Thursday, June 4th , 2020

PRESS RELEASE

 The Official Program of “Beyond Borders” Documentary Festival, Castellorizo

A total of 24 documentaries (18 feature/ medium length and 6 short lengh) from 18 different countries, will be competing at the 5th "Beyond the Borders”  International Documentary Festival, which will be held between August 23rd -30th, 2020 in Castellorizo island, Greece.

Once again, the official program includes a collection of compelling films from around the world.

Please, find below the Documentaries:

Feature/ Medium Length:

1)      Y1-Silence of the Deep// Philippos Vardakas, Greece, 2019, 93’

Synopsis: 14.09.1943: The legendary Submarine "Y1 – L. Katsonis" sank north of the island of Skiathos by the German submarine chaser UJ 2101.The narration through the book of XO Elias Tsoukalas who escapes capture and swims for 9 hours to the coast, secret documents and crew members' diaries are unfolding the human stories that are woven around the submarine.75 years later, with the support of the Hellenic Navy, we search for the submarine, sunk at 253m depth and film the wreck for the very first time.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/385021656

2)      In my Blood it Runs// Maya Newell, Australia, 85’

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/dmahNqD3Dvw

3)      Princes among men//  Stephan Crasneanscki, France, 2017, 84’

Synopsis: After the upheavals in the Danube, we meet the Roma, this numerous minority in Europe. Princes Among Men is an ode to the culture of the Roma ethnic group, inextricably linked to music, ideas of freedom and an uncontrollable thirst for life.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/236724527

4)      Yiorgos of Kedros // Yiannis Kolozis, Greece 2020, 82’

Synopsis: A journey in time through the eyes of two generations of filmmakers, at the same remote island in Greece from the '70s until now. Yiorgos Kolozis went to Donoussa for the first time in 1972, there was no electricity or tourists then. Staying alone at Kedros beach, he acquired the name "Yiorgos of Kedros". Yiorgos' death in 2009 led Yiannis, his son, to continue his work, creating a story in which time is treated as a reconsideration of the present moment.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/fo3oIRIMLxc

5)      Marceline, The best Clown in the World// Germán Roda, Spain, 2020, 80’

Synopsis: Marcelino Orbés, born in Jaca (Spain), was the best clown in the world from 1900 to 1914, triumphing in London and New York. He was the best and most famous in the largest entertainment industry of the time. He was a clown, acrobat and comedian admired by Charles Chaplin and considered the best in the world by Buster Keato.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/wxxBhdDrWg8

6)      The Kiosk// Alexandra Pianelli , France,2020, 78’

Synopsis: In Kiosk, Alexandra, a young visual artist, uses her phone to film a diary of the time she spent helping her mother run a news kiosk on a fancy Paris square, a franchise the family has held for a century. The filmmaker is amused to play shopkeeper, discovering the trade and joking with customers and fellow merchants. Inside the tiny capsule, Alexandra draws and films the world as it turns. But the print industry is collapsing, and the little game is less fun than expected.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/396647448

7)      Labyrinth// Dimitris Athanitis, Greece, 75’

Synopsis: In the heart of Athens, there is another city. A hidden city. Α city living for almost a century and more, under the artificial light. This is a doc about the labyrinth of the arcades and the people living, working and creating in there, for two and three generations. A doc about their past, their presence, their  future.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Zv0fw7yJ5Ro

8)      Once more unto the breach// Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini, Italy, 2019, 70’

Synopsis: An Italian soldier, born to a Russian mother, is called to the Eastern Front. As a speaker of Russian, he is one of the few Italian soldiers who can communicate with enemy prisoners and the local population. The horrors of war and the ghosts of a hostile land encroach upon him and it is clear that an “easy” victory was just an illusion. In a last desperate attempt to escape his fate, he decides to desert. Like thousands of other fellow soldiers, his body will disappear in the frost of Ukrainian winter. Seventy years later, those same places are again the scene of war, destruction and death.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/358052163

9)      Mirador// Antón Terni, Uruguay, 70’

Synopsis: Pablo lives in Uruguay, in a remote area of untamed nature. He spends his time crafting liquor and recording poems on old cassettes. He is self-contained but not lonesome. Oscar and Valeria are his inseparable friends with whom he constantly jokes around. As the camera zooms in on their everyday adventures, one almost fails to notice a minor detail: all three are blind. A tender documentary that reminds us that the eyes of the soul can find the missing thread even amidst darkness. A low-key elegy to the exhilarating forces of friendship and companionship that light up our path in life.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/328528028

10)   Silent Fish // Andreas Loukakos, Thodoris Chondrogiannos, Greece, 2020, 70’

Synopsis: Despite the European Union’s commitment to put an end to overfishing by 2020, the Mediterranean remains the most overfished sea on the planet, in the era of climate change. Traveling across the Mediterranean, the film captures the lives of fishermen who struggle to make ends meet and are at risk of becoming an “endangered species” due to bankrupt EU and national policies.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/386007275

11)   The New Plastic Road// Angelos Tsaousis & Myrto Papadopoulos, Greece- Germany, 2019,66’

Synopsis: Davlat is a Tajik merchandiser and a humble father of three children. A well respected businessman in the Pamir area, a mountainous region southeast of Tajikistan in the borders with China. His life has been transformed since the opening of the Tajik-Chinese border and the reconstruction of the old Silk Road: A road full of surprises and new experiences for Davlat and his family.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/99J-a7ppn58

12)   1944// Fatima Osmanova, Ukraine, 2019, 62’

Synopsis: In 1944 Crimean Tatars has suffered a long road in exile. It was accompanied by famine, illness and loss. In the first years of exile, almost half of deported Crimean Tatars died. But those, who survived, dreamed of only one thing – to return to Crimea.

13)   Cerro Quemado//  Juan Pablo Ruiz, Angentina, 2019, 62’

Synopsis: Cerro Quemado is the portrait of three women of coya genealogy, a picture of them being reunited in the ancestral land where they were born. It is about the journey of Micaela Chauque and her mother in search of Micaela's grandmother, the last inhabitant of the desert area in northern Argentina. The long and difficult journey of these two women, through hills and valleys, leads to a moving and sensitive encounter with the old woman whose persistent roots turned her into a hermit.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/8M6OSQPCvRA

14)   Ο Spiros and the Circle of Death// Dimitris Kafidas and Lino Kafidas, Greece-Belgium, 2020, 56’

Synopsis: Spiros is a motorcycle acrobat of the Circle of Death (acrobatics performed inside a huge barrel) and the last one in Greece who is doing it. He lives a nomadic life, going from fairground to fairground, together with his family, his caravan and a few acrobats who often abandon him. A life full of tensions and insecurities in a country in crisis. His father was a legend of the Circle of Death but also his grandfather, his uncle and his brother were well known names. A 50 year old family tradition. Will he be able to keep making a living and save this dying profession? Will he be the last one or will his sons continue the family tradition? A human portrait of an old fashioned acrobat in a rapidly changing world.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/dvK9qGK4xoQ

15)   Mother Tongue// Shai Alexandroni, Israel, 2018, 56’

Synopsis: Four women in their 60s speak about their charged relationships with their late mothers. Their stories also involve the power relations in the family and with their children.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/257295594

16)   The Abode. Who are we? //Eleonora Tukhareli, Russia, 2019, 54’

Synopsis: Solovetsky Monastery was built in 15th century. It’s a sacral place, in its history Holiness and tragedy was merged, unity with God and the terrible challenges of the special purpose camp. This is a place where today everyone is looking for an answer to the main question “who am I”. The main character of the film goes there to shoot his documentary, and everything starts to go wrong.

17)   Lessons in Humanity// Branko Istvancic, Croatia, 2019, 53’

Synopsis: Croatian veterans from Pakrac, working with some of the medical personnel of the Pakrac hospital, saved around three hundred patients from certain death in a humanitarian evacuation organized on the evening of 29th September 1991. Most of them three hundred patients were Serbians from the psychiatry ward. The people who participated in the evacuation were presented with the Charter of Heroes of Humanity. The film is based on the same book by Veljko Djordjevic.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/mHUx8r2yZGQ

18)   Vostok N°20// Elisabeth Silveiro, France, 2018, 49’

Synopsis: Amidst the hassle, the common meals, the boredom and the confessions with strangers, people spend their time in any way they can in wagon number 20 of the Trans-Siberian train. In the form of a literary contrast, the feelings of the passengers are illuminated: their loneliness and their desire for freedom and love.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/329819275

Short Length:

1)      Then comes the evening// Maja Novaković, Serbia, 2019, 27’

Synopsis: The documentary depicts the bittersweet life of two grannies living isolated on the hills of Eastern Bosnia. Nature is the entity with which they speak, listen to and respect. Intangible cultural heritage is emphasized through chants and rituals for taming the adverse weather, hail, and storm. Poetic tone of the frames relies on references from genre scenes of realism paintings.

Trailer:  https://youtu.be/2uYUhrJvbpQ

2)      The Expert// Carlota Coronado,Clara Roca, Spain, 2019, 23’

Synopsis: Everything is born with a riddle. A riddle with a very simple answer, but for many people the answer is not so obvious. Why ?

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/325904098

3)      Uzzi// Ido Weisman, Israel, 2018, 21’

Synopsis: At the age of 94, Professor Uzzi Ornan continues his lifelong struggle to defend the Cosmic and Democratic image of the State of Israel. His latest effort is to secure civilian rights in the state in which he lives.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/mEHEddIbVyg

4)      Hopeless// Zehra Yiğit, Turkey, 2020, 18’

Synopsis: The film focuses on undocumented male Afghan migrants, who are living in illegal housing (gecekondu) in the holiday paradise of Turkey, Antalya. The characters are aged between 15 to 25 and they all are working on recycling of paper and plastics. While cleaning the city and participating in the recycling of waste, they themselves are seen as the “wastes” of the paradise. They try to save money from recycling and send some to Afghanistan where their families live. Meanwhile, they live as a family at the suburbs of the city. They gather at home, eating together and sometimes playing cricket at the weekends.

5)      Blessings and Vows// Katerina Zaharia, USA, 2018, 15’

Synopsis: Blessings and Vows introduces the octogenarian caretaker of an 11th century church in southern Greece, who true to her vow for half a century, lit a candle daily. This act of piety contributes to her personal sense of identity as much as to the collective identity of the village by asserting the connection to the particular place, keeping alive customs of the village’s forbearers. The pastiche of various historical periods in the building of the church, and the diachronic preservation of the church across ten centuries sustains collective identity claims for the villagers. The short documentary explores the sense of historical continuity sustained by memory, belief, imagination and narrative.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/306981479

6)      The story of Yannis// Voula Germanakou-Kopsini, Germany- Greece, 2019, 14’

Synopsis: Yannis was a Pontic refuge from Crimea who came in Piraeus in 1919. Through the eyes of his great-granddaughter, the film follows his life journey like a personal diary where the historical events are intertwined in the notes of its owner, while he himself, without realizing it, is part of the recent history of Greece and the refugee issue.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/315012491

«Beyond Borders» is organized by the Hellenic History Foundation, in co-organization with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris) and the Society for the Restoration of Megisti, Castellorizo (Sydney), held under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad, of the Municipality of Megisti, and the Embassies of Australia, the U.S. and Israel in Athens. The main sponsors are the Hellenic Parliament, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Secretariat General for the Aegean and Island Policy, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation and EKOME Media.

For more information, please visit the Festival’s official website: www.beyondborders.gr/en or contact the Festival directly at info@beyondborders.gr

Click here to watch the advertising spot of the 5th “Beyond Borders” 2020 at https://youtu.be/Qir-laO8vJw and the snapshots of last year’s edition at https://youtu.be/DZC7gacfCAM