Films of the Competition Section of the 6th International Documentary Festival Castellorizo (22-29/8/2021)

A total of 27 documentaries (11 feature, 5 medium and 11 short films) from 15 different countries are competing in the 6th Castellorizo International Documentary Festival.

The Festival will take place from August 22 – 29, 2021 and for one more year the official competition program will include remarkable examples of cinematic art from all over the world and Greece.

Find below summaries and trailers for the films of the Competition Programme:

Short Films in the Competition Programme:

The Method / Greece, 2017, 13′ Directed by Haris Youlatos

One evening in October 1967, at 3 o’clock in the morning, the bell rang at Pericles Korovesis’ house. A long series of imprisonment and torture followed. “The Method” is the author’s attempt to record his experience.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFhpBr4Y2gY

My Personal Lebanon / UK, 2020, 16′ Directed by Thodoris Panagopoulos

My Personal Lebanon follows a young Greek filmmaker as he tries to connect with his distant Lebanese ancestry by discovering his mother’s hidden stories from the war. The documentary explores the emotional tension between national and personal identity through a car conversation, two art installations in Athens, a book about Beirut and three languages.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJU6EU_zR_o

Homemade Lemonade / Greece, 2019, 15′ Directed by Vangelis Makrostergios

Born in the Refugee Houses of Alexandra Avenue, Ms. Eleni lived her childhood with strong signs of her refugee origin. After 40 years of struggling to save the buildings in her neighbourhood, she is now forced to coexist with a special mix of people, including refugees and migrants from Asia and Africa. In this historic neighborhood, which is a modern ghetto, homemade lemonade has a special taste…

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYmNMUcDHKQ

Memories of the Liberation of Komotini / Greece, 2020, 20′ Directed by Yannis Daridis

Liberis Tsailas was born in Megalopolis, Arkadia, in the Peloponnese. In 1919, at a young age, he came to Komotini as an agent for Greek newspapers. Today he returns to the city as a ghost. He draws from his memories feelings and images of Komotini. She tells us about her Liberation as she lived it. He is accompanied by 4 women. Each one comes from a different cultural and/or religious community of what was then called Gumultzina. They offer treats for the happy event. They tell us the facts as they learned them.

Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/112950310973553/posts/113080840960500/

Betrayal / Germany, 2020, 11′ GreekPremiereDirected by Scott Calonico

In 2016, director : Scott Calonico started a documentary with his friend Andy. The subject: Andy’s father, Werner Stiller – an East German spy and one of the most notorious Cold War defectors. However, what started out as a simple spy documentary took a strange turn when the hero of Calonico committed suicide, revealing the double life of a double agent and a possible missing brother of Andy.

Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2424455607818276

Dafa Metti / United Kingdom, 2019, 15′ GreekPremiereDirected by Tal Amiran

Under the glittering Eiffel Tower (Paris), undocumented Senegalese migrants sell tiny souvenirs of the monument to support their families back home. Far from their loved ones and hunted by the police, every day is a struggle in the darkness in the City of Light.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnfNzp4cFZw

Sim-Patia / Spain, 2019, 03′ GreekPremiereDirected by Carlos Gómez-Mira Sagrado

People with consequential head injuries experience their situation as a real nightmare. Thanks to the invaluable work of all the professionals working on the Sim-patía project, they are regaining all the autonomy of which they are capable and together with their families they are finding a new balance.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/466522706, https://vimeo.com/381158894

En Scyro / Greece, 2020, 12′ Directed by Aris Pavlidis

The revival of a Dionysian custom on the island of Skyros, starring the “old man” and the “corella”. The portrait of a shepherd. A meeting of myth and reality.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/562390106

Dat’srealgood? / France, 2021, 05′ Greek Premiere Directed by Marc Faye

On 23 February 2005, the radio announced a draft law on the benefits of French colonisation. This announcement disrupted the daily life of Louise and her family. Her house turns out to be inhabited by strange presences.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/541709812

TheEternalWound / Greece, Castellorizo, 2019, 11′ World Premiere Directed by Dean Kennedy

The life of Alexandros Zygouris, a Greek sculptor who found his second home on the tiny remote Greek island of Kastellorizo. For over 40 years, Alexander has been travelling from his home in Epirus, a village in Preveza, to the small island where he spends his days living and working in a warehouse, located on a picturesque waterfront, hidden from the rest of the village. Alone, he works on sculpting an “endless masterpiece”, seeking to fill the eternal wound he calls “loneliness”.

Trailer: n/a

The Angel of History / Germany, 2019, 11′ Directed by Eric Esser

Borders in Europe. A painting by Paul Klee. A poem by Walter Benjamin. A film about yesterday and today, and how difficult it is to recognize one behind the other.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oikGcHgnM4I

Medium Feature Films in the Competition Programme:

HighMaintenance/ Israel, 2020, 66′ Greek Premiere Directed by Barak Heymann

Israeli artist Dani Karavan has created around 100 environmental compositions around the world. He has won some of the most prestigious international art awards and is constantly invited to speak or lecture on his groundbreaking work. However, Karavan is far from satisfied. Its monumental structures are deteriorating rapidly. His advanced age is beginning to catch up with him. The political climate in his country drives him crazy, as does the director of the documentary being made about him, whose questions betray his outrageous artistic ignorance. In addition, Karvan is involved in a serious political and artistic controversy over his latest commission, a memorial to Polish nationals who risked their lives saving Jews during World War II. “High Maintenance” is a cinematic reflection of the artist. It is an honest but complex film, emotional and personal without being melodramatic, and as poignant as it is humorous and passionate.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETwQYDWQ6JA

Araf/ Turkey, Greece, Bosnia & Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2018, 43′ Directed by Didem Pekün

ARAF is an essayistic road film and diary of a fictional character, Naya, who travels between Srebrenica and Sarajevo in Mostar, Bosnia. She is exiled from the war and returns for the 22nd Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. The film is guided by her diary notes of the journey that merge with the myth of Daedalus and Icarus – Icarus is the name given to the winner of a bridge diving competition in her homeland. The story of Icarus and Daedalus, a myth symbolic of ambition and the inevitable failure of man, is reflected throughout the film as a way of thinking about the exorcism of the vicious cycle of such events occurring in the future and a possible reconciliation. Naya also thinks of Icarus from a different perspective, that of seeing the optimism of such a leap, the bravery of taking a leap into the unknown in this time of radical instability, that perhaps Icarus wanted to write a different narrative.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aT7joJohI

Ke-hajas- The Man of the Earth/ Greece, 2021, 63′ Directed by Giorgos Komakis

“Ke-ha-jas – the Man of the Earth” is an ethnographic documentary filmed in Lemnos, the flattest of the Aegean islands. The Limnios farmer, the Kechagias – according to the oral tradition of the place that gave birth to him – was a multifaceted and turbulent concept, mostly misunderstood. The documentary, through the narrative speech of the Kekhayyas and their lived experience, comes to fill the already existing gap in official memory and local history about the existence of the group itself. Memories, memories, memories, silences and identities help to illuminate the agricultural, economic and social history of the island – a mainly evolutionary basis. The history of the Kechayades group is nothing but a history experienced from below, by subjects who until recently had no right to the official or written history and institutional memory of Lemnos.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCmFlWelmuc

The Lord of the Reef / Turkey, 2021, 60′ GreekPremiereDirected by Mert Gokalp

The narrator of the documentary Mert understands the devastating human impact on coastal areas and marine ecosystems while working as an educator/scientist. Being attached to Kaş, like many others, he follows the story around a special fish, the rotif, and spins the first conservation efforts and the struggle to preserve the area as a new marine park. Nevertheless, Mert is a fierce underwater hunter who has been fishing since he was seven. However, it realises the impact it has on the coastal ecosystem in its own right. For years he has been working for marine conservation and making documentaries on marine life protection, witnessing the ban on the fishing of roe and the regeneration of marine life within the perimeter of the brand new marine park. Beginning in 2010, filming spread about 10 years of history in the region. And during this time, Mert encounters heartbreaking stories of sea dwellers, films the unique behaviour of animals, walks alongside sea-loving souls who vow to protect this fragile ecosystem. This blue documentary sheds light on the impact we as humans have on coastal ecosystems. whether we are realising a lifelong dream by buying a family holiday home, building a huge tourist facility on the coast or just want to catch fish as a hobby.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/duskygrouper

Her Confession / Bulgaria, 2017′, 60′ Directed by Ivan Nichev

Konstantinka Kuneva is Bulgarian. She was a cleaner in the Athens Metro and became the leader of the Athens cleaners’ union. They threw acid at her on Christmas Eve 2008. Despite her severe injuries with burns to her eyes, esophagus and a completely disfigured face, she survived more than 40 operations. In 2014, Kostadinka Kouneva was elected to the European Parliament with the votes of more than 300,000 Greek citizens to continue her fight for workers’ rights.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n22D-mQLbUQ

Feature Films in the Competition Programme:

ABlackJesus / Germany, 2020, 92′ Greek Premiere Directed by Luca Lucchesi

For many centuries, in a small town on the southern border of Europe, people have worshipped a statue of a black Jesus. Edward, a 19-year-old Ghanaian from Ghana, a resident of the refugee centre that is the subject of much controversy in the village, asks to carry the statue in the annual procession and stand next to the locals carrying his cart. The community is divided in its reactions. In a journey that explores the source of fear and prejudice against the “other”, the inhabitants of this small European village are challenged to question their own identity, starting with the very image of their faith: a black Jesus.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx_oZrx6OJc

ExpressScopelitis/ Greece, 2020, 69′ Directed by: Emilia Milou

For 40 years now, the legendary Greek yacht Express Scopelitis has been the soul of the Small Cyclades. We sail with her, following the life of sailors and winter life on the islands. The film is a praise for life between the sky and the sea. It balances on the edge between reality and transcendence, in the same way that the lives of sailors, with great effort, balance between land and sea. The sea gives space like a field of barley while dancing waves lead us to the festive ecstasy, a love song leads to the sea storm. All is one, united with the power of nature and man’s struggle to tame it and live in harmony with it.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTe8W3i4CTo

Another Paradise / Belgium, France, 2019, 82′ Directed by Olivier Magis

Fifty years ago the Creole population of the Chagos Islands was expelled by the British authorities. This secret operation took place to lease the largest island to the US Navy so that it could build a military base. Just before the lease expires, the exiles of the Chagos Islands are struggling to regain their homeland. The charismatic woman leading their fight in the UK is Sabrina Jean. Through her relentless activism, including participation in the Football World Cup for stateless people, she strives to keep the flame of hope alive in her community so that the people of her community can eventually return to their homeland.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Zd3eZhofk

Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly’s Big Picture / Australia, 2019, 93′ GreekPremiereDirected by Mark Street

William Kelly, widely regarded as the social conscience of Australian art, once said: “Art cannot stop a bullet, but it can stop a bullet from being fired”. Can he? Filmed on five continents, with contributions from over 20 artists, thinkers and activists, this documentary explores the power of art to influence violence in the world. The film documents the creation of Kelly’s monumental artwork “Peace or War/The Big Picture”. It is a canvas of history and art, drawn from important works of art and photographs of the defining conflicts of their time. This huge visual collage allows the audience to navigate through time and place, meeting survivors of these horrific moments in history and the artists who have created works commenting on these periods, some of which have become iconic. Through Kelly’s drawings, the audience is transported to the concentration camps of the Third Reich, the bombing of Hiroshima, the “troubles” in Ireland, race riots in the US and Pol Pot’s Year Zero. Interwoven with archival footage of these cataclysmic events, the audience is invited to visit today’s anti-war and anti-arms demonstrations, events that demand an end to similar injustices. The film is a parallel project to Kelly’s ongoing masterpiece, unfolding to create the “Big Picture” in documentary form.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6ATDQlO0Po

No more stories! / France, 2020, 89′ GreekPremiereDirected by Ferhat Mouhali, Carole Filiu-Mouhali

She’s French, he’s Algerian. Their entire childhood was shaken by the Algerian war. Traumatic memories of a forced departure for the journalist, daughter of black feet. Fictional story of a glorious independence for the director, a human rights activist. Everyone has their own version of the story. Away from official historiography, they meet martyrs with voluntarily forgotten speeches and who fight against the war of memories to make a more muted truth heard.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/nnrph/471662827?autoplay=1

The Patriarch’s Room / Canada, 2017, 84′ GreekPremiereDirected by Danae Elon

“The Jaffa Gate is ours!” screamed the headlines in 2005. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irenaeus was accused of selling church property to Jewish settlers. He denied all charges. But for the first time in the 2000-year history of the church, its leader was ousted. For 11 long years, Irenaeus was imprisoned in his apartments. In this first-person narrative, filmmaker Danae Elon unravels what really happened to the former Patriarch. With unprecedented access to the inner workings of the church, a riveting, mysterious, disturbing and often humorous story of an unknown world within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem is revealed.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPIqCJ2Yq0

From Here / USA, 2020, 90′ GreekPremiereDirected by Christina Antonakos-Wallace

From Here is a hopeful story of Tania, Sonny, Miman and Akim – artists and activists based in Berlin and New York whose lives hang in the balance of the immigration debate. As the US and Germany struggle with racism and nationalism, our protagonists “move” from their 20s to their 30s and face important turning points: fighting for citizenship, starting families and finding space for creative expression. Spanning a decade in two of the world’s largest centres of migration, this

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTP3A7oAy14

Ethbet! / Italy, France, Belgium, 2021, 71′ Directed by Matteo Ferrarini

Ethbet!” means “I’m waiting!” and it was what the Tahrir Square revolutionaries shouted to encourage their friends to resist during the uprising that began in Cairo on 25 January 2011. Now, ten years after Egypt’s failed revolution, what happened to the revolutionaries? What happens when a military regime, despite the multitude of street protests enthusiastically covered by all the world’s media, manages to strengthen instead of fall?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVO-z7-4XxU

Midnight Traveler / USA, Qatar, Canada, UK, 2019, 87′ Directed by Hassan Fazili, Emelie Mahdavian

When the Taliban put a bounty on the head of Afghan filmmaker Hassan Fazili, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows both the danger and desperation of their years-long odyssey and the immense love they share for each other.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTT-duEoRdc

Golden Dawn: The Case of All of Us / Greece, 2021, 118′ Directed by Angélique Kourounis

How to fight far-right, fascist and Nazi ideas that infect institutions across Europe? The history of the trial against the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn that lasted more than 5 years is one of the answers.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwCGSU0GqxI&t=112s

While We Live / Netherlands, Greece, 2020, 80′ GreekPremierDirected by Andrea Voets, Myrto Papadogeorgou

In While We Live, musician-journalist Andrea Voets takes a social journey in Greece, seeking a way out of the fundamental loneliness in society. Together with dozens of ordinary Greeks and Greek musicians, he deciphers their tools for meaningful contact and the social logic they live by. The journey takes us from the metropolis of Athens to the remote island of Lipsi and the mountains of Epirus. We hear conversations about trust, honesty, sharing, closeness, the experience of time and tears without words. We take a sneak peek at fundamental, ancient values that lie at the basis of meaningful contact: practical ethics, philanthropy and hospitality, and an unexpected idea around catharsis & feasting. The trip ends in a concert hall in Amsterdam. There, the conversations and images are transformed into a documentary-concert, in which the live music of three musicians expresses levels of meaning that cannot be put into words.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/482017397

The Festival is organized by the Hellenic Foundation for Historical Studies (H.I.H.S.ME.), in collaboration with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris). The 6th International Documentary Festival Beyond Borders is under the auspices of A.E. of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and has the support and/or sponsorship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the General Secretariat for Hellenes Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Secretariat for Island Policy, the Hellenic Parliament, the Municipality of Megisti, the Embassies of Australia, USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, Cyprus, Spain, the Cervantes Institute, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Czech Centre, EKOME, the Greek Film Centre and ERT. grtraveller supports the Festival as a communication sponsor.

See the promotional spot of the 6th “Beyond Borders” 2021 at https://youtu.be/hhNX8yzMs18 and a short film with highlights from last year’s event at https://youtu.be/widTYLPLHbE

For more information you can visit www.beyondborders.gr or contact the Festival at info@beyondborders.gr