Open Call: Big Short Films 2024. And the winners are

For the second consecutive year, Onassis Culture invited Greek and international filmmakers and producers to submit their proposals. The Onassis Culture team received a total of 133 applications and selected five short projects, which stood out for the unique cinematic worlds created by their creators.

The winners

“The Peeling” / Directed by Krysianna Papadakiw, Stergios Dinopoulos

“Free Eliza (The Unlikely Story of an Anatomical Anomaly)" / Directed by Alexandra Matheou

“Sparoza” / Directed by Catriona Gallagher

“Caps” / Directed by Dimitris Theocharidis

"Zebra’s Island" / Directed by Alexandros Kostopoulos

We support the short film form, embracing the process of artistic creation. For the second year, Onassis Culture has issued an open call to Greek and international filmmakers to submit their proposals for short fiction, documentaries, live-action, and animation films.

A total of 133 proposals were submitted, which were evaluated by the Onassis Culture team. The five selected proposals will receive funding of 10 thousand euros each. They will go into production later this year to find their way to the big screen and meet domestic and international audiences at festivals around the world.

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The Projects

“The Peeling” / Directed by Krysianna Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

On the anniversary of her friend’s disappearance, Leda travels to Gavdos island, where she is involved in an ecstatic ritual called “peeling.”

Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis grew up in Athens. They met as fellow students at Harvard University. There, they discovered their passion for screenwriting and directing, combining their backgrounds in social sciences, philosophy, and audiovisual studies. Alongside filmmaking, they are also involved in education, especially with adolescents in rural areas. They collaborated for the first time in Greece in their film “Arkoudotripa (Bear Cave),” which won the Golden Dionysus award at the Drama International Short Film Festival 2023.

“Free Eliza (The Unlikely Story of an Anatomical Anomaly)" / Directed by Alexandra Matheou / Produced by Maria Hatzakou, Savvas Stavrou (Merricat Films)

Due to an anatomical anomaly, Elisa cannot smile. In the global realm of toxic positivity, this is a serious problem.

Alexandra Matheou is a director and screenwriter. She studied Law at King’s College London, where she completed her postgraduate studies, and then graduated from University College London with an MA in Film. Her films have screened internationally, and her most recent short, “A Summer Place” (2021), supported by CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée), has received awards and accolades at some of the most prestigious international festivals. The film was also nominated for the Iris Award of the Hellenic Film Academy. She is currently in the development stage of her first feature film, which has been awarded the Grand Prize at the Crossroads co-production forum of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, among others, and has been selected for the Oxbelly Lab, First Films First (Goethe Institute), and MFI. Her second feature film (co-written and co-directed with Maria Hatzakou), entitled “Stringa,” is also in development with the support of the Greek Film Centre.

“Sparoza” / Directed by Catriona Gallagher / Produced by Yannis Karpouzis (Empty Square)

After Sally's sudden death, Lucy takes on the task of saving her life's work, a secret garden in Attica, from impending desertification.

Catriona Gallagher (UK/Ireland) is a visual artist and filmmaker based between the UK and Greece. Her work explores the collision of human-made and natural worlds, navigating overlooked details in our physical surroundings and the psychological landscapes mirroring them. She moves between film, drawing, writing, and research processes to map physical and conceptual traces of human and non-human relationships. Her work has been exhibited in galleries internationally and her films have been screened at various festivals (Ann Arbor, Laterale, New Holland Island, Sheffield Doc Fest, Aesthetica, Ribalta, London Short Film Festival, IFFR). Her first film, “Perdikaki,” was awarded a special mention at the New Holland Island Short Film Competition in 2020, while her most recent film, “Daphne Was a Torso Ending in Leaves” (2024), won the KNF Award at the Tiger Short Film Competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

“Caps” / Directed by Dimitris Theocharidis / Produced by Alexis Anastasiadis (Frenel)

A journey of survival and self-identification for an eleven-year-old Greek-African girl through her talent in the game ‘caps.’

Dimitris Theocharidis was born in Thessaloniki. He studied directing and screenwriting at the Film School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has written numerous scripts, directed commercials and music videos, and worked in many film productions. His first professional short film, “Hunting Season,” completed its festival run with 38 official entries and three awards worldwide. The script for his second short film, “Caps,” was awarded by the Greek Film Centre at the Olympia "Creative Ideas" Pitching Lab and is currently in pre-production.

“Zebra’s Island” (animation) / Directed by Alexandros Kostopoulos / Produced by Ioanna Sultani (SOUL Productions)

In a society where the elderly are exiled to “Zebra’s Island,” a little girl defies the law to find her exiled grandfather.

Alexandros Kostopoulos studied Film Directing at Stavrakos School and Business Administration at the University of Piraeus and holds a PhD from the Athens University of Economics and Business. His short film, “First Swim,” was screened at international festivals (Trieste, In the Palace, Foyle, etc.) and received several awards. The film was screened in Greek cinemas (Weird Wave & New Star), as well as by France TV and ERT/ERTFlix. He has filmed the TV documentaries “Touching the Intangible” and “Speed of Light,” which were screened by ERT. His new animated short film, “Zebra’s Island,” is currently in production. The script for his first feature film, “Inertia,” has received funding for the writing stage from the Greek Film Centre. He participated in Torino Film Lab and Budapest Debut Film Forum. He has served as a jury member and led workshops at the Tehran and Dhaka International Film Festivals, the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, and the International Children’s Film Festival India.

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