The 4th Athens Int’l Children’s Film Festival (ATHICFF) celebrated its triumphant return to physical venues with an expanded programme of over 120 films screening (13-21 November) across 4 venues in Athens. Among the 13 feature films was THE APE STAR, the first feature film dubbed in Greek by the festival, in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy.
The programme featured a spotlight section on the environment along with the new section “Digital Etiquette” about life online, a teenage thrillers section and a special screening of the documentary CHASING CHILDHOOD addressing parents. Special attention was given to Greek content, as the programme included 8 films by Greek filmmakers, giving a platform to a country with very low production capacity.
Director Calliope Charalambous: “Further delivering on our mission to promote accessibility and cultural democracy, this edition included 9 sensory friendly screenings and a screening of short films with embedded interpretation in Greek sign language, while all films for children of reading age were screened with SDH subtitles.”
Following the successful return to physical screens in November, an online extension of the festival will be launched mid-December, featuring a selection of festival favourites, furnished with a host of accessibility tools for people with disabilities, freely available for 10 days. The online extension comes with the simultaneous launch of a year-round Fully Accessible Digital Screening Room in all of Greece and Cyprus. The festival and screening room are supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Regional Government of Attica, the Municipality of Athens, the Kallisti Foundation and the Greek Film Centre.