With 42 films, 30 of which have national, international and world premieres, the 8th Beyond Borders - Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival presents a programme of Main and Micro Competition sections with works that include the most contemporary themes and touch everyone.
From 20 to 27 August, in Kastellorizo, a cinematic setting in itself, young and established filmmakers from around the world comment on reality, overturn certainties and imagine the future in a line up of exciting feature, medium and short films.
As Irini Sarioglou, artistic director of the festival, said: "Beyond Borders, in its eight years of existence, tries to contribute substantially with a different perspective, to 'see' beyond borders, to observe and listen to the world as a whole without blinders and barriers, thus turning Kastellorizo, the small paradise with its great history and unparalleled beauty, into a reference point for artists and intellectuals, a place of meeting, solidarity, understanding and reconciliation of peoples".
The films in this year's festival focus on themes such as war, refugees and migrants, colonialism, gender and sexuality, justice and the lack of it, working conditions, technology and its challenges, life and the world as we knew it and as it is changing.
As commented by Michel Noll, President of co-organiser Ecrans des Mondes and Director of International Development of the Festival: "Historical, social and political documentaries are necessarily subject to the changing times we live in. One of their objectives is precisely to witness characters, events and places in the time of their narratives. As we watch in the global political arena the rise of the far right and the regressive national isolations that accompany it, I am glad to see that in the cultural and social arena there is a trend towards greater unity. After the dramatic experience of covid and as the war in Ukraine continues, peaceful cultural and social exchanges, migration and its consequences are becoming the subject of very powerful documentaries. From this year's Beyond Borders selections, it seems that it's time to look at what we have in common, not what divides us."
The Main Competition begins on Monday 21 August with a screening of the highly anticipated documentary "We Will Not Fade Away" by Ukrainian award-winning filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, which follows the dreams of five teenagers in war-torn Ukraine, and continues with "Scenes with My Father", by Dutch-Croatian director Biserka Šuran in a Greek premiere that relives scenes from the former Yugoslavia, and "Radji", also in a Greek premiere, by Georg Götmark & John Erling Utsi that comments on the conflicts over land and borders in the northernmost part of Sweden and Norway.
On Wednesday, August 23, the human spirit overcomes war, as we will see in "When Spring Came to Bucha" by Mila Teshaieva & Marcus Lenz, and in "Uncanny me", which is having its Greek premiere, Katharina Pethke works with digital 3D clones and in the international premiere of Australian Penelope McDonald's "Audrey Napanangka" we follow the life of a walpiri family who travels while educating their children.
On Thursday 24 August, Maria Louka and Myrto Patrsalidou take the baton with "Mourning - Those Who Remain", a conversation with the families of Shahzad Loukman, Pavlos Fyssa and Zak Kostopoulos. In "Underdog", by the Dutch Mariëtte Faber, which also has its international premiere in Kastellorizo, we follow a veterinarian who searches with her trained dogs for people who have gone missing but are being hindered by the authorities, while in the Greek premiere of "Hours of Ours", by the Thai Komtouch Napattaloong, we follow the adventures of a Sudanese family seeking asylum in Bangkok.
On Saturday 26 August, the last day of the competition, the Greek premiere of "Dead Weight", by Italian Francesco Del Grosso, which tells the story of Angelo Massaro, the protagonist of one of the most notorious judicial fallacies in Italian history, followed by "What Remains on the Way", by Jakob Krese & Danilo Do Carmo, which tells the story of a single mother and her four children, as they try to reach the Mexico-US border and we close with the Greek premiere of "The hidden children of colonization", by Dominique Regueme, which tells the story of the removal and exile of thousands of multiracial children during the Belgian colonization of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
The micro Competition section starts on Thursday 24 August with the Greek premiere of "Geamăna", by award-winning German director Matthäus Wörle, about the eponymous abandoned Romanian village in the Apuseni mountains. It continues with "Morning Routine", by Romanian Robert Kocsis also in a Greek premiere, which follows a young director in search of his next documentary about the war in Ukraine. Un robot à soi, by Canada's Anne Gabrielle Lebrun Harpin, which examines the relationship between women and technology through the reuse of advertisements and television footage, also has a Greek premiere, as does Back, by Syrian Yazan Rabee, who shares the recurring nightmare of many Syrians who have fled their homeland, and Angelique, by Elisabeth Kratzer, which tells the story of 73-year-old trans woman Angelique Nagel. "The Call of the Lighthouses" by Konstantinos Potamianos tells the story of the renovation of the two southernmost lighthouses in land-based Europe, while "Every Sunday" by Cypriot director Kati Papadima follows a group of Filipino domestic workers in Cyprus who are preparing for a beauty contest organised by their local community.
Friday 25 August starts with the Greek premiere of the film "Bitter September" by Sophia Farantatou about the handling of the murder of Zac Kostopoulos. Greek premiere also for "Do you get me? " by Otto Lazić-Reuschel that follows Mohamed Taychen Chakir who left Morocco for Europe at the age of 12, as well as for Liam LoPinto's "Karam Camera", Shaimaa Al Sabti & Hana Barhum with the story of two Syrian refugees who begin their journey as filmmakers, and for "Waiting Working Hours", by Belgian Ben De Raes who gives a voice to the uninsured foreign workers on the Diksmuidelaan street in Brussels. On a similar theme, Slovenian Sasha Ihnatovich's "Not go gentle", about migrants who risk their lives to find safe shelter. In "Will you look at me?" by the Chinese filmmaker Shuli Huang, we follow a confessional conversation between a young filmmaker and his mother. Hungarian Dániel Nagy's "Grandpa's stories", in which an amateur filmmaker grandfather tries to tell tragic scenes from the 20th century to his grandchild, has its international premiere, while "Abeille" by Tunisian Mouna Ben Hammed has its Greek premiere and tells the story of a woman from sub-Saharan Africa who struggles to survive in Tunisia despite the injustices.
On Saturday 26 August the screenings start with "I Woke Up 18" by Vera Iona Papadopoulou, where six unaccompanied young people talk about life in Greece, as it changes and becomes more difficult at 18. Ken Rischard's "Glimmer", about the collapse of a steel mill in Luxembourg, will have its Greek premiere, as will "The Roundabout", by Spaniard Carmen Tortosa, which describes a typical day in the lives of two Moroccan immigrants next to a roundabout, and "Why? " by the Ukrainian Natxo Leuza, which raises the unanswered questions of every war, and Manon Testud's "One never kills for love", in which we follow a feminist group writing slogans on the walls of Montreal against the systemic violence suffered by women and minorities. Scars, by Canada's Alex Anna, also in its Greek premiere, is a disarmingly honest portrait of the director's own personal struggle with depression and self-harm. This is followed by the World Premiere of "Future comes at the right time", by Elena Bongiorno, Sofia Merelli, Martina Tamburini & Gabriele Umidon, which tells the story of Nigerian Nelson and his escape to Italy, after a violent attack because of his sexual orientation and the micro screenings close with "Vidisova" by Giorgos Panagopoulos, which follows Mr. Tasos as he rebuilds the house of his childhood memories, in a small village that was destroyed by its own inhabitants in the 1960s, in order to be subsidized as earthquake victims and build a new village.
Wolfgang Bergmann (Executive Director of ARTE Germany, President of the Jury), Eva Stefani (Director/Academic), Karin Jurschick (Director/Academic), Stavros Papageorgiou (Director/Artistic Director of the AEI Cyprus Film Festival) and Jordan Paterson (Director/Producer).
The FIPRESCI jury consists of Senem Erdine (Altyazi, Turkey), Davide Magnisi (CineCritica, Italy) and Thodoris Koutsogiannopoulos (LIFO, MEGA TV, COSMOTE TV), while the micro jury consists of: Peter Arens (Head of the History and Science Programme, ZDF German Broadcasting, Chairman of the Committee), Pelin Esmer (Director), Marcin Malatynski (Academic/Producer), Afroditi Kairaki (Academic) and Panos Dendrami (Director/Film Professor).
Outside of the Competition, the Panorama will screen films such as "Queen Lear" by the Turkish actress Pelin Esmer about a theatrical group of peasant women from mountainous southern Turkey, "Kinyra: Aphrodite's Priestly Building" by Cypriot Stavros Papageorgiou about the most important mythical figure in the ancient history of Cyprus, "Death of Pharaoh Anwar Al Sadat and the Holy Warriors" by German Wilfried Huismann about Nasser's successor and President of Egypt who tried to break down the wall of hostility between two peoples claiming the same land, the film "James Bond on the Berlin Death Line" by Jean-Christoph Caron & Ali Soozandeh, about the events of the Cold War that inspired Bond's creator Ian Fleming, "Why we fight" by Alain Platel & Mirjam Devriendt about how dance expresses the violence that erupts as a physical reaction when we have no words or ways to express our discontent.
Philippe Falardeau's Lac-Mégantic-This is not an accident investigates one of the worst oil train tragedies in history, sparked by corporate and political negligence, while Jordan Paterson's Writing Bethune: ep 3 'Spain & The Fight Against Fascism' (1936-1937) reveals a new perspective on the controversial Canadian doctor who continues to define the political relationship between China and North America.
Tony Asimakopoulos' "Fortunate Son" is an autobiographical documentary by the son of Greek immigrants living in Canada who experienced the harsh world of drugs, while Irini Sarioglou's "Homeland Unforgettable Asia Minor, Vasiliki Rallis tells the tragic story of her family, who in 1922 were forced to leave Moschonisi in Asia Minor, and finally started a new life on the opposite coast. Finally, the film "Venizelos, Struggle for Asia Minor" by Nikos Dayada follows the story of the great politician through dramatized scenes, rare archives and interviews.
The evening will conclude with a concert by Fotini Darra, for the first time on the island, who, together with music composer Giorgos Papachristoudis and singer Kostas Triantafyllidis, will present a rich musical repertoire with "Songs that crossed the borders".
The Closing Ceremony on August 27 will screen the film "Tricks on the Dead" by Jordan Paterson (Canada-France, 2015), through which the story of the first mass migration of Chinese workers to Europe is told and unfolded.
The Festival will conclude with the company of Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Giorgos Andreou and Korina Legakis, who marry the sounds of the East and the West in a "Musical tribute of memory".
Πηγή: huffingtonpost.gr
Περισσότερες Πληροφορίες: beyondborders.gr
