2014 Documentaries
Life in the Borderlands
A modular project that consists of separate short portraits from different characters of the island of Patmos. Each director presents the story of a different character. Five different perspectives and approaches. Each one with their own background, and story. All of them attached deeply with the island. It is our search for the personal freedom of those people who are selected out of three social groups of the island – residents, monks and artists, and international personalities who meet together to a land of borders – geographical, philosophical and social. All of them have a unique lifetime story to tell.
20.000 days on earth
Drama and reality combine in a fictitious 24 hours in the life of musician and international cultural icon Nick Cave. With startlingly frank insights and an intimate portrayal of the artistic process, the film examines what makes us who we are, and celebrates the transformative power of the creative spirit.
Searching for Sugar Man
A musician is discovered In a Detroit bar in the late 60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They record an album which they believe is going to secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombs and the singer disappears into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording finds its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, it becomes a phenomenon. Two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Sixto Rodriguez. This is a film about hope, inspiration and the power of music.
Super Duper Alice Cooper
This is the story of Vincent Furnier, preacher’s son, who struck fear into the hearts of parents everywhere as Alice Cooper, the ultimate rock star of the bizarre. From the advent of Alice as frontman for a group of Phoenix freaks in the sixties to the hazy decadence of celebrity in the seventies to the winking comeback as glam metal godfather in the eighties, one will watch in wonder as Alice and Vincent battle for each other’s souls. The story is told in the form of a “doc opera,” a dizzying blend of documentary and rock opera that combines audio interviews with a bounty of Alice Cooper archive footage. Concerts, TV appearances, movie cameos, newspaper headlines, magazine spreads and many other visual elements have been cut out, layered and collaged like a cinematic View-Master.
Good Ol' Freda
Freda Kelly was just a shy Liverpudlian teenager when she was asked to work for a local band hoping to make it big. Though she had no concept of how far they would go, Freda had faith in The Beatles from the beginning, and The Beatles had faith in her.
History notes that The Beatles were together for 10 years, but Freda worked for them for 11. Many people came in and out of the band’s circle as they grew to international stardom, but Freda remained a staple because of her unfaltering loyalty and dedication. As the Beatles’ devoted secretary and friend, Freda was there as history unfolded; she was witness to the evolution – advances and setbacks, breakthroughs and challenges – of the greatest band in history.
In Good Ol’ Freda, Freda tells her stories for the first time in 50 years. One of few documentaries with the support of the living Beatles and featuring original Beatles music, the film offers an insider perspective on the beloved band that changed the world of music.
PressPausePlay
The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunities.
But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity?
This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.
Sand Wars
Most of us think of it as a complimentary ingredient of any beach vacation. Yet those seemingly insignificant grains of silica surround our daily lives. Every house, skyscraper and glass building, every bridge, airport and sidewalk in our modern society depends on sand. We use it to manufacture optical fiber, cell phone components and computer chips. We find it in our toothpaste, powdered foods and even in our glass of wine (both the glass and the wine, as a fining agent)!
Is sand an infinite resource? Can the existing supply satisfy a gigantic demand fueled by construction booms? What are the consequences of intensive beach sand mining for the environment and the neighboring populations?
Based on encounters with sand smugglers, barefoot millionaires, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous real estate developers and environmentalists, this investigation takes us around the globe to unveil a new gold rush and a disturbing fact: the “SAND WARS” have begun.
The Godmother
Α few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an insignificant physicist from East Germany who was not interested in politics, is the most powerful woman in the world. Her teacher from the small town where she grew up, believes that she is the smartest student he ever had. Those who have worked with her, support that “Merkiavelli” exercises power without moral barriers, just as Machiavelli taught. A journalist, who knows her well, supports that she uses the methods of a Mafia godmother.
In 2008, the German Chancellor was asked to cope with the international financial crisis. The countries of the South were in the test tube. “ If I was writing a book for the shock doctrine now”, says Naomi Klein, “it would be for Greece”. How did Merkel manage to impose the German hegemony in Europe?
Out in the Line-Up
After 20 years of silence, former state champion surfer David Wakefield feels ready to reveal a secret that could turn his life upside down. He is gay. At the same time, on the other side of the world, Thomas Castets is setting up the world’s first online community for gay surfers. The two meet and for the first time David connects with someone who understands the burden he has carried for so long. Thomas encourages David to confront his fears of rejection and David comes out at the Sydney Mardi Gras parade, receiving some unexpected media attention. Despite mixed reactions from friends and family, David is determined to find out why homosexuality is so hidden in surfing. He quits his job, packs up his house and joins Thomas on a global journey to bring understanding to this taboo topic.
Unplugged
Vera, a private detective retired to the village where she grew up as shepherdess, and Pera, the know-it-all peasant of many esoteric skills, are the last remaining leaf-players – both in the autumns of their lives, still strongly blowing into leaves. Josip is an amateur inventor set out to decode the obscure artistry of leaf-playing. “Unplugged” is an existential allegory about music played on tree leaves, humorously rattling between the most primitive of instruments and the most universal escapism of music. Music has rarely been so offbeat.
Les ailes de Patmos
Charles, Daphne, Michel, Yorgos, Takis and the rest of the team commit to the restoration of three abandoned windmills in Patmos. Their efforts to understand and reconstruct the original milling mechanism from clues they retrieve in the ruins, from extensive research and study lead them the limits of their knowledge, their professional skills, and their sense of aesthetics. Will they succeed and complete this work that has become over the months a personal challenge for each and every one in the team?
Playing with Fire
“Playing with Fire” is a documentary about the challenges of acting as a woman in Afghanistan. The doc focuses on aspiring Afghan actresses who are courageous enough to be involved with the theatre arts besides the criticism, social disapproval and even life threatening situations that they and their families often find themselves into.
Yusef's song
The story takes place in post-revolution Libya. It is a documentary on a country rebuilding from scratch after a revolution, as people experience it. The film’s main character is Yusef, a young man who lives in Benghazi, took part in the revolution as a revolutionary singer. He is the most famous rapper in the Arab uprising.
The return to Ellhniko
The sculptor Theodoros Papayannis gathers friends, collaborators and apprentices in his birthplace, the village Elliniko in Epirus, Greece, and creates a route of sculptures from the village’s entry towards the historical monastery of Tsouka. The sculptors are inspired by the memories of country life and the natural landscape, and the land itself offers the materials: The scattered stone, useless metals from junk yards of recyclable materials, marbles that are donated by marble factories of Ioannina, are transformed into artwork within 20 days and they are donated to the community. Along with the museum that he founded 4 years ago in the old, built out of stone primary school in which he also studied as a young boy, Theodoros Papayannis creates an outdoors sculpture park, thus establishing a place for artistic expression unique in Greece.