Ecofilms, the International Films & Visual Arts Festival, held for the 6th time on the sunny Greek island of Rhodes, awarded the first prize of its short film section to Malgorzata Skiba’s Eco Dharma for the wealth of spiritual, social, political and environmental issues it addresses. Eco-Dharma is a documentary (28') about the life and sacrifice of the Bishnois, an Indian community that has been living in Western Rajasthan since 1542 when Guru Jambheshwarji Maharaj decreed the 29 commandments...

This year, Ecofilms, paid tribute to filmmaker Jonas Mekas, as the International Films & Visual Arts Festival in Rhodes presented two of his major diary films: Diary, Notes and Sketches or Walden (1969, 180’) and Reminiscences of a journey to Lithuania (1972, 82’).The Lithuanian-born poet, film critic and director became the cornerstone of the American avant-garde after he left the German and Soviet occupation to settle for New York City in the 1950s. In 1958, he began there the influential...

Ecofilms, the International Films & Visual Arts Festival in Rhodes, Greece, opened its 6th edition with the screening of Echoes of War by Joop van Wijk from The Netherlands.As he presented his film to the audience of the Rodon open air theater, the Dutch director stressed on what a paradox it is to open a festival on ecology with a film about war. But the choice quite reflects the spirit of the festival, which is to tackle ecology from a wide range of perspectives, and to see it as the preservat...

A good film festival must take you to unexpected places and modify your usual perception of a common concept. That’s precisely what Ecofilms does in its 6th edition held this year again on the sunny Greek island of Rhodes (20-25 June 2006). Through a selection of 115 films from 39 countries, the International Films & Visual Arts Festival shows us that ecology means much more than the protection of nature. It encompasses the preservation of the place we live in, in its broadest meaning: the in...