FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS

FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
by R. Kaftantzoglou, Researcher, National Center of Social Research
and Despina Mouzaki, Director of the Thessaloniki International Film festival
Odeion of Herode Atticus
Linked to tourism and a warm climate that allows cultural events
to be held in open-air spaces, festivals in Greece have for many
decades been an integral part of the country’s culture and economy.
In recent years, festivals have ceased to be the exclusive prerogative
of Athens and the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO). All
over the country, municipal authorities in collaboration with
cultural centres and other agents have established festive cultural
events in countless smaller towns and villages. The majority of festivals in Greece are held during the summer months in open-air
spaces, ancient theatres or specially created installations at sites
of particular historic and aesthetic interest.
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The oldest and best-known festival
is the Athens Festival, organized by
the cultural department of the
GNTO and hosted at the theatres of
Herod Atticus and Lycabettus in
Athens as well as in Epidaurus. The
Festival runs from June to the end
of September. In Athens, the Festival held in the 5,000-seat Roman
theatre of Herod Atticus below the
Acropolis has been an annual
event since 1955. Initially planned
to host ancient Greek drama and
music performances, over the years
it has extended its programme to
include modern and contemporary
theatre, music and dance. The theatre of Herode Atticus, offering a
breathtaking view of the lit-up
Parthenon, has hosted some of the
greatest performers, orchestras
and artistic companies from around
the world. These include Maria
Callas, Leonard Bernstein, Mtislav
Rostropovich, David Oistrach, Yehudi Menuhin, Colin Davis, the Bolshoi Ballet companies, the Berliner
Ensemble, the National Theatre of
Great Britain, the Netherlands
Dance Theatre, the Dance Company
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of Pina Bausch and many others.
Since 1996, the Acropolis has been
open to the public on every summer evening with a full moon and
visitors can listen to concerts on the
site.
The Lycabettus Festival, operating
since 1964 in a setting designed
by the innovative architect T. Zenetos on the hill of Lycabettus, initially concentrated on performances
of ancient Greek drama. The venue
was renovated in 1977 and since
then, as part of the Athens Festival, hosts theatrical and dance
events and music with more emphasis on rock, pop, jazz and
ethnic music, from June to the end
of September.
The first modern-day artist to appear at the 4th century BC theatre of
Epidaurus, which seats 14,000 and
is internationally renowned for its
beauty and excellent acoustics,
was the great conductor Dimitri
Mitropoulos in 1935; three years later the first contemporary performance of Greek drama was held
FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
Epidaurus Ancient Theater
there. Since 1954, the Epidaurus
Theatre has hosted performances
of ancient drama and musical
events featuring internationally
renowned artists such as Maria
Callas, Monserrat Caballe, Mtislav
Rostropovich, the Berlin Philarmonic Orchestra of Berlin conducted by Herbert Von Karajan, and the
Orchestra and Choir of La Scala of
Milan conducted by Claudio Abado.
Next to the theatre of Epidaurus is
“Small Epidaurus,” a recently excavated ancient theatre that has been
hosting musical performances organized by the Athens Concert Hall
since 1995.
A number of festivals that take place
in the vicinity of Athens during the
summer are organised by cultural
centres and municipal authorities.
These include the Krystalleia, named
after the poet K. Krystallis and held
at the 19th century mansion of the
Duchess of Plaisance in Pendeli,
which offers performances of contemporary Greekand classical music.
In addition, there is the Festival atVyronas, held in the Melina Mercouri
Theatre in an abandoned quarry
since 1987, whose programme includes performances of ancient drama, contemporary Greek music and
dance. The Aeschyleia in the city of
Eleusis should also be mentioned.
It hosts ancient drama, contemporary
dance and theatre, art exhibitions
and various musical events.
The Festival at the Byzantine
Monastery of Kaisariani hosts concerts, the Festival of Chalandri focuses on theatre and music, the
Veakeio Theatre in Piraeus is mainly
dedicated to dance. On Philopappos Hill opposite the Acropolis, an
open-air theatre hosts performances of Greek dance featuring
traditional costumes by the Dora
Stratou singers and dancers from
May to September. In autumn, a
Panorama of European Cinema,
organized by the newspaper Eleftherotypia, and a Cinema Festival,
organised by the periodical Cinema, are held in Athens.
Thessaloniki is the seat of the International Film Festival, the major
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annual cinematic event in Greece,
which made its debut in 1960 as a
Greek film festival and established
a separate international section in
1966. After a series of changes in
its structure dictated by political
and social factors, the Festival asserted its international profile in
1992. It is held every autumn. The
Demetria Festival, also in Thessaloniki, hosts theatrical, musical,
dance and operatic performances
by Greek and foreign companies as
well as lectures, exhibitions and
symposia. The venues for these
events are distributed throughout
the city. In the town of Kalamata,
the International Documentary Film
Festival is held every October.
Many of the festivals in other parts
and towns of Greece have gained
great renown and popularity over
the last years; some of them focus
on particular forms of art while others offer a variety of performances.
These include the Festival of Nafplion under the direction of the famous pianist Yannis Vakarellis,
staged at historic sites of the city
and concentrating on music. In
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addition there are the Festival of Argos, the International Dance Festival organized by the International
Centre of Dance in Kalamata, the
Olymbos Festival held in the ancient theatre at the site of Dion. The
festivals of Philippoi and Thasos at
the ancient theatres at Philippoi
and on the island of Thasos are
also noteworthy. In addition, the
Festival of Herakleion, held at the
Manos Hadjidakis Theatre and the
Nikos Kazantzakis Garden Theatre,
offers one of the largest and most
varied programmes, hosting theatrical performances, traditional
music and dance events, opera, art
exhibitions, lectures and symposia.
The International Festival at Patras
includes performances of ancient
drama, classical and modern theatre, opera, classical music, art exhibitions, seminars, conferences
etc. The Dodoni Festival at the ancient theatre of Dodoni in Epirus is
dedicated to historic drama, the
Dionysia on the island of Naxos offers concerts, dance performances,
folk events, literary evenings and
shadow puppet shows. In the town
of Rethymno in Crete, the Renais-
FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
sance Festival hosts drama, music
and dance events, cinema, and visual art performances. The Festival
of Chania, hosted in the city’s Venetian port and fortress, includes
art exhibitions, music and dance
performances and puppet theatre
shows. In a medieval castle in the
city of Rhodes, the Summertime
Festival hosts music concerts, theatre and dance events, traditional
and Renaissance music concerts
and recitals.
Special festival events dedicated to
specific forms of artistic expressions include the Hydra International Puppet Festival, featuring shadow theatre performances by Greek
and foreign artists, and the Ithaca
Theatre Competition, with new
and innovative theatrical performances. In addition, there is the
Hippocratic Oath Festival on the island of Kos that stages classical
Greek drama performances as well
as a re-enactment of the Hippocratic oath ritual. Finally, the Festival of
Art and Speech on the island of
Lefkada is dedicated to literature
and hosts lectures, plays, concerts
and exhibitions, while the Santorini
International Music Festival offers
concerts of classical music.
Many more cultural events and
festivals of shorter duration are
hosted from springtime to autumn
by a multitude of towns and villages. These are usually celebrations of events and figures of local
historical significance, local products and crafts, such as the wine
festivals on Samos and Crete, the
Ouzo festival in Mytilene, the Agonia Festival on Crete, with dancing
and singing contests, musical
events and local handicraft exhibitions. Other examples are the
Miaouleia Sailing week in Hydra,
dedicated to Admiral Miaouli,
which organizes traditional dance
performances, and re-enacts
Miaouli’s torching of the Turkish Armada during the War of Independence. There is also the “Armata” on
Spetses, a re-enactment of the
Ottoman Navy’s defeat in the island’s harbour and the Mykonos
Grape Harvest celebration held at
the Agrarian Museum that revives
traditional production activities
such as winemaking.
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THE
THESSALONIKI
FILM FESTIVAL
47 years
creatively alive
in film
the beginning of its international
phase, the Festival’s official competition programme included first
or second films by new directors
from all over the world – among
them Greek directors’ first or second films.
Since then, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, constantly
evolving, lays claim to and succeeds at an increasing international
scope.
As a major international film event,
TIFF presents the most innovative
independent films from around
the world and caters to the multifaceted needs of the international
film industry. Last year TIFF had the
honour of presenting out of 14
competing films in its competition
programme 5 international and 2
European premieres.
The Thessaloniki International
Film Festival (TIFF) is the leading
film festival in South-Eastern Europe, the showcase of annual
Greek production and the Balkans’
primary and oldest festival for
the work of emerging new international filmmakers.
Beginning in 1960 as the Week of
Greek Cinema, TIFF is one of the
few festivals in the world – with
Cannes and Venice – that can
claim such a long life. 1992 is the
year in which the Festival’s international section began. This is
when it received the title of Official
Film Festival from the International
Producers Federation (FIAPF). From
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In its new endeavour, TIFF has established a close collaboration
with various local and international
film institutions, cultural, educational and social organisations, as
well as embassies and foreign
cultural institutions in Greece.
Distinguished directors have visited the Festival throughout the
years either as members of the Jury
or as honoured guests, along with
internationally recognized names
that are part of “international film
mythology” such as Francis Ford
Coppola and Wim Wenders,
Catherine Deneuve, Faye Dunaway
and Harvey Keitel, Claude Chabrol,
Michael Winterbottom and Nagisha Oshima.
During the last decade, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival,
expanding its activities beyond
FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
its cornerstone November event,
has established itself as an organization with a continuously increasing range of cultural activities
throughout the year. Moreover,
over the last two years, it has
planned and implemented a wide
path for development for the benefit of the cinema of the larger
Balkan area, South-Eastern Europe
and the Eastern Mediterranean,
and the professionals coming from
there.
The Thessaloniki International Film
Festival’s mission, as it has been determined from its development and
is constantly adapted to the needs
of the era’s new challenges is:
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To help Greek film makers to
develop, produce and market
their films.
To promote Greek cinema
To promote international cinema in Greece
To offer a communication platform between artists and the
audience, art and society.
THE THESSALONIKI
INTERNATIONAL FILM
FESTIVAL IN NOVEMBER
The November event is the organization’s main activity, that which
draws the attention of the international film community and Greek
viewers to our country. It is a celebration of the moving image and
its brilliant and recognized creators, which has managed to give
the always hospitable and artloving city of Thessaloniki the title
of Balkan Capital of Cinema.
This same November festival includes a plethora of sections and
sidebar events that make up its
programme.
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The International Section includes a competition for first
and second features, in which
fourteen first or second feature
films of directors from all over
the world vie for the Golden
and the Silver Alexander.
The annual Panorama of Greek
films is a non-competitive sec-
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tion presenting an exceptional
and comprehensive overview
of the recent local production.
In 2006 TIFF introduced a new
competitive section for Greek
films produced and screened
in digital format, called DigitalWave.
The Independence Days, devoted to latest cinema trends, is a
non-competitive section presenting a cutting-edge showcase for the latest trends in independent film production.
The Balkan Survey, created in
1994, stands out as a unique
programme, opening for audiences a window to the cinema
of the Balkan region.
Focus is the festival’s thematic
section, the latest addition to
the international programme, a
thematic section focusing every
year on a different subject matter. Last year it was dedicated to
Teenage Lust / Teenage Angst.
Retrospectives and tributes to
leading figures in the world of
film.
At the same time, a rich programme
of parallel events strengthens the
character of this multi-faceted cultural happening. Included in this
framework is the organization of
parallel events that in the last few
years have won the interest of visitors, spreading the spirit of the Festival to the entire city of Thessaloniki. This programme includes:
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Exhibitions
Masterclasses and Round
Table Discussions
Publications
Concerts and parties
Last year’s Festival organization
was one of the most successful,
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marking a new successful direction
of reaching out: 308 films from 51
different countries were presented
at last year’s TIFF in the various sections and tributes. This rich screening programme included 238 feature films from international production and 70 short and medium
length films. There were 583
screenings, including 55 press
screenings, 36 regional screenings
and 46 post-festival screenings.
There were 10 Masterclasses given
by 11 distinguished guests, 5
Round Table discussions with 31
distinguished guest panellists, 8
exhibitions, and 5 concerts. There
were 2 catalogues published –
one general and one Greek - , 2
programmes – one detailed and
one brief – 5 monographs – 3 on
foreign and 2 on Greek directors , 2 publications on national cinemas and one thematic publication
– most of them both in English and
Greek.
The above events were attended
by a total of 153,065 viewers from
Greece and abroad, a record number for the last years, and an increase of 26.5 % over last year.
Three other areas showed an increase over last year as well: sales
of the cineΚΑΡΤΑf membership
cards went up 37.38%, the book
store’s sales up by 113.08% and
website hits by 38.1% .
And all this took place in what is by
definition the most cinematic city of
Greece, Thessaloniki, which offers
our foreign visitors the opportunity
to see other landmarks from the
city’s past and present, from its ancient and Byzantine monuments,
passages and cohabitations of
peoples and religions, to its contemporary aesthetic. Landscapes of
FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
a living metropolis, a crossroads of
civilizations, a commercial center,
a multicultural place, a film location.
BEYOND THE 10 DAYS
OF THE FESTIVAL
The November event might be the
year’s highpoint for the Festival,
but in no case is it the only one.
Particularly in the last few years,
the Thessaloniki International Film
Festival has been broadening its
presence with events and programmes in many towns in Northern Greece, the Aegean islands
and of course Athens, while as of
this year it begins its activities
abroad. During the year TIFF organizes retrospectives dedicated to
leading, world-acclaimed film directors and national cinemas, and
thematic tributes, hosts or co-organizes festivals, participates in
broader cultural events and scientific conferences.
For the period of fall 2006 to fall
2007, the following have been
scheduled and are taking place:
Central Events:
• Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Images of the 21st century, in March, one of Europe’s
leading documentary festivals.
• Videodance Festival, in May,
annual festival dedicated to
films related to dance, choreography and movement.
• And of course our next edition,
the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, November, 16-25, 2007
Festivals:
• Agon – the 6th International
Meeting of Archeological Films
of the Mediterranean
• The 8th Festival of Francophone
Cinema
• The 2nd Crashfest Festival of
Student and Youth Films
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Participation in cultural events:
• 4th International Thessaloniki
Book Festival
• 1st Biennale of Modern Art in
Thessaloniki
• Dimitria 2007 in Thessaloniki
Thematic tributes
• “Prick up your ears”: Cinema
and Music
• “Film at the Centerline”: Football and Film
• Collaboration between the Film
Festival and the “Agapi” Social
Service Organization on family
violence
• The “Anoikeio”: Psychoanalysis and Cinema
• Magnum in Motion
• 9th Panorama of Gay Films
• Sex, Problems and Cinema, Νο 7
Tributes to national cinemas
• Icelandic, Slovakian and Scandinavian Cinema
Tributes to Directors
• Peter Whitehead, Carol Reed
and Hayao Myazaki
Conferences
• Cinema and Mass Media
The Actor between the stage and
the screen
Activities in Greece
• Fertile Infertile Line
• Regional Screenings
Activities in Athens
• The Thessaloniki International
Film Festival in Athens
• Jan Svankmajer in Athens
• Brazilian Cinema in Athens
• DigitalWave in Athens
Activities abroad
• “Immigration in Greek Cinema”
on the move
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FILM TRAINING
Having as always the aim of expanding training horizons and developing
a meaningful dialogue between the
teaching community and the 7th art,
the Thessaloniki International Film
Festival organizes a series of innovative activities which seek to give
a creative and alternative way of
viewing cinema to students and
teachers. In collaboration with the
Ministry of Education, with academic
institutions and educational organizations, it has created versatile
programming with adapted programmes for each educational stage.
The aim of these programmes is to
contribute to the creation of an audience educated in cinema and the
audiovisual arts, in an age when it
is being bombarded with all sorts of
images, leading it to a new kind of
“electro-visual” illiteracy. A special
place in this section is reserved for
the programme for elementary level
students “A Stroll through the Magic
of Cinema”, as well as – for higher
education students – the Masterclasses and Round Table discussions taking place during the ten
days in November.
DEVELOPMENT IN THE HEART
OF THE BALKANS, SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE AND THE
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
In the last two years, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival
has given great emphasis to the
developmental in cinema, focusing
on Greece, the Balkans, SouthEastern Europe and the Eastern
Mediterranean. These regions,
marked by history as none other in
the last century, have a great many
stories waiting to be told and a cinematic ability with a powerful potential for development.
FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL EVENTS
TIFF is here to lend a hand by
giving opportunities to local film industries to enter the international
market. In line with its desire to
promote Greece as the preferred
place for developmental and creative opportunities, TIFF contributes specific and tangible work
in the field of cinema with a series
of activities that support the film
markets of the wider area to grow
to an international level.
In 2006, during our most recent,
47th edition, we created the Industry Centre, which was housed in a
new venue in the Thessaloniki
Harbour Organization Building
Complex, next to the Warehouses
which host a significant portion of
our activities thoughout the year.
All the development related activites of the Festival were placed
under the aegis of the Industry
Centre and they confirmed it to as
the meeting point of the market
with art, dream with realization, information with dialogue. The aim
of this initiative is to meet the
needs of filmmakers from Greece,
the Balkans, South-Eastern Europe
and the Eastern Mediterranean
by means of ground breaking inititatives, varied activities and new
training programmes, based on
consultations with the industry.
Essentially, this is an institution
that serves as an umbrella for a series of specialized programmes,
specifically:
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The Balkan Fund, the TIFF
Script Development Fund,
since 2003 has been helping
filmmakers from the Balkan region and Greece to bring to life
their artistic vision. One of the
first projects it funded, the
film Grbavica, won the Golden
Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
this year. Through the Balkan
Fund the sovereign position of
Thessaloniki is reaffirmed as a
cultural center for cinema in
the wider area.
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The TIFF Co-Production Forum
Crossroads since 2005 creates
and offers a framework for collaboration between directors
and producers from the Balkans, the Mediterranean and
South-Eastern Europe and representatives from large production, distribution and sales
companies from Europe and
around the world. It supports
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the producers of fiction films
which are connected to the areas of the Mediterranean and
the Balkans, connecting them
with a network of financiers,
co-producers, and important
players from the international
film industry.
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Agora - The TIFF Market aims to
strengthen the promotion and
distribution of the films participating in all sections of the
Festival, as well as the development of an Annual Film Market geographically focused on
and having a major influence
on the region of the Balkans,
the Mediterranean and NorthEastern Europe. During the
47th International Thessaloniki
Film Festival, in the context of
the Agora, 395 films from
Greece, the Balkans, SE Europe
and the SE Mediterranean
were viewed 2,500 times.
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The Salonica Studio – The TIFF
Student Workshops, a workshop in which graduating students from Mediterranean,
Balkan and European film
schools attend hands on seminars on international financing
and sales, special screenings
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and all the development activities of the Festival that relate
to their area of interest.
WAITING FOR
THE 48th EDITION
The Festival is a great celebration for
all who are curious about the creative productions of today, catering
to the interests of the audience of
today and tomorrow. And at the
same time it is an exhibition of the
audiovisual productions of our era,
a live market of the most noble and
charming achievements of the imagination of talented artists. A contemporary audiovisual exhibition in
which fiction meets rationalism,
culture a celebration, art the market.
The aim of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival is, while respecting film history, to be a place
of discovery of new trends, to meet
the needs of the international film
market, to give a platform to directors, to play a meaningful training
and educational role, to be a youthful hub of life and creative discussion for its visitors.
USEFUL LINKS
www.hellenicfestival.gr
www.filmfestival.gr