The 25th Olympia International Film Festival For Children and Young People and the 22nd Camera Zizanio have returned to theaters without restrictions to celebrate 25 years of the biggest youth film festival.
The opening of the Festival took place yesterday at the packed “Apollo” in Pyrgos, the heart of the event, with two former “Zizania” presenters: Maria Asmi and Irini Zeza – a choice representative of the Festival’s philosophy of actively involving children – who they start as spectators and along the way become a “part” of it.
The ceremony began with a small tribute to the great creator Robiros Manthoulis (1929-2022), a dear friend of the Festival, who recently passed away. Having participated many times in the Olympia Festival, passing on to children the precious essence of his cinematic knowledge, Robiros Mantholis was unforgettable for young and old alike.
In the short video shown, Nikos Theodosiou recorded some of these moments, with Manthoulis himself confessing how he was introduced to the cinema: “I was young, and while watching a movie from a hole in Serres, I tripped and fell on a electrified wire that the cinematographer had put up, to deter viewers like me.
“I was shaken, but maybe from this electric shock I became a director!”
Elsewhere he characteristically says, “What an entire state does not do, within thousands of hours of public education lessons, that is to introduce children to audiovisual art, the Olympia Festival does with enormous success.”
Taking the floor, the Mayor of Pyrgos, Takis Antonakopoulos, welcomed the visitors “to the cradle of Olympic values, where, just as Apollo prevailed in his battle with Mercury, so art fights its own battle to win the souls of children. As a Municipality, we are proud that Pyrgos is the start of the Festival, which is now an institution, and we are happy that with the help of the Region, its future permanent facilities have been secured, a project announced by the previous government and continued by the current government. Because Culture unites and we resist the black cloud of war as best we can.”
Afterwards, the prizes of the 3rd Panhellenic Student Competition “Gender in the foreground” on the topic of gender discrimination, held in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Demographic and Family Policy and Gender Equality, were awarded.
It is worth mentioning that the prize-winning children of the 4th Gymnasium of Alexandroupoli “Theodoros Kastanos” were inspired by the script for their film “You Can” “from the murder of Xevrie who succumbed to her injuries a year ago”. And from all the unfortunate women – victims of gender-based violence, exploitation and sexual abuse. “No one is alone, no one is alone” concluded the message sent by the children from Alexandroupolis, causing warm applause.
Their own prize for the film “The Cycle of Violence” was received by the children of EPAL Almyros Magnesia themselves, who, as their teacher said, are already working on a program on gender violence.
Then the judging panels and the four competition programs of the Olympia Festival were presented: Long Fiction Films, Short Fiction Films, Short Animation Films, “KIDS & DOCS” (documentaries for children).
The popular Camera Zizanio, which this year presents 210 films from 31 countries, awarding prizes by age category. This year’s program of the Festival includes dozens of film workshops in various cities of Ilia and of course in Pyrgos (for the first time also in Xystri Park). And this year there were people, who crossed half the planet to come to the festival, one of the most important of its kind internationally. Only in the multinational filmmaking workshop Mythos Project, 100 children from 17 countries participate.
As part of this year’s event, an important version of the Festival will be presented: the emblematic “Cinema case” by Alain Bergala, president of this year’s jury. The presentation of the book will take place on Friday, together with a masterclass of the important French critic, former editor-in-chief of the legendary Cahiers du Cinema, and professor of Cinema Pedagogy.
The program of the coming week also includes masterclasses by the veteran cinematographer Nikos Kavoukidis in collaboration with the Skasiarcheo, as well as the 5th Olympia Creative Ideas Pitching Lab for film professionals, who plan a short film for children and young people.
The deputy regional governor for culture and tourism, Nikolaos Korovesis, addressing the organizers of the festival, said: “You have been educating our children for 25 years now and you are raising issues that are more relevant than ever with what is happening next to our homes… At the same time, you are strengthening the extroversion and economic development of area. So the Region must support you. We have already renewed our programming contract for the next three years. The Region of Western Greece will support this important institution.”
Taking the floor, the artistic director and “soul” of the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Youth, Dimitris Spyrou, gave a small retrospective of the institution: “We started at the end of the last century: in 1997. We decided to make Pyrgos and Amaliada a point of reference for cinema for children and young people and for film education in Greece. Unknown words then. But because we were well aware that audiovisuals have a great influence on children and young people, it was necessary to take this initiative.
In these 25 years we have implemented a number of innovative programs, important publications, screenings in all prefectures of the country, collaborations with public bodies, universities, schools, programs for social groups with limited access to art, the disabled, young prisoners, refugees, second chance schools . For us, it was and is very important that the Public School has access to audio-visual art.”
“In these 25 years, a lot has changed in society and in education, the needs of the children themselves have also changed, so the Festival itself is also changing. But something never changes: the protagonists of the Olympia Festival are the children themselves. We are simply fellow travelers and animators of this effort. And we know very well that if children do not come into contact with art during their school years, it is most likely that they never will. And this is very negative for their mental development…”
In closing, he emphasized that “yes, 25 years is a quarter of a century. And there is a great need to create infrastructure. Our new space at the raisin factory of ASO, in Pyrgos, can take off the Festival, stimulate the cultural life of the city, and contribute to the economic development of the region. I thank the teachers of Ilia Prefecture from the bottom of my heart. The Festival cannot function without them. Also, the local government and of course the citizens who proved that all these years they deserve this festival and much more than this Festival”.
In closing, Vassilis Yiannopoulos, deputy governor of Ilia and chairman of the Organizing Committee, officially announced the start of the Festival.
“For another year, the Festival of our hearts is here, 25 years now, far from restrictions and discrimination. Looking back to 1997, I want to commemorate three people: the initiator of the festival Dimitris Spyrou, the tireless and always young Nikos Theodosiou and of course the cornerstone, the president of the Steering Committee Christos Konstantopoulos. Who would have imagined that this Festival would develop into one of the most important internationally?”
And he underlined “This year’s Festival, beyond its 25th anniversary, I believe has a special significance: we should highlight and remind its important founding values and its child-centered view in a society where the phenomena of child abuse are increasing. We don’t sweep such issues under the carpet! On the contrary, we need such actions to fight the social rot that is around us”.
The opening ceremony ended with the Orchestra and Choir of the School of Byzantine Music of the Ilia Metropolis performing three wonderful songs by Mikis Theodorakis.
This Sunday, at 7 pm, the Kids & Docs Opening Event will take place at the Cine Cinema in Amaliada. It is worth mentioning that the film “Touching the dream” (10′) of the Alimos Music School will be shown, which records the interaction and experiences between sighted and visually impaired students in the classroom, during breaks and in the school’s music ensembles . An example of inclusion to fight stereotypes and discrimination and accept diversity. The children – actors of the film will attend the screening, while after the film the children’s band will play live.
For More information about the 25th Olympia International Festival For Children and Young People visit olympiafestival.gr.
This year’s festival will be held until December 10 in 12 cities, but immediately after its physical presence, part of its activities will be transferred online from December 10 to December 18 for children and young people from all over Greece to participate through the digital platform online.olympiafestival.gr.
Participation in the screenings and other activities of the 25th Olympia International Festival For Children and Young People and the 22nd Camera Zizanio is free.
The Olympia International Festival For Children and Young People is organized on the basis of a programming contract of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Region of Western Greece and KOINSEP Olympia Festival with the cooperation of the Youth Plan.
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