Beyond Borders

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7th Castellorizo ​​International Documentary Film Festival 2022 "Beyond Borders"

"Where documentary meets History and Culture"

(August 21- 28, 2022)

A great celebration of cinema and culture will be set up for the seventh year in a row in rural Castellorizo. The 7th Castellorizo ​​International Documentary Film Festival "Beyond Borders", which is under the auspices of A.E. of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, will be held in the last week of August (21-28/08/22) and will once again make Castellorizo the meeting point of the documentary with History and culture.

The Festival has now established itself as an international institution, as 790 nominations were submitted from 100 different countries, from which the selection committee, made up of renowned directors, selected the 30 best from 25 countries to compete.

This year as part of the Official Competition Section, the Festival's Jury will award the prizes for: Best Historical Documentary, Best Socio-political Documentary and Best Short Documentary - all courtesy of the Hellenic Parliament - the Best Greek Documentary award sponsored of GFC, the Special Award of Mediterranean Friendship, sponsored by EKOME as well as the Special Odysseus Award, sponsored by the General Secretariat of Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy. From this year, the Castellorizo ​​International Documentary Film Festival "Beyond Borders" consolidates and will award a FIPRESCI Award, which will be given by a 3-member committee of the International Federation of Film Critics.

The difficult process of awarding the awards is undertaken by distinguished members of the global film community. This year's jury of the official competition section consists of Peter Arens - Head of the "History and Science" department of the German public television organization ZDF, Phaedra Vokali - Director of the Hellenic Film Academy, Director & Producer, Marco Gastine - Director & Producer, Danae Elon- Director & Filmmaker (Best Socio-Political Documentary Award "Beyond Borders" 2021) and Uri Cohen – Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Italian Literature at Tel Aviv University.

For its commendable and long-standing contribution to the support and promotion of experienced filmmakers, will be awarded as an Honorary Academic Foundation the Porter Institute for Poetics & Semiotics, Tel Aviv University. The Festival will also award the German Public Documentary Channel PHOENIX as Honored Media. The Chania Film Festival will be awarded by the organization as the Honored Festival.

The Opening Ceremony will be dedicated to the 100 years of the Asia Minor Disaster and the Closing Ceremony of the Festival will be in memory of the late Mikis Theodorakis. Residents of the island and its distinguished guests will have the opportunity at the Opening Ceremony on August 21 to watch the excellent documentary film "Radiography of A Family" by Rirouzeh Khrosrovani. The evening will end with the musical concert entitled: "I miss and I sing" and the great performer Iro Saia.

The music for the intermissions has been provided by the State Orchestra of Athens (KOA), as well as the band DUETTO 16. At the Closing Ceremony, will be screened the film "A Death for Peace. Mahatma Gandhi and the Impossible Quest" by Arnaud Mandgaran, while the curtain will fall with the concert of the musical group ARGONAUTES, which consists of the soloists: Dimitris Papagelidis (classical guitar), Spyros Payati (piano), Dimitris Koufogiorgos (mandolin) and Marilisa Papadouri Papaggelidis (cello).

The Panorama of this year's Festival is radically upgraded, hosting in its large canvas both landmark films that have left their mark in the field of documentary, as well as world and nationwide premieres that aspire to conquer international festivals. This year, 38 documentaries take part outside the competition, which trace and highlight the past, present and tomorrow of global cinematography. Special tributes will be held to "boulders" of Greek cinema, such as the late Robiros Manthoulis. In addition, in collaboration with the Hellenic Film Academy, 3 films (by Thanasis Neta, Lakis Papastathi and Eva Stefanis) will be hosted from the "Motherland, I see you" project. An action, , under the Auspices of the “Greece 2021” Committee, sponsored by the National Centre of Audiovisual Media & Communication (grand sponsor), the Greek Film Centre, the Athens Epidaurus Festival and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. With the support of the Greek Film Archive and Finos Film. Among the films of the Panorama section, the documentary "George Bizos Icon" will be screened nationwide for the first time, for which we owe warm thanks to the Secretary General of Hellenism Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ioannis Chrysoulakis.

It is necessary to mention that this year the second competition stage of screenings was instituted for the first time in the μicro category, in which short documentary films of experienced as well as new, up-and-coming creators will participate. Three of them will be awarded with the awards: Golden Phoenix, Silver Phoenix and Bronze Phoenix, with the exclusive sponsor of the German state channel Phoenix.

As part of the Festival, three educational seminars (Master Classes) and two film workshops (Pitching Lab) will take place with presenters Jean Cristoph Caron, Danae Elon, Uri Cohen and Pitching Lab moderator Claudia Schreiner. These business professionals from the film industry will impart their wealth of knowledge on feature documentary production, film criticism and financing strategies, as well as organizing a successful documentary by mentoring aspiring filmmakers.

During the entire period of "Beyond Borders" the Megisti Municipal Hall will host the exhibition of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation "The Attic land welcomes the refugees of ΄22", the opening of which will be held by the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeοs, Metropolitan of Symi, Chalkis and Castellorizos, Mr. Chrysostom. This is an exhibition on Hellenism in the Middle East. At the same time, visitors to the island will have the opportunity to enjoy the special sculpture exhibition of the exquisite artist, Alexandros Zygouris.

This year three book presentations will be added to the Festival. More specifically, on August 22, excerpts from "The Ten Days Diary" by Agapi Molyviatis-Venezis, the "The Asia Minor Campaign of Kostas Misailidis" and “Unforgetable Homeland: Asia Minor” by Vasiliki Ralli.

The event will also be interesting for the little ones of Castellorizo: in collaboration with the National Historical Museum, the children of the island will have the opportunity to create their own visual works through a series of craft workshops. At the same time, through the "Fairy Tale Musical Journeys" with Lili Tegou and Niki Goudoumi, they will be introduced to the magical world of fantasy and fairy tales. The teenagers will have the opportunity to create their first short film, through the Documentary Seminar entitled: "Castellorizo ​​and our dreams", under the guidance of Andreas Katsikoudis. Finally, the "Alexander the Great" Shadow Theater by Alexandros Melissinos will give us plenty of laughs again this year. Participation in all screenings, programs and actions of the Festival is free.

Beyond Borders will be held under the patronage of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic Ms. Katerina Sakellaropoulou. The Festival is organized by the Hellenic History Foundation, in co-organization with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris) and is sponsored and/or endorsed by the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs / General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Hellenic Parliament, the Municipality of Megisti, the Embassy of Australia in Athens, the U.S. Embassy in Athens, the Embassy of Spain in Athens, the Czech Centre, EKOME, the Greek Film Center and ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation).

Watch the official promotional video of the 7th "Beyond Borders" 2022 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcdAEGRVVp0 and a short film with snapshots from last year 's event athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSXDVuRnCmM

For more information you can visit the website www.beyondborders.gr or contact the Festival at info@beyondborders.g