BIG FEELINGS. SMALL SCREENS. 16.7.2020

Opening Nights on our screens.

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9oa7rh9rcgykd1l/AACzHslDiFVbDbAqQW0lDurIa?dl=0

Alienation and love during hunting season, a man living inside an empty departure lounge, a searing psychological heatwave on a Greek island beach, a taste of love in bars, in underground carparks, and on roofs, and a kind-hearted arm wrestler trapped inside the tight constraints of his village.

The Big Feelings Small Screens program enters its third week of digital screenings on the Onassis Foundation YouTube Channel. From July 16 to 21, the Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights will be sharing major moments and award-winning films screened in 2019, its twenty-fifth anniversary year. George Goussis “wrestles” with dreams, and with the realities of life in the Greek countryside with “The Arm Wrestler”, a short that toys with both documentary and fiction forms. Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis transports us to mountain wilds, and into the relationships that grow on a hunt for animals and humans with his award-winning film “All the Fires the Fire”. Fokion Xenos spins a refreshing tale in the midst of a heatwave on a Greek island in his award-winning animated short “Heatwave”. Alkis Papastathopoulos shows us what love tastes like when you’re “Hyped”. Konstantinos Prepis enters the abandoned Ellinikon airport to present the adventures of a homeless man heading to destinations unknown in “Ellinikon”. Five films, five moments of note from the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, and yet another chapter in the Festival’s ongoing interaction with the Onassis Foundation.

A screen, however small, is all you need to enjoy new experiences and moments as seen through the eyes of both accomplished and up-and-coming filmmakers. On the following weeks, collaborations with the Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights and the Drama International Short Film Festival will be bringing us award-winning Greek short films from 2019. And this cinematic experience doesn’t end there: talks on the seventh art by acclaimed directors such as Werner Herzog, as well as a series of original works each created by up-and-coming artists – such as Vasilis Kekatos, Yorgos Zois and Evi Kalogiropoulou – in 120 hours as part of the ENTER project make clear that cinema at the Onassis Foundation never stops surprising us, inspiring us, and carrying us away.

In brief

From16-21 July

Giorgos Goussis, The Arm Wrestler
Duration: 22΄05΄΄

2nd Best Short Film Award at the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, and the 2020 Hellenic Film Academy Iris Award for Best Short Documentary Film

Panayiotis is a 30-year-old champion in the sport of hand wrestling (bras de fer) and the owner of a cafe in a remote village. On the occasion of an upcoming match in Athens and his training for it, the film builds the portrait of a young man who oscillates daily between his dreams and the reality of life in the Greek countryside.

Giorgos Goussis was born in 1986 in Athens and is a comic book creator and film director. He released the collection of short stories “Innocent Seasons” (KAPSIMI Publications) in 2012, and the graphic novel adaptation of Vincenzo Cornaro’s “Erotokritos” (Polaris Publications) in 2012. From 2017 to 2019 he was the editor-in-chief of the comics magazine “Blue Comet”. In 2019, he created the comic “Festival”, commissioned by the Thessaloniki Film Festival for its 60th anniversary. In 2018, he was the production designer of the short film “Iskioma” (Faliro House Productions) and in 2019 he made his directing debut with the documentary “The Arm Wrestler” (Ohmydog Productions).

Director: Giorgos Goussis Screenplay: Giorgos Goussis, Giorgos Koutsaliaris Cinematography: Giorgos Koutsaliaris Sound: Giorgos Goussis Editing: Giorgos Goussis, Giorgos Koutsaliaris Produced by: Ohmydog Productions Cast: Panayiotis Goussis Sound Design: Giannis Giannakopoulos Music: Panagiotis Pantazis

Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis, All the fires the fire
Duration: 25΄01΄΄

Award for Best Actor at the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights (Nikos Georgakis)

Men set birds free in the mountains. Two grieving, estranged brothers try their marksmanship together with their sons. It’ s the hunting season. Can a bird’ s heart stop in the sky with no bullets coming through its body? “All the fires the fire” has been nominated and won awards at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival, the Clermont-Ferrand ISFF, the Athens Film Festival, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, as well as for the Greek Academy Awards.

Born with dual Greek/German nationality, Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis studied Informatics

Engineering in Athens and then Contemporary Arts at Le Fresnoy - Studio National in France.

His films have been screened and have won acclaim at film festivals (Venice, Locarno,

Clermont-Ferrand a.o.) and art venues (Forum des Images, Centre Pompidou, Haus der

Kulturen der Welt a.o.) around the world. He is an alumnus of the Berlinale and Sarajevo

Talents. He is currently developing his first feature film project, ‘That Burning Light’, which has

been selected by the TorinoFilmLab FeatureLab program 2020.

With Nikos Georgakis, Dimitris Xanthopoulos, Thanasis Bratos, Vaggelis Tsimpogiannis Produced by A FOSS production Written & directed by Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis A story by Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis & Elizampetta Ilia Georgiadou Executive producer Stelios Cotionis Produced by Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis & Michalis Alexakis Direction of photography Christos Voudouris Editing Lambis Charalambidis & Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis Art direction & costumes Daphne Koutra Production sound Panagiotis Papagiannopoulos Sound design & re-recording mixer Leandros Ntounis Production manager Stavros Chrisogiannis Assistant directors Nikolas Kouloglou & Anthi Founta Production coordinator Chrisanthos Margonis

Fokion Xenos, Heatwave
Duration: 7΄16΄΄
Jury Special Mention at the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights, and the 2020 Hellenic Film Academy Iris Award for Best Short Animated Film

In the summertime a quirky crowd occupies a Greek Island beach. As the sun gets increasingly hotter people get lost in their petty personal problems. Despite that a little girl and boy dare to show everyone how to have fun.

Heatwave has been officially selected in 137 international film and animation festivals. In has also been screened and won awards in numerous festivals including: Annecy International Animated Film Festival (France), BAFTA LA (USA), Royal Television Society (UK), Hellenic Film Academy (Athens), Edinburgh Internatinal Film Festival (Scotland), Cinekid Festival (Netherlands), AnimaSyros Animation Festival, Athens International Film Festival, Primanima (Hungary), Motion Pictures Sound Editors (Hollywood, USA), Barnes Film Festival (UK), Florida Animation Festival (USA), EDGE Awards (Greek Design Awards), Kinoproba Animation Festival (Russia), Piccolo Festival Animazione / Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), KDIAF (Taiwan), Trickfilm Festival (Germany), Tofuzi Animation Festival (Georgia), Tetova International Film Festival ODA (Republic of North Macedonia) Thessaloniki Animation Festival, Micro μ Festival.

Fokion Xenos is a Greek director and animator with a passion for combining his background in graphic design with physical, stop-frame techniques. After graduating from TEI of ATHENS in 2014, Fokion directed a series of short films, music videos and commercials in collaboration with Deep Green Sea and Out There Studios. He joined the National Film and Television School in 2017, where he has continued to develop his directing and narrative skills. Here he has directed and animated High Art (2017), Deep Dive 9 (2017) and his graduation film Heatwave (2019).

Director, Writer & Animatio: Fokion Xenos Producer: Priya K. Dosanjh Cinematographer: Brendan Freedman Production Designer: Antonio Niculae Production Manager Joseph Phillips, Pia Kaiser, Amy Vearncombe Editor: Stella Heath Keir Sound Designer: Kevin Langhamer Composer: Andreas Gutuen Aaser Online Editor/Colour Grader: Liz Glennard

Alkis Papastathopoulos, Hyped

Duration: 13΄35΄΄

Best Actress Award at the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights (Artemis Tzortzoglou & Anna Papageorgiou)

Vera is anxious about her first night out with Lola. Lola is trying to be there for Vera but gets easily distracted. While they’re both struggling to connect, their minds will escape to the beginning of the night, where things between them were still intimate. Hyped has been officially selected in the following festivals: Dominio Pubblico - La città agli Under 25, Athens Fashion Film Festival, 11th Merlinka Film Festival, 17th Festival International Signes De Nuit, 25th Athens International Film Festival.

Alkis Papastathopoulos is a filmmaker from Greece who holds an MA degree in Film studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. They are a Sundance Alumnus and has directed five shorts. Their film “en flicka” premiered and won a special mention in the Outview Film Festival. In 2014 their experimental short “en pojke” premiered in MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival and continued it’s journey in many international festivals. In 2018 their short film/ music video “Gomenaki” won the Best Music Video award at IndieMemphis Film Festival. Later that year they won the HBO Europe award for the Best TV Series project at Midpoint TV Launch for the dramedy series in development “Sleepover” they co-write with Maria Hatzakou. In 2019 “Sleepover” was selected to be part of Sundance institute’s New Voices Lab becoming the first European series ever participating in that lab.

Starring: Artemis Tsortzoglou, Anna Papageorgiou Art Director: Maria-Dimitra Vetta Costume Designer: Vangelis Kamperis DoP: Areti Papaioannou Production: Alkis Papastathopoulos, Areti Papaioannou Screenwriters: Katia Kouliou, Alkis Papastathopoulos Director: Alkis Papastathopoulos

Konstantinos Prepis, Ellinikon
Duration: 21΄02΄΄

Jury Special Mention at the 25th Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights

Sotiris is homeless, a victim of the economic crisis, and has found refuge at the abandoned Elliniko airport. He has been living there lately, among ghosts and memories of a not so distant past. What will happen when one day, Sotiris sees the airport being flooded with potential passengers who of course cannot travel (as the airport is abandoned) and who disrupt his daily life?

Born in Athens in 1977, Konstantinos Prepis is a film director, producer and screenwriter based in Athens. He studied Finance at the American College of Greece and Directing at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos. He has participated in theater seminars and script development workshops. Since 2003 he has worked in feature films, documentaries, television shows, commercials, theater productions and corporate events, covering various capacities, with the main one being that of Production Manager and Assistant Director. He is a member of the Association of Greek Film Producers – Directors. He has directed video clips, fashion and corporate videos as well as short films, and has been awarded at the Drama International Short Film Festival. Along with releasing his new short film “Ellinikon”, he has been working on the script of his first feature film.

Director-Writer: Konstantinos Prepis Line Producer: Mina Dreki Producer: Phaedra Vokali Executive Producer: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos Cinematographer: Christina Moumouri

Art Director: Michalis Samiotis Editor: Yannis Chalkiadakis Sound: Giannis Giannakopoulos & Kostas Ntokos Wardrobe Stylist: Kiki Miliou Assistant Wardrobe Stylist: Christina-Erato Raftopoulou Make-up Artist: Gianna Marmataki Starring: Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Spiros Fokas, Mary Nanou, Kostas Laskos, Fotini Baxevani, Manos Vakousis, Makis Papadimitriou Produced by Marni Films and co-produced by the Greek Film Center and Faliro House