The Italian South & Western Greece met cinematically, through the tribute of INTERREG – CIAK, at the 23rd Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Youth which started on November 28 and ended on December 5 2020 with the support of the Region of Western Greece.
At this year’s Festival, which was organized digitally due to the pandemic, viewers had the opportunity to be the first in Greece to enjoy the film material produced by Interreg CIAK: “Common Initiatives to Acknowledge and valorize tourism potential of the program area through cinema” or “Joint Initiatives for the recognition and exploitation of the potential of tourism through cinema “.
The Regional Governor of Western Greece, Nektarios Farmakis, addressed a greeting, who in his message stated, among others: “It was an unprecedented event in an unprecedented year. But I think that this event, which due to a pandemic was carried out mainly with the help of technology, in addition to being completely successful, created a new plan, significant for the years coming. It turned out that the internet helped the festival to expand even more and create a cinematic meeting point for tens of thousands of people (…). Congratulations to the winners, to all the participants, to the organizers and the contributors. It is always a relief and a joy to see new creators and finally to realize the power of the human spirit. It is the power that will help us all emerge victorious from the ordeal we are going through. The power that makes this festival every year even better “.
On behalf of the Region of Western Greece, a greeting was addressed by the Deputy Regional Governor of Ilia and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Festival, Vassilis Giannopoulos, who pointed out: ” The Festival managed, under adverse conditions, to significantly increase its recognition, something that is proven by both the large number of visitors to its official website and the number of online screenings “.
The end of the Festival was also greeted by the museum educator and coordinator of the Evaluation Committees Irini Delidaki, the instructor Nikos Stampoulopoulos and the Artistic Director and soul of the Festival Dimitris Spyrou.
The curtain fell on the online event presented by the actress Nancy Boukli.
The 23rd International Olympia Festival exceeded all expectations with sold-out screenings not only in the feature and short films of its competition context but also in tributes, such as the one for the great Gianni Rodari. The workshops of the Festival, some of which are still going on, were also extremely interesting and very successful.
Its great impact throughout the country – with the characteristic dozens of relevant publications in many electronic and print media nationwide, many of which were also mentioned in the tribute INTERREG – CIAK, proved the thirst of the public for children’s and adolescent cinema and gave ideas for the future of the Festival, even when it returns to its natural space in Ilia, in the halls of Pyrgos and Amaliada.
The INTERREG – CIAK tribute to the Festival consists of ten short films produced by the Apulia Film Commission in the framework of the CIAK project funded by the Interreg VA Greece-Italy 2014-2020 program, with the works of young directors from the participating in the program Regions of Puglia, Epirus, Ionian Islands and Western Greece.
These are fiction films based on the memory and the common elements of Greece-Italy. The final result came after teamwork and collaboration of young filmmakers, and the response from the audience was especially encouraging.
Nine of the ten CIAK films were screened for the first time at the Olympia Festival. Detailed ticket reservations per title are: Allimonò (276), Angelo (95), Like in Mykonos (103), The Heavens (95), Mother Tongue (167), Lotus (162), The performance (109), The return (91) and Wavesland (110).