Following the recent transition to Greece, CIFEJ wanted to present the new course it intends to take, and found the SCHLINGEL Festival to be the perfect platform for this. In his presentation, Secretary General Vassilis Karamitsanis paid tribute to some of the cornerstones of the past and outlined the plans for the future.
Since 2025, CIFEJ’s headquarters have been located in Athens. With 70 years of history, this NGO has a rich history to look back on. “Our mission for 70 years already is advocating for children’s rights in visual storytelling, while ensuring diverse cultural narratives in the context of children’s visual media production and education,” Karamitsanis summarised. He mentioned some key points from their past activities:
– CIFEJ’s presence at festivals to meet up with players in the visual and educational industry.
– Pushing local and international governments regarding the production and distribution of young audience content.
– With its roots in UNESCO, CIFEJ is also a humanitarian organisation.
– Organising online and on-site workshops, both for children and their educators. “During the pandemic, CIFEJ has undertaken an initiative in free online workshops in several languages, with good results and vast participation.”
Why Greece?
The CIFEJ symposium in Athens, on May 25th, marked the launch of the headquarters operation in Athens. “Many people asked us: Why Greece? The country has gone through difficult times, and we know where things can go wrong. That is why we are going to do things right this time. CIFEJ has to deal with various business practices from different cultures. We take the experiences of our previous headquarters with us to this central location, in the heart of the Mediterranean, in the heart of Europe, to a country that wants to profile itself as an important player in children’s media.”
A crucial Greek partner is EKKOMED, the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Centre, responsible for establishing a coherent cinema policy. This also includes support for young audience cinema, which was launched some years ago. Furthermore, media literacy has always been one of EKKOMED’s core activities.
Ambitions
this environment, CIFEJ aims to develop or further expand several activities, such as:
– Utilizing EKKOMED’s educational resources in support of CIFEJ’s field actions in media literacy.
– The online newsletter CIFEJ Cosmos, and a website, which will be launched shortly.
– Re-establishing an intense relationship with CIFEJ’s ‘founding fathers’ at UNESCO. “Through UNESCO’s political leverage, we can strengthen our international appeal and plan relevant events.”
Secretary General Vassilis Karamitsanis concluded: “We will certainly be more present again. After some years of a not-so-loud presence, we will now be more vibrant than ever.”
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