Camera Zizanio

17th OLYMPIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

14th EUROPEAN MEETING OF YOUNG PEOPLE’S AUDIOVISUAL CREATION – CAMERA ZIZANIO

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Cinema and youthfulness celebrate in the Peloponnese!

The jolliest film celebration in Greece; the only film festival in the country for children and young people starts on Saturday 29/11 in Pyrgos, Patras, Aegio, Lechaina, Zacharo, Missolonghi, Amaliada and Gastouni.

For a week, children leave their tablets aside, switch the television off, and by their enthusiastic attention, prove to us all that a good film can be both recreational and educational.

We are by no means afraid to reveal the dark side of real life to the children, but our goal is to castigate violence, and there’s absolutely no room for intolerance or racism in the cinema theatres of the Peloponnese. All the films screened respect the principles set by UNICEF and UNESCO for children and young people’s cinema, and are therefore inspired by love for Mankind, Life and Nature, they help young people develop critical and creative thinking and to better understand and respect different cultures. All films that praise or promote violence, racism, war and sexism have no place in the Festival’s programme.

During the Festival, a number of filmmaking workshops will give children the opportunity to make their own films.

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COMPETITION SECTIONS

There are thirteen films in competition at the Feature Films section, eighteen more at the Short Fiction Films section, while another nineteen are competing in the Animation Short Film Section.
Six medium-length documentary films and twelve short ones compete for the KIDS & DOCS Awards. This section has its own five-person international jury as well as a large Children’s Jury. Additionally, hundreds of films by school children from all across Greece and Europe will be competing in Camera Zizanio.

Aside from the adults’ international juries, there will be a number of children’s juries that will decide on their own awards.

A total of 678 films from 61 countries will be screened during the Festival; films that focus on issues such as family relationships, death, friendship, the environment, globalisation, ecology, tolerance and school related subjects.

The films chosen for the competition sections by Olympia Film Festival’s Artistic Director, Mr Dimitris Spyrou, accurately represent the international trends in the field of cinema for children and young people. Indeed they cover a wide range of contemporary issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the dismantling of the education system in Bulgaria, the US embargo imposed on Cuba, children’s life conditions in Iraq etc.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Among the Festival’s guests is Swedish actress Lina Leandersson, best known for her role as the vampire child in the famous film Let the Right One In. Leandersson, now unrecognisable, is starring in the Swedish film Broken Hill Blues.
• Austrian film Maybe Tomorrow deals with the thorny subject of Internet suicide pacts. According to statistics, suicide is the second leading cause of death among children and teenagers. In fact, a World Adolescent Suicide Prevention Day has been created.
• This year 15 Kindergartens will be competing in Camera Zizanio, while the most prominent star of the event will be 6 year-old Tobby Little who will be presenting his second film!
• In the documentaries section, the Festival welcomes an interesting film titled The Water and the Wall, about one of the Dardenne brothers, who, through his discussions with a foster boy, reveals how he works and approaches the characters in his films.

OPENING

The Opening Ceremony will take place on Saturday 29/11, and screenings will begin on Sunday 30/11 (at 11 am) at the Apollo theatre, the heart of Olympia Festival in Pyrgos, with the incredible animated silent film The Boy and the World (O Menino e o Mundo) by Ale Abreu from Brazil. The film will open as a special Greek avant-premiere in eight cities in the Western Greece region.

The Festival invites the authorities of these eight cities who participate in this action to screen the film admission-free. The above-mentioned authorities call upon the audience to donate food products, medication or money at will, in order to support a number of social aid institutions. Foodstuff will also be sent to Kobani, in Syria.

The film itself is a comment on poverty through a tale of a boy leaving his village for the big city looking for his father who is seeking employment as an internal migrant. In his journey, the Boy will see the contradictory face of modern Brazil, which could be any country in this era of globalisation.

The film will open in Greek cinemas just before Christmas (18th December).

14th CAMERA ZIZANIO 2014

The European Meeting of Young People’s Audiovisual Creation – Camera Zizanio, co-ordinated by Nikos Theodosiou is, in its 14th edition, reaching new heights, having received a record number of more than 480 entries in total!

The number of competing Primary and Secondary schools has risen to 184, hailing from the whole of Greece. From Paxi to Rhodes and from Alexandroupoli to Crete.

Greek students focus on the most pressing problems of youth today, i.e. the recession, school violence, and immigration. The number of students and teachers expected to come from every corner of Greece is expected to be higher than ever. This is remarkable, given how much family budgets have shrunk because of the recession. The Festival’s international prestige has created a similar influx of friends from abroad.

Two of Camera Zizanio’s workshops are Zizanimation and Mythos Project, an initiative that’s all about young people’s outlook on the recession and its manifestations. In its fourth year, the Project’s films will focus on one of the most pressing issues modern societies face: Immigration in all its contemporary forms.

SIDE EVENTS

-Honorees of 17th Festival are actors Manolis Mavromatakis and Themis Panou, for the integrity and character they serve their Art on stage and screen. Also, for winning the awards for Best Actor at important international film festivals (Venice and Nashville), thus contributing in promoting Greek cinema and modern Greek culture internationally.

-Tribute: Music captured by Robert Manthoulis

-Small Tribute: Colourful animated fairytales by Jannik Hastrup. The great Danish animator will come to Pyrgos to present his new film which is included in the short film competition section of the Festival.

-Workshops in directing, editing, screenwriting, photography, animation, mask-making, puppet theatre, shadow theatre, collage etc.

-Tribute to Greek Films for children and young people.

-Special Screening: Nine Wonderful Worlds. Nine journeys for young children in the world of fairy tales, imagination and dreams, through nine animation films from Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Russia and, of course, Greece.

-Circulation of the print edition of Zizanio News, written and edited by children.

-The radio program Zizanio Radio, produced by the children, will be broadcast by the local radio station and online, as will a six-hour live show, Zizanio Live, featuring news and interviews.

-Every day, before the last screening of the Festival’s competition section, the 5 minute Daily News, produced by the children, will be screened.

-Book Presentations and discussions between students and the following writers: Alki Zei, Manos Kontoleon, Angeliki Darlasi, Vasilis Terzopoulos, and Gregoris Haliakopoulos.

-Concerts and theatre performances.

-Guided tours of historical and archaeological sites for the guests of 17th Olympia Film Festival and 14th Camera Zizanio. Guests will get to know the land and its monuments, meet people, and also enjoy local hospitality and produce.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Zoom in European Children’s Film

Thirty three European films, featuring children and adolescents who face the adult world. War and immigration, poverty and marginalisation, racism and religious conflicts, the age gap and diversity, traditions and fairy-tales are the threads from which these stories are woven.

School Cinema

A week of film education and audiovisual creation that brings children closer to the magical world of the moving image. Directors from Greece and abroad, distinguished directors of photography, editors and screenwriters, animators and actors, bring their knowledge and experience, and put together the most exciting film school. Under their guidance, students create impressive short films.

A special screening of all the films made in the workshops will be organized before the Festival’s Awards Ceremony. An international jury will pick the best two, which will also be screened at the Closing Ceremony (the 6-days films).

CLOSING CEREMONY

The Festival’s closing and awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 6, in Apollo Theatre, in the presence of Deputy Minister of Cuture Angela Gkerekou. Mrs. Gkerekou has stressed the need for the Festival to be established by State legislation as a cultural institution.

IN ATHENS TOO (11-17/12)

The films of the 17th Olympia Film Festival competition section, selected films of the 14th Camera Zizanio European Section and films created by students and teachers of Attika schools will be screened in Alkyonis Cinema. (42, Ioulianou Str.) Screening times: 18:00-22:00

NOTE: Admission and participation for all students in all the screenings and activities of Olympia Film Festival and Camera Zizanio is free.

VENUES

Pyrgos: Apollo Theatre, Orfeas Cineplex, Kouvelos, Pyrgos’ Conference Hall (Camera Zizanio)

Patras: Ster VesoMare

Aegio: Apollo Municipal Theatre

Lechaina: Cine Astron

Missolonghi: Trikoupio

Amaliada: Cine Cinema

Zacharo: Primary School

Gastouni: Kourvisianio

ORGANISATION

NEANIKO PLANO, supported by the Region of Western Greece, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and MEDIA programme.

MEDIA SPONSORS

Media sponsor: MEGA Chanel
Online media sponsor: FLIX.GR

Contact:
ATHENS: 18 Rodou Str – P.C. 11252 – Tel.: 210-866470, Fax: 210-8662344, e-mail: festival@olympiafestival.gr
Communications Director: Evanna Venardou, 6932906657