ÉCU-The European Independent Film Festival

TWO NEW PARTNERS FROM THE ULYSSES NATIVE COUNTRY…

ÉCU is pleased to present you its two new festival partners from Greece: The Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People and The European Meeting of Young People’s Audiovisual Creation – Camera Zizanio.
The Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People was created in 1997 and is the only institution in Greece specialized in cinema for children and young people. The event is actively supported by the Ministry of Culture and other institutions of the cinematographic and educational world.
This festival is organized each year in the first week of December in Pyrgos, the capital of Ilia's prefecture, in the region of Western Greece. In the past few years the number of spectators that watched the film screenings and attended the events has exceeded 20.000 annually, while more than 250 children and young people actively participate on daily basis in the activities of the Festival.

For its competitive program the Festival selects films that address to children and young people of recent production and that come from any country in world. The program includes about 40 films and is separated in four categories: Feature Films, Short Films (Fiction), Short Films (Animation) and Digi Kid
In order to promote the creative expression of children and young people, the Festival carries out cinema and other workshops (direction, editing, animation, drawing, puppet theatre, painting, clay, manufacture of mask, etc.) and publishes the newspaper Zizanio. The awarded films are also screened in Athens (Cine Filip).
The Festival has screened many hundreds of feature and short films from fifty countries that represent different cinematographies and cultures, in its competitive programs and in various tributes. Thousands of individuals from Greece and abroad (filmmakers, actors and other artists, institutional factors, teachers and students) come to visit.

European Meeting of Young People’s Audiovisual Creation – CameraZizanio shows films created by children and young people under 20 years of age. The festival began its journey in the world of young people’s audiovisual creation in 2001. At its first meeting, it had 80 participants, which has increased year by year. At this year’s sixth meeting, there were 250 participants. The numbers of visitors; children and educators who attend its events has increased at the same rapid rate, turning the festival into a big group of friends and a big celebration.
One of the Camera Zizanio specific goals is contributing to the development of friendship and cooperation between filmmakers of different countries, cultures and perceptions; to help bring Greek filmmakers in contact with colleagues from other countries and to create a market for quality film and television productions for children and young people.
For more information and calls for submissions 2011:
The Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People:
http://olympiafestival.wordpress.com/
Camera Zizanio: http://camerazizanio.net/