ECOFILMS '10 Festival will be held in the city of Rhodes, to rejoice movie fans from the city and all the young students not only from Rhodes, but also from neighboring islands like Kastellorizo and Tilos.
However, before the beginning of the film-summer in late June in Rhodes, between March 8 and 12 a teaser ECOKIDS Festival 2010 will be held, which will be visited by more than 6000 students. They will be the first to see the world premieres of some films even before their parents during the summer. Three animated films will be screened during the child eco-festival which are made by Greek filmmakers who are young but with experience in graphic arts and film. The purpose of these screenings is to awaken children's interest in environmental issues and film art. And so, children - from kindergarten to high school, can choose their favorite movies from 15 specially selected tapes made by filmmakers from 11 different countries.
"The common thing in all the films this year is that they give hope - their creators have done them with faith in the next day. We found this out after watching all the tapes. This is how it usually happens – we firstly see all the movies and then announce the initiations of the festival. During previous years the themes were revolving around the problem of water, immigrants, genetically modified products, etc., but this year it so happened that creators have quite an optimistic look to the future," said festival coordinator Nikos Nikolaidis at a press conference in Athens.
This year the festival "ECOFILMS” will present about 100 films by directors from 47 countries, who voice their concerns regarding the future of the planet and the relations between people. Creators of the films present their works sometimes calmly, sometimes passionately, accusingly or passionately the different sides of issues related to environment such as water pollution, extinction of rare species of animals and plants, lack of respect to different types of relationships and to various Western cultures.
In the competition part the films will compete for two awards in each category - for feature film, documentary and short film. The films will be judged by an international jury in the composition of which are Indian filmmaker Mike Pandey, Swedish director Hasse Wester, Georgian George Ovashvili, Japanese Toshifumi Matsushita, Greek directors Angeliki Andoniou, Dimitris Indares and Anastasia Zepou, and Dutchman Anneloek Sollart, and Belgian Nic Balthazar.
Initiations during the festival will be made to the independent Indian cinema, for which the organizers spoke with enthusiasm and have prepared films which have participated in the Festival of Indian cinema and ecology, and the political film festival "Persistence / Resistance" in New Delhi.
The other dedication is to architecture, which is quite innovative as an idea and presents movies about important initiatives undertaken by architects and artists for rethinking and redesign of public spaces and the application of advanced solutions in Europe, Asia and America.
Of course, the festival could not afford not to get participants excited about Rhodes - island, which hosts ECOFILM. From last year the organizers have decided to give the task of all present directors to made two-minute videos about Rhodes during their stay. Films that were made last year will be screened at this year's festival, and the task will continue to apply to visitors this year. The idea is to create a remarkable archive of short videos that will provide the fullness of life on the island and will bear the signature of filmmakers from around the world.
Also ECOFILM festival in cooperation with National Geographic, The Center for Ethnography, the Athens Academy and Company Archipelago, organizes a contest for amateur documentary film. The ten best documentaries will be screened during the festival, and the winners will see their names in the April issue of National Geographic.
The festival is the only one in Greece, which is funded almost solely by means of the local municipality, which cost about €185 000 per year.
The screenings will begin on Tuesday June 22 and will end on Sunday, 27 June 2010.
Info: ECOFILMS | 210.3636390 info@ecofilms.gr
Press office: Nancy Fafouti | tel.: 6942 586579, press@ecofilms.gr
Photos from the press conference: ANA-MPA
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