The Athens International Children’s Film Festival, one of the fastest growing young audience festivals in Europe, can look back on a strong 7th edition. With an ambitious industry programme and an interesting connection between sports and film.
It makes for interesting confrontations when different passions of young audiences touch within one event. Sport is certainly one of them. Charismatic sports ambassadors added an extra value to some of the festival screenings. After the opening screening of WEEKEND REBELS (by Marc Rothemund, Germany) – addressing sensitive topics like autism and diversity – former basketball star Dimitris Papanikolaou and his daughter Aria deeply moved the audience, by answering questions about practising top sports on the spectrum. Moreover did Aria – a talented young girl on the spectrum – fulfil her dream of becoming a voice actor in the Live Dubbing screenings. Her involvement underlined the festival’s commitment to inclusion, and the power of cinema to foster creativity and equal access to the arts.
Other sportive highlights were international footballer Georgia Chalatsogianni engaging with students for a screening of LIONESS (by Raymond Grimbergen, the Netherlands) and the presence of Paralympic swimming champions Yiannis Kostakis and Maria-Fanouria Tsiveleki in the screening of BLOOD, SWEAT AND CHEER (by George Hoagy Morris, Wales), organised with the support of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee and the British Council.
Meanwhile, the festival continues to develop an industry programme dedicated to the development of children’s and youth content in Greece. ATHICFF for Professionals is designed to empower stakeholders in the Greek audio-visual sector by providing training, inspiration, and opportunities for pitching and networking. In a country with a minimal production tradition for children, and with industry events in two festivals (Athens & Pyrgos) targeting film professionals almost simultaneously, is no easy task.
In the ‘Scriptwriter’s Playground’, authors of three film projects were mentored by Greek experts, preparing their possible participation in the Script Development Competition, organised in collaboration with Cinekid. And in ‘Greet the Greeks’, local filmmakers pitched their feature length projects in development for a panel of international experts, followed by individual consultations with Xiaojuan Zhou (Attraction Distribution, Canada), Jo Anne Blouin (FIFEM, Canada), Alain De Levita (Dark Alley Pictures, the Netherlands), Gert Hermans (ECFA, Belgium) and Mark Tucker (LevelK, Denmark). Even if children’s film production so far has always been at a low ebb, with pitched projects like THE GLEANER and CHECK on the horizon, the future starts to look much brighter.