46th Drama International Short Film Festival. We celebrate independent Greek cinema.

The Onassis Foundation has a long-standing partnership with the country’s leading short film festival, raising the voices of emerging filmmakers at their very first steps. Each year it presents the Onassis Film Awards to Greek filmmakers for the development of their feature films. This year, the Onassis Film Award went to Nikolas Kouloglou’s “Super,” a film that talks in a spontaneous, bold, and honest way about chemistry, love, and the deterioration of human relationships in our modern world, where everything has become expendable. The award comes with a cash prize of €10,000, for the development of the director’s first feature film.

A railway crossing in the middle of nowhere. Two wooden huts stand facing each other, surrounded by bright yellow hills and a wide-open horizon. Two guards: lonesome Yannis, who never leaves his post, and easygoing Antonis, attuned to the idle landscape. Every once in a while, a voice from the speaker announces the arrival of a train. The two guards lower the barriers manually. Nothing seems to disturb their daily routine. But when the time comes, love finds you wherever you are, shattering all certainties. A romantic, Arcadian western.

The short film by Aineias Tsamatis and Katerina Mavrogeorgi, starring Yannis Tsortekis, Karafil Shena and Angeliki Papathemeli, is a co-production of the Onassis Foundation, which was screened in the National Competition section of the festival.

“The Crossing” won the Original Music Award, the Set Design Award, and the Greek Film Critics Association (P.E.K.K.) Award.

The “Walls” by Christos Sarris participates in the National Competition program. The short film, which had its world premiere as part of the Onassis Foundation festival “Archive of Desire: A festival inspired by the poet C. P. Cavafy,” is screened at the Drama Festival, before continuing its festival run around the world.

Christos Sarris’ “Walls” draws heavily on the director’s personal experience working with incarcerated individuals at the Nigrita prison in Serres, Greece, to whom he taught the basics of filmmaking on both a theoretical and practical level. Sarris provided them with the tools to create a film that not only speaks to their own experiences, but also resonates with audiences around the world, discussing fundamental rights and values. “Walls” is a reminder of the power of storytelling and the human ability to find hope and meaning even in the most challenging of circumstances.

From Vasilis Kekatos to Vania Turner and from Yannis Economides to Evi Kalogiropoulou, the Onassis Foundation supports renowned and emerging filmmakers, through the development of scripts and the production of short and feature films. It embraces the process of creation, research, and artistic development, by offering fellowships. It collaborates with important institutions, such as the Hellenic Film Academy, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Drama Film Festival, and the Athens International Film Festival, with the aim of advancing Greek cinema within and across borders. It has established film awards to support the development of new scripts.

For yet another year, we celebrate Greek cinema in all its forms and expressions.