapped in an ominous fog, tables have turned and the balance of power is reversed. Anthropomorphic animals have the upper hand while adopting all man-made codes of dominion. They act as hunters and exploiters, inflicting “dehumanizing” tactics upon the helpless humans, who are seen as nothing more than anonymous silhouettes, each interchangeable with any other. Stripped of any dialogue, this otherworldly parable on human-driven plundering crafts a threatening aura of primeval mystery.

Plants are immersed in a world of eternal silence. Caterpillars fall from the clouds into salt and, by the way, what is it that attracts butterflies, those that fly in the stomach?

Athens, 2020. Quarantine days. Daphne, a young singer, decides to break down the wall that separates her from her annoying neighbor.

Emma, aged 11, is engulfed with love in a perfectly normal family environment. Nevertheless, this feeling of normality is about to take a serious hit as her dad has come out as transgender. Everything is turned upside down, as father and daughter strive to hold on to their bond and adapt to this uncharted territory. A heartwarming tale of laughter and tears, based on autobiographical experience, about family love and the fragile nature of predestined roles.

As an unpredictable, sweeping pandemic causes people to develop sudden amnesia, a man finds himself enrolled in a recovery program designed to help him build a new life. His treatment: performing daily tasks prescribed by his doctors on cassette tape, and capturing these new memories with a Polaroid camera. Greek writer-director Christos Nikou’s debut feature is a surreal and enigmatic work, a beguiling exploration of identity and reality.

Asia, a young single mother, and her 17-year-old daughter, Vika, seem unable to develop contact, trapped in a state of perpetual hesitation. No surprise there as Asia has always experienced her role as a struggle rather than an instinct. This troublesome routine is shaken when Vika’s health deteriorates abruptly; the two of them are finally able to open up and weave a bond of love and understanding. A gentle story of mutual womanhood that delves into motherhood’s fears and treasures.

The film is the portrait of Hera, a 35-year-old woman. Her home is her world, and a world of magic, and her loneliness is filled with objects. She forgets herself in her daily routine and gets tangled in the universe of her mind. Her difficulty to cope with social gender norms and an awkward encounter with a jeweler lead her to buy a wedding ring. The ring gives life to an imaginary relationship, fleeting like a dream. As the relationship comes to an end, Hera goes back to her everyday life. (Special Mention for Female Part - 43d Drama International Short Film Festival 2020)

Makis, a peaceful winemaker, lives isolated on a small border island, with his 30-year-old daughter Sophia, after she left her husband’s house. Makis is taken hostage by a dangerous fugitive. He will go beyond his limits in his efforts to prevent his daughter’s involvement with the criminal. Νow he has to face head-on the consequences of his actions.