LOCATION: BRUSSELLS // DATE: 14 – 15 June 2019
Program
Friday, 14 June
Art-Base”, Rue des Sables 29, 1000 Brussels, 20.00h
– Memorial for the Ikarian filmmaker Spyros Teskos with the film “Nikaria mou”
– Nikoletta Georgakopoulou – “The world from Ikaria”
Saturday, 15 June
“La Serre-Communa”, Rue Gray 171, 1050 Ixelles, 20:00h
– Xenofon Vardaros ” The Partisans of Athens”
– Antonis Glaros “Chandellier”
– Nikoletta Georgakopoulou “Let’s fly with Ikaros through images and sounds”
Films
The Partisans of Athens is a new documentary about the Resistance during the Nazi Occupation of Athens. The film is about collective memory, about an entire people’s struggle against Italian Fascists, German Nazis, and their Greek collaborators. Based on the testimonials of those who took part in the resistance, The Partisans of Athens sheds light on stories of struggle from the period of the great famine of 1941-42 to the liberation of Athens.
The 14 protagonists create a mosaic of experiences, struggles, and expectations of men and women who chose to stand against defeatism and collaboration with Nazism.
On 16 July 2018 the film „The Partisans of Athens“ won the Audience Favorite award at the 7th Workers Unite! Film Festival.
Among the diverse films from all over the world, the Greek documentary was voted the favorite by the festival’s viewers, which is the top honor for its creators, Xenophon Vardaras and Giannis Xydas, so far.
Nikaria mou is a documentary about the culture of the people who live on the Greek island of Ikaria.(propably the only island in the world where social and and economic life has nothing to do with the sea). The film attempts to explore how this culture was formed through the centuries and how it exists nowadays.
The film focuses on the custom of the villagers of Ikaria which the locals call “Mnemosyno” (memorial ) and which is very characteristic of their culture . “ The mnimosyno is the culmination of love, solidarity and equality” says the main character in the film. On Easter Day the villagers share a meal based on the meat that mainly the farmers offer in memory of their deceased. The event in fact is a memorial (a “Mnemosyne”) and it is one of the largest feasts of the island. How did this custom come to happen? Which needs helped it survive after so many centuries? Why does it still exist even though life has changed? The answer lies in the everyday life and the wisdom of the 3 main characters of the film who live and work on the island. It also lies in the analysis of their way of life and of the details related to the custom of the “mnimosyno”. Those details help us deepen into the culture and mentality of the people who live on Ikaria.
To be more specific, the grocer of the village who is at the same time a beekeeper and a farmer, introduces us to the social history of the place and the people, and through his remarks and parallelisms he brings out the social structure of the island which is not based on social classes. What actually drives the development of the island’s society is solidarity and, by no means, charitable contribution. In the film, there isn’t a narrator. The islanders, themselves, unreel their lives piece by piece. The power of the image leads us deeper and reveals a model able to resists even the loudest sirens of contemporary reality.
Icarian director Spiros Teskos was born in Perama, Piraeus Greece. He studied Film direction at the Stavrakos School in Athens. During the 80s he worked as assistant director in many video movies. During the same decade he was a founding and active member of the Perama Art and Culture Society. He directed the documentaries: “My own Nicaria” (2010), “Crossed Lives” (2013), which was awarded Best Documentary and Audience Award at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, “Elegy of Undevelopment” (2017). He also wrote the unproduced feature film “Rota”, with support from the European Script Fund.
Antonis Glaros is a director and writer, born in Toronto, Canada. Both his parents are Ikarians. Antonis Glaros was raised in Athens and Ikaria with his grandmothers, who were incredible story tellers. Apart from his studies in Economics, Antonis Glaros is experienced in International Relations. Currently he is following the MA postgraduate program “Video Production, Audio means and Animation Graphics” of the University of West Attica. With Chandelier Antonis Glaros was awarded „Best Student Film“ at the “Drama film festival” and „Best Emeging Greek Filmmaker“ at the “Athens International Digital Film Festival”. Furthermore „Chandellier“ received the reward for „Best Greek Film“ at the “Outview Film Festival”.
Menis Nolakis, a Greek army officer, wakes up in a dark box. Soon he will realise that he is laying in his coffin at his own funeral. He can hear the voices of the “friends” and relatives attending the ceremony. Some of the invitees are sad; others are furious, while some were finally confessing. The result is a black comedy or a White tragedy…all stepping on a Pink thin line.
Ikarian youngsters tell us their video-stories.
Tickets also are available at:
- Art-Base, Rue des Sables 29, 1000 Brussels
- Périple -Greek book-shop, Rue Froissart 115, 1040 Brussels
Video Workshop
16.00h – 19.00h:
“Let’s fly with Ikaros through images and sounds”
This stop-motion animation workshop adresses youngsters, who are interested in learning how to make their own video.
They will produce a stop-motion animation of the Greek myth of Ikaros and in this way they will be connected to the island Ikaria… the island of Ikaros.
Ticket: 5 EUR (the workshop adresses youngsters between 12-16 years)
– organized by Nikoletta Georgakopoulou