Documentary & Short Film Festival
Poros experienced the magic of authentic stories…
July 21st, 2023
Βy Babis Kanatsidis
Translated by Iro Lampiri
First published in Greek on Saronic Magazine
The Documentary and Short Film Festival, part of Poros Arts Festival, was successfully completed. It was one of the highest quality cultural events that the island of Poros has ever hosted.
From the 27th to the 30th of June, at Cine Diana, we traveled through time and space, to the magical world of cinema, through authentic stories from all around the world.
Fourteen exceptional documentaries swept us over, challenged us and brought us in touch with people and events we may have been unaware of, or did not know in depth. Entrance to the screenings was free to the public. The festival was dedicated to the fight of Poros against the fish farms and the battle of little Valeria.
At the same time, four fiction short films entertained us and brought us in contact with young directors and creators of the Greek cinema.
The screenings were attended by most of the filmmakers, who were amazed by the island, the hospitality and the incredible beauty of Cine Diana, which -apart from being majestically beautiful- impressed the filmmakers with its state-of-the-art equipment.
The festival program was curated by a friend of Poros, director Flora Prisimintzi, who selected the films and contacted the filmmakers, forwarding the invitation from the organizers.
Most of the documentaries and films had English or Greek subtitles, depending on the language of the dialogues.
What we saw during the four-day cinema event
At the beginning of every day of the festival the documentary “Saving Poros”, which addresses the issue of fish farming and the industrialization plans on the island, was shown. The documentary shocked the unaware viewers, who in their turn expressed their solidarity with the island’s battle. Every day the events were introduced by the Executive Director of Katheti, Fay Orfanidou, presenting the creators in between.
On Tuesday 27/6 the evening started with the Flora Prisimintzi’s documentary “No Coming Back “, a film that describes the pain and anguish of migrants and refugees, produced in 2016, which was included in the festival’s program after the tragedy of the shipwreck at Pylos.
Next was the short documentary by Vicky Markolefa and Bastian Fisher, “The Last Fisherman”, which brought us in touch with the last professional fisherman of the island of Sikinos.
The mood was changed by a multi-award-winning Greek animation film titled “From the Balcony”, a creation of Aris Kaplanidis, which caused enthusiasm, laughter and left a bittersweet taste to the audience.
The screenings continued with the documentary by Cleoni Flessa “Eleni Boukouri Altamura – The First Greek Woman Artist”, which took us on a journey to Spetses, Athens and Italy in the 19th century, introducing us to an unknown to many, but special and tortured personality of the art heritage of Greece.
The evening ended with the presentation of the painter Mandalina Psoma, in a documentary directed by Flora Prisimintzi.
On Wednesday 28/6, the screenings began with the shocking documentary by Leonidas Vardaros “Lundlow – Greek Americans in the Colorado Coal War”, which took us back to the early 20th century in the USA to tell the story of the Landlow Massacre and the contribution of Greeks to the American labor movement.
This was followed by director Marios Garefos’s fiction short film “The Man Who Fed His Shadow”, a wonderful film noir movie, with renowned excellent actors.
The event continued with Flora Prisimintzi’s documentary “Samothrace, the Silence of the Rocks”, which took us on a journey to the special island of the northeastern Aegean through history and mythology.
The evening ended with the amazing documentary “Lost in the Woods” about the photographer Konstantinos Pittas, who travelled alone across Europe from 1984 to 1989 and took 30,000 black and white photographs. His aim was to see Europeans on both sides of the Iron Curtain. It’s an excellent documentary written and directed by Lefteris Fylactos, that would touch any photographer and would motivate anyone to take up photography.
On Thursday 29/6 the event opened with a documentary by Menos Deliotzakis, “Andreas Lentakis – A Romantic Fighter”, which told us about the life, political activity and intellectual career of Andreas Lentakis and through his story the course of the Left in Greece and the political history of the country in general, during the second half of the 20th century. The testimonies of the documentary definitively completed the puzzle of Andreas Lendakis’s personality.
This was followed by the short film “A La Carte” by Vassilis Tsiouvaras and Taxiarchis Deligiannis.
The evening ended with the documentary “Mamangakis – The last word” by Takis Sakellariou. In the documentary, the international Greek composer Nikos Mamangakis makes his last confession a few months before passing away, in July 2013. The documentary sheds light on the unknown aspects of the personality and work of one of the greatest Greek composers.
On Friday 30/6 the event started with the cinematic masterpiece by Angelos Rallis “Mighty Afrin. In the time of floods”. It was captivating documentary with amazing photography about an incredible journey to Bangladesh alongside 12-year-old Afrin.
This was followed by Dimitris Koutsiambasakos’s documentary “The Weavers” about the unknown story of the Swedish textile industry in the village of Vlastis in Kozani. It is a chronicle that offers a bittersweet view, posing key questions about the development of the Greek rural areas.
The last day ended with Kostas Stamatopoulos’s allegorical short film “Newstria”. It was a film that raised concern about the reality that we experience as normality and the threats we ignore.
The participants of the festival
The exceptional cultural event of the Documentary & Short Film Festival was held for the first time in 2017 on Poros, but this year it welcomed many filmmakers. The filmmakers who honored the festival screenings with their presence were (in order of appearance): Flora Prisimintzi, Vicky Markolefa, Cleoni Flessa, Marios Garefos, Menos Deliotzakis, Takis Sakellariou, Angelos Rallis, Dimitris Koutsiambasakos and Kostas Stamatopoulos.
The organization of the Documentary Festival began as an idea proposed by Babis Kanatsidis. Many congratulations to Fay Orfanidou and Sofia Zarani, Katheti’s girls, and the external collaborator Flora Prisimintzi, who jointly coordinated and organized the festival with a lot of effort and incredible patience and organization.
Thanks to ERT and the filmmakers, who granted us permission to screen their films.
Thanks to the Municipality of Poros for supporting the effort and to the Mayor Yannis Dimitriadis for honoring the festival with his presence.
Thanks to the sponsors who hosted, gave souvenirs and catered to the visiting filmmakers. There will be a separate coverage of the Poros Arts Festival sponsors.
Thanks to the people of Poros who, along with the tourists, honored the creators and the organization with their presence.
And finally, many thanks to Cine Diana, Vangelis and Sofia Spirtzi, who always willingly offer to host such cultural events. All the filmmakers who came to Poros for the festival agreed that we have one of the most beautiful open-air cinemas in the country with hospitable owners that allows us to establish an Open-air Film Festival that could make Poros become the center of film festivals.
