9th BEYOND BORDERS

KASTELLORIZO INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL

25 AUGUST-1 SEPTEMBER 2024

Under the patronage of H.E. of the President of the Hellenic Republic,

Katerina Sakellaropoulou

All the Greek entries in the 9th Beyond Borders!
As part of the 9th Beyond Borders Kastellorizo ​​International Documentary Festival (August 25 – September 1, 2024), five Greek films will be screened that will compete in the Main and μicro Competition Sections, as well as six more films that we will have the opportunity to enjoy outside the competition program, in Panorama. Human relationships, disability and breaking stereotypes, invisible work and isolation, women’s emancipation, unknown distant cultures and unknown aspects of known stories, aging and livelihood are among other issues that have preoccupied Greek filmmakers in films that stood out and will be screened during the week of the Festival in the special Kastellorizo.

Strategic Partner of Beyond Borders is PPC, the leading energy company in Southeast Europe that actively supports arts and culture. As an integral part of the social and economic fabric of the country, PPC strengthens the dialogue with culture and art, supporting everyone and what leads us to the future, a better future for everyone, where culture has the first say.

Let’s get to know the Greek entries in the 9th Beyond Borders better:

Main Competition section

In the sky of nothing with the least by Christos Adrianopoulos, Greece, 2023, 71′

” In the sky of nothing with the least ” follows the life of Nota and Ilias, an elderly couple who have been living in different worlds under the same roof for 43 years. When the pandemic forces them to stay indoors, their daily lives become repetitive and trivial. The film strips away the idealized view of a perfect, eternal love and instead focuses on the reality of aging and the gradual decline of their bodies and minds. The title “In the sky of nothing with the least” reflects the feeling of emptiness and the acceptance of minimal. It serves as a reminder to cherish our memories and experiences while we still can and face the future with humility. Overall, the film is a poignant portrayal of the challenges of aging and the importance of coming to terms with its realities.

Christos Adrianopoulos was born in Athens in 1996. He moved to New York in 2014, where he studied film at SUNY Purchase. His graduation film, “The Big Tomato”, was screened at various Greek festivals. His latest film and first feature film, “In the sky of nothing with little”, premiered in the International Competition Program for Debut Films at the 25th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The film received the Silver Alexandros Award, the Hellenic Cinema Center Award and the Special Award of the Youth Jury.

Loy by Dimitris Zachos, Thanasis Kafetzi, Greece, 2024, 87′

Loxandra, a young woman with Down syndrome, becomes the first disabled person to sign an acting contract with the National Theater of Greece. She leaves the city and her familiar everyday life and travels to Athens to become a member of the professional troupe of Ethnikos. For the next 6 months Loxy rehearses and makes friends, falls in love, has fun, gets frustrated and continues to claim accessibility in practice over and over again, overturning one stereotype at a time.

Dimitris Zachos studied Cinema at AUTH, with his graduation film “Penguins” being distinguished in Greece and abroad, while in 2020 his film entitled “Vouta” was awarded at the 43rd Short Drama Film Festival. The film “Loxy” is his first feature-length documentary, co-directed with Th. Kafetzis. He has designed video projections for theatrical performances, has taught directing at the Dept. AUTH Cinema and acting in drama schools.

Thanasis Kafetzis was born in Thessaloniki and is a graduate of the Film Department of AUTH. In recent years he has been living and working as a cinematographer in Athens. He worked as a cinematographer and assistant director on the documentary “Next stop: Utopia”, which premiered as an official selection at IDFA and won several awards worldwide. “Loxy” is the second feature-length documentary.

The land of forgotten songs by Vladimir Nikolouzos, Greece, 2023, 93′

The documentary was created through a collaborative creative partnership between the Deep Forest Foundation and the indigenous communities of the Amazon forest. It captures important moments in the lives of the Kaxinawa Huni Kuin, Awa, Kayapo, Matis, Enawene Nawe and Shipibo, who live by wide rivers and huge trees. With the recurring motif of an ancient myth, we immerse ourselves in their culture, their cosmological vision and their daily lives, while connecting their past and present through rare photographic archival material from the 20th century.

Vladimir Nikolouzos was born in Greece in 1979. He is a poet, theater director and independent filmmaker. He has published two poetry collections, “Flowers in the iron night (2015)” and “Aurora (2017)”. In 2014, he was awarded the FIPRESCI Special Mention at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival for Polk’s first feature film. In the same year, he was also nominated for the best debut of an independent director at the Hellenic Film Academy. In the theater, he has collaborated as a playwright and director with the National Theater and the Athens Festival, as well as with independent theaters in Athens and New York. The Land of Forgotten Songs (2024), which premiered at the International Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki, is his second feature film and the first of a series of documentaries he plans to shoot around the world.

μicro Competition section

Live – In by Laura Maragoudakis & Tatiana Mavromati, Greece, 2022, 12′

A portrait of the “invisible” labor of Georgian women working as domestic domestic workers in Greek households. The monotonous and demanding nature of care work highlights the isolation of women who live a life of service to others. Twenty-four hours a day, six days a week, with only one day off on Sunday.

Lora Maragoudaki is a visual artist and director. Her work combines documentary with visual and visual research. She is interested in the collective and individual narratives that make up the stories of communities. Her visual practice combines elements of oral history, the use of archives and collaboration with communities that claim visibility on issues such as immigration, women’s work and the violent transformations in urban space through gentrification and “regeneration” programs. She studied and worked as a visual artist, director and curator for years in England and now lives and works permanently in Athens.

Tatiana Mavromati lives in Athens, where she works as a photographer and photography teacher. Her practice is related to documentary photography and chronic research, and has recently incorporated video production into her method. Her topics concern immigrant communities and cultures in Athens, as well as issues of gender segregation and women’s work. She has been photographing Georgian women since 2014 in an effort to make visible the aspects of Georgian women’s lives that are omitted from mainstream narratives about immigrant communities. Her photos have been published in Greek and international websites and newspapers, as well as in photographic publications. He has organized and participated in many collective and individual exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

The Town Crier by Vaggelis Pirpilis, Greece, 2024, 20′

The actor Tasos Korozis lives in the provincial town of Agrinio. After the financial crisis, the few opportunities to work as an actor are no longer enough to make a living. Thus he is professionally active in the announcement of events and events through loudspeakers placed in his retro car, advertising events and festivals.

Vangelis Pyrpilis is a filmmaker and graphic designer with a Master of Arts in visual communication & interactive media.

Panorama

Return by Nikos Karakostas, Greece, 2023, 46′

After years of absence from Kastellorizo, an islander longs to return to his homeland. He wishes to see the houses trembling in the water again. He wants to meet the companions. He asks to know about the fate of two fisherman friends who were lost in Turkish waters. Gyrismus leaves him stunned. He notices the change and beautification of Kastellorizos, in contrast to the ruins he had left behind when he left. At the same time, he relives the drama and the total destruction that his country suffered during the Second World War: he feels that the traces of the past calamity still emerge spartanly, behind the freshly painted facades of the houses. The old friends are no longer on the island, but he is informed of the return of the fishermen who, rewarded by the Turkish authorities, risked their lives by swimming at night, naked in the icy waters of Lycia, between boats full of Turkish soldiers, hopelessly managing to return alive in Kastellorizo.

Nikos Karakostas was born in Athens. He grew up in Kypseli and graduated from Moraitis school. He studied with the guitar teacher Gerasimos Miliaresi. He enrolled at the Philosophical School of the Sorbonne. He continued his studies at the École du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in Paris with professors from the Comédie-Française. He then attended the East 15 Acting School in London and then the London Film School. He wrote 7 poetry collections and 3 novels. He has written songs and music that have been released on CD. He has created, with his own production and music, six documentaries which were shown in Greece, on state television and abroad. He lives in Kifissia, when he is not traveling with the ferry ‘Alkmini’ which has Koufonisi as its base.

Mana by Valerie Kontakos, Greece, 2014, 67′

In 1962, a group of girls made headlines when they ran away from home to be locked up in a convent. Each time they blew it, however, their parents forced them back until their third attempt was successful. But their purpose was not to isolate themselves from society with fasting and prayer. What they wanted more than anything else was to offer shelter to neglected and abused children. Half a century later, the pioneers of the Lyrei Children’s Village continue to treat children without any help from the state and the church. “Mother” is a different story of female emancipation that has changed the lives of hundreds of children so far, redefining the meaning of the term single mother!

Valerie Kontakos lives between Athens and New York. After graduating from New York University, she worked as a sound engineer for the Maysles brothers, Deborah Dickson, Anita Thacher and others. In 1989 she directed her first feature length documentary A Quality of Light. In 1994 she became deputy director of the Hellenic Foundation in New York, where she started the New York Greek Film Festival. Her second feature film, Who’s on First? (2006), aired in the US, Greece, Finland and South Korea. In 2007 he founded the production company Exile Films in Athens and in 2009 the non-profit company Exile Room, which focuses on social outreach through documentary. Queen of the Deuce is her fourth feature film.

On the Edge of the Aegean, Kastellorizo by Angelos Kovotsos and Irini Sarioglou Greece, 2015, 55′

A historical documentary – a look back at the turbulent history of the small island community of the unspoiled Kastellorizos, the ancient Megistis, which captures the main historical events from the middle of the 19th century until today. This tribute is a tribute to the history of the island, as it tries to highlight the great cultural, historical and economic heritage of Kastellorizo.

Angelos Kovotsos studied Cinema at the Stavrakou School. He wrote and directed over 100 documentaries for television and cinema. It has been awarded twice at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Trained at Creative Europe’s BDC DISCOVERIES workshop and MEDEA’s Script Development. Member of the production company “Smiling Sketches”. He has been teaching documentary since the 1990s in film schools and universities. He has been a member of critical committees at Greek and international festivals. It collaborates with the Chania Film Festival and Story Doc. Member of the Board of Directors of the Greek Documentary Association (GDA). He has a degree in Economics from the E.K.P.A.

Irini Sarioglou was born in 1972 in Polis. A graduate of Zappeion Lyceum, she initially studied French Language and Literature at the Universities of Marmaras and Grenoble. She completed her postgraduate studies with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation and the IKY at the University of Birmingham, Great Britain – Department of Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies. She is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Modern Greek Studies of the University of the City. Since 2008 she is the co-founder and Secretary General of the Hellenic Foundation for Historical Studies (ID.IS.ME.) From 2016 until today she is the artistic director of Beyond Borders – Kastellorizo ​​International Documentary Festival.

Halki – GR Eco Islands Initiative by Alexandros Skouras, Greece, 2023, 7’51”

Halki became the first GR Eco Island, i.e. the first model island of energy transition. At the heart of this initiative is an energy community and a large photovoltaic park, an offer from PPC, with the result that for the first time in Greece, residents of a municipality can produce the energy they consume. In the documentary, we get to know the faces of Halki who make this vision a reality: from the Mayor and the president of the energy community, the dynamic women of Halki to the only electric taxi driver on the island, who talk to us about the great change they are experiencing in their daily lives their.

Alexandros Skouras lives in Athens. He has studied economics, culture and philosophy. Since 2011 he has directed 6 short fiction films, 2 short documentaries and a 90′ documentary about Nikos Kazantzakis. Today he works in television as a freelance director and producer, specializing in documentaries, having directed 79 hour-long episodes so far.

From Cambridge with Love – A Call to mend the Parthenon’s broken treasures by Leonidas Liabei, Greece, 2024, 38′

In earlier years, English classicists used the knowledge they had acquired in great places of learning like Cambridge to exploit and plunder the heritage of Greece. Among them was Philip Hunt, the Cambridge-educated classicist who allowed Lord Elgin to remove more than half the surviving sculptures from the Acropolis and transport them to England, where they are now in the British Museum. These days, new voices are heard on the banks of the river Cam. Cambridge graduate and author Bruce Clark returns to his old campus to ask why scholars and artists have changed their attitudes towards Greece. Instead of turning Greek heritage to their advantage, they seem determined to reunite and mend broken sculptures – and broken friendships.

Leonidas Liambeis has over 16 years of experience in creative production and research in national and international co-productions, mainly in non-fiction film and television productions, but also in multimedia exhibitions and social media campaigns. As an Associate and Line Producer, he worked on co-productions with HBO Europe, NatGeo, Eurimages, CE Media, Hellenic Film Center, Italian Film Center, etc. As a producer he has completed award-winning documentaries for ERT, EKK and EKOME and is now producing a dramatized documentary series for SKAI TV, as well as various feature-length documentaries, which have been distinguished in TiDF’s 2021 Pitching and 2024 Docs in Progress or travel to the IMPACT Lab at WEMW 2024. In 2014, he received the Focal Award for the best use of archival material in a story production, while the above films have been selected for CPH:DOX, Visions du Reel, European Film Awards, etc. He combines a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford as well as a degree in Painting from the Athens School of Fine Arts.

Underwonder, ep. 1: The Lake of Vouliagmeniby Kostas Karydas, Greece, 2024, 51′

In the heart of Attica, you will find a geological wonder. The Vouliagmeni lake cave is a remarkable geological phenomenon. The main underwater chamber of the cave, which has been explored to date and has a capacity of about 2,000,000 cubic meters, is considered the largest “submerged” chamber in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The documentary presents this unique phenomenon through uniquely beautiful underwater footage and 3D graphics. It is attempting to record the deepest point of the cave, beyond the 125 meters attempted by the last scientific expedition in 2009.

Kostas Karydas is a Greek director with work in cinema and television. His filmography includes award-winning short films such as “Wake Up” (2011) and “The Activists” (2016). His latest project, “Underwonder,” is a four-part documentary series, produced by Cosmote TV, that explores the underwater caves of Greece and reveals information about its geological past.

See the Festival program in detailhere.

You will find photos of the Festivalhereandstills from the movies.

You will find the trailer of the 9th editionhere.

For more information you can visit the websitewww.beyondborders.gror contact the Festival at info@beyondborders.gr .

Stay tuned for all Beyond Borders activities and news by following the Festival atFacebook, in theInstagram, in theYouTubeand toLinkedIn.

Organisation: Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME) in collaboration with the French Ecrans des Mondes.

Co-organization: South Aegean Region and with the support of the Hellenic Parliament, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of National Defense, the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Secretariat of Aegean and Island Policy of the Ministry of Maritime and Island Policy , the National Audiovisual Media and Communication Center (EKOME), the Hellenic Radio and Television, the Greek Film Center, the Embassy of Australia in Athens, the Embassy of Germany in Athens, the Embassy of Austria in Athens and the Embassy of Spain in Athens.

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