2016 Documentaries
The Longest Run
Filmed in a Greek juvenile prison and in a court room, “The Longest run” follows the stories of Alsaleh from Syria and Jasim from Iraq who are accused of smuggling illegal immigrants. Against the backdrop of the ISIS attacks in the Middle East, the daily life of the two friends unravels in prison, and their anxiety, fear and suspense escalate as the date for their trial approaches.They know that the punishment will be severe and their chance to prove their innocence in the Greek court is minimal. Through their personal stories, the film reveals how smugglers often force young refugees to transport people across the borders and how they can get convicted to 25 years of imprisonment, while the smugglers continue to act uninterrupted.
Οn the edge of the Aegean, Kastelorizo
Through testimonies this documentary shows the difficult history of Kastelorizo and its inhabitants.
It chronicles the days of prosperity in the late 19th century to the suffering it went through during the wars, the occupation and the immigration until their inclusion into Greece in 1948. They survived only due to their stubbornness, culture and rich tradi- tions that in turn led to the island’s regeneration.
Finish Line
Crisscrossing between the lives of three dedicat- ed marathon runners living in opposite corners of Greece, this documentary covers a lot of ground but is never in a hurry to get anywhere. Τhe three protagonists have somehow managed to nab that perfect pace that renders the finish line irrelevant. Idomeneas is a robust 65-year-old Cretan who runs the Athens Classic Marathon wearing a full suit of armour and no shoes. At 69, Andonis is an old-school shepherd who discovered his talent for long-distance running after he accidentally outran a wolf, who had snatched one of his lambs. Stelios is 85 years old and he’s the oldest active marathon runner in Greece. Their disparate paths cross on the Athens Classic Marathon, the original marathon course and perhaps one of the most difficult major long-distance races in the world.
Arkadia Xaire
Capturing moments in the infinite line of time, depicting fractional images of a divinely inspired Nature, interweaving mythological and historical accounts, gleaning fragments and whispers the cinematic gaze attempts to record the identity of a place that confronts and is confronted with the great philosophical questions of life. The temple of Athena Alea, Gregory Markopoulos’s shrine, the harvest, the beautiful woman of Mouchli, the cherry orchard, the New Martyr Demetrios, are nothing but fragments of this place –of Tegea –recounting the adventure of life. A journey to a place that is haunted, even today, by the myth of an enigmatic epigraph.Et in Arcadia Ego.
Dream Empire
Yana is a 24-year-old rural migrant who recently ar- rived in Chongqing to pursue her “Chinese Dream.” Drawn by the glamor and easy riches of China’s historic real estate boom, she opens a foreigner rental agency designed to help Chinese real estate developers market their new developments. But this business takes a dubious turn as her foreigners are increasingly used in a surreal effort to turn remote rural ghost towns into “globalized booming cities” on the days that outside investors and political leaders visit. When the inevitable happens and the real estate bubble starts to pop, Yana is forced to sell her company and reassess everything she ever believed in.
My friend Larry Gus
In May 2010, a 26-year-old engineering student and ambitious musician, Larry Gus, gets the chance to realize his dream. He drops his master’s studies in Barcelona and creeps back into his childhood bedroom to record an album for an American label. His friend, Vassilis Katsoupis, also starts filming: the effort, the ups and downs, friendship bonds and still moments of everyday life; the struggle to make it. Will Larry Gus reach his music destination instead of succumbing to his bank clerk fate? Will he manage to prove his father wrong and actually make some- thing out of it? In the course of 3 years of shooting, from Athens to New York to Milan and back again, a lot changed. And, magically enough, a lot remained the same.
Lo αnd Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
Τhe Oscar nominated documentarian Werner Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagina- tion he previously trained on earthly destinations. Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works – from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.
Children on the Run: My Escape
This documentary focuses on the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War – through the eyes of two boys out of the many thousands of children who are fleeing alone. Their journey is told from their point of view, and themselves record some of it with their own mobile cameras. It’s a world away from news hosts in trouble spots – simply told as honestly as possible by the children themselves.
Children on the Run: Reunification?
In a tent outside the Danish Immigration Service a 13-year-old boy named Usama is hunger striking. He has applied for family reunification with his eight siblings in Syria but his case keeps being postponed. Usama’s mother is dead and his father gone missing, so the only thing he can focus on is to fight for the the possibility of getting his eight siblings to Den- mark, away from the war. The application process is being dragged on and four of his siblings decide to begin the dangerous route towards Europe. The siblings reach the shores of the Greek island Lesbos safely but when they hear the news that Danish foreign policy is changing their way of handling refugees they decide to stay in Germany. Shortly afterwards Usama finally receives the answer from the family reunification service.
A Present from the Past
Mokhtar, a filmmaking professor, receives an unex- pected gift on his 75th birthday from his daughter, Kawthar, a filmmaker in her early twenties. With two plane tickets to Rome, they set out in search of his long lost love – Patrizia – the woman he promised to return to thirty-three years ago.
Being filmed unknowingly throughout the trip, Mokhtar’s raw emotions are captured by his daugh- ter’s hidden camera. As voyeurs to this quest for love, we are immersed in the lives of the father and daughter, and the triumphs and tribulations they experience during their trip.
Fuocoammare
Samuele is 12 years old and lives on an island in the middle of the sea. He goes to school, loves shoot- ing his slingshot and going hunting. He likes land games, even though everything around him speaks of the sea and the men, women and children who try to cross it to get to his island. But his is not an island like the others, its name is Lampedusa and it is the most symbolic border of Europe, crossed by thousands of migrants in the last 20 years in search of freedom.
Vessel
Dr. Rebecca Gomperts sails a ship around the world, provid- ing abortions at sea for women with no legal alternative. Her idea begins as flawed specta- cle, faced with governmental, religious, and military blockade. But with each roadblock comes a more refined mission, until Rebecca realizes she can use new technologies to bypass law. From there we witness her create an underground network of em- boldened, informed activists who trust women to handle abortion themselves.
I am girl
As a day on earth transpires from dawn to dusk and into the night, we meet Manu, Kimsey, Aziza, Habiba, Breani and Katie – each on the brink of womanhood and dealing with the realities of what it means to grow up female in their world today. As they come of age in the way their culture dictates, we see remarkable heart-warming stories of resil- ience, bravery and humour.
Mother of Unborn
In a forgotten corner of Egypt lives a woman who is yearning for a child. Having no option but to live on the fringe of her com- munity because of her infertility, Hanan lingers between a dream that is slowly slipping away
and her struggle to find a place where she belongs.
The Fruit Trees of Athens
A writer, locked up inside his house, writes about a young man who wanders around Athens while trying her fruits.