Ethnofest programme 2015 (en)

26-29.11 EXILE ROOM 6th ATHENS ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM FESTIVAL Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

WEDNESDAY 25.11 20:00 News From Home Special Screening

by Chantal Akerman There are some the filmmakers who have contributed in the formation, evolution and prominence of the relationship between film and visual anthropology, and the pioneer director Chantal Akerman, is certainly one of them. The main reason for this is because some of Akerman’s films have a close relation with the notion of "diaspora" and this is one of the reasons that film studies are not the only academic area interested in her work.

News from Home, probably her most influential film in this process, is well known as "diasporic and epistolary narrative" documentary whose story is based on letters that her mother sends to her while she was living in New York and it is not only a great film but also a characteristic example of how a film can influence many aspects beyond the cinematic world.

This year we have the chance to screen it in Athens, wishing only that the occasion was a different one and not her sudden loss that shocked us last October.

THURSDAY 26.11 18:30 British Born Chinese Panorama

Directed by: Elena Barabantseva & Andy Lawrence. 48’ (U.K.) Α film about Daniel and Kevin, two school boys born to Chinese migrants and living in Manchester. It engages their everyday struggles of reconciling their Britishness with Chineseness through their experiences at school, as volunteers at a community centre, and at home, aiming to uncover new dimensions to understanding the ways the subjects experience their life worlds, but also reduce the epistemic violence of dominant visual forms of representation.

19:30 Dowsing the Past: Materialities of Civil War Memories Panorama

Directed by: Konstantinos Kalantzis. 50’ (Greece) – Filmmaker in attendance A film about memory and material culture in Thessaly. It is centered on a journey undertaken by two local men, a visual anthropologist, and two cinematographers hoping to find anything related to the biographies of their siblings, which were lost during the Greek Civil War.

The Girls are Here

With the support of the Institut Français de Grèce, where the film will be screened.

Sina 31, Athens

Directed by: Natalia Koutsougera. 45’ (Greece) – Filmmaker in attendance This film captures the everyday lives of two young girls who practice freestyle hip-hop, popping, locking, waacking and house dance, and explores the ways transnational hip-hop and competition dance styles are embodied by female street dancers and unravels aspects and perceptions of their femininity and gender identity in a male-dominated hip-hop dance scene.

21:45 In Praise of Shadows Student

Directed by: Kayla Reopelle & Εvan Raymond Spitzer. 34’ (U.S.A., Germany) "In Praise of Shadows" is a poetic portrayal of Tony, Gwen, and Leah Bella as they live their life in Upstate New York with no electricity, gas, internet, or cell phones. Their lifestyle, though unconventional, furthers the question of what is necessary in our lives.

Plateful of Junk Directed by: Adéla Košařová & Radka Mezníková. 12’ (Czech Republic) The film is a document about phenomenon "dumpster diving" that is picking food or other objects from dumpsters behind the supermarkets. People who participate in this activity, are trying to re-use the discarded and often still edible food, and thereby protest against this form of excessive wastefulness.

FRIDAY 27.11 16:00 Nobel Nok Dah Themed Section

“...Only holds the mallet...” Tinian Marble-Carving Today

Directed by: Emily Hong & Miasarah Lai & Mariangela Mihai. 23’ (U.S.A.) The film offers an intimate view into the lives of three refugee women from Burma, whose eventually meet when they resettle in New York. The film traces glimmers of subjectivity that complicate any singular narrative of the refugee experience.

What Life is like Here Directed by: Marlene Wynants. 30’ (Germany/UK/Serbia) Jasmina, Toplica and Claudia live in an informal settlement on the outskirts of Belgrade and, like other Roma families, they live in extreme poverty as a result of discrimination and exclusion. This film looks into the struggles of making a living on the margins of society and it explores how the protagonists remember life in Western Europe.

by Silas Michalakas & Yiannis N. Drinis Marble-carving is a craft that dates back at least in the 14th c AD. It is interwooven with the island of Tinos and especially with the Panormos community, providing local people with a strong sense of historical and cultural identity.

20:00 Roma Short Stories Panorama

Directed by: Stavros Psillakis. 67’ (Greece) – Filmmaker in attendance Athanasia, Theodore, George, Chrysoula live and move around Zefiri, Menidi and the surrounding areas. Through stories they tell of their lives, their individual unique character slowly unfolds with dreams, hopes and disappointments, just like any of us, but with a very particular heritage.

A Dream School in the Steppes

Me and the Others

Directed by: Güliz Sağlam. 55’ (Turkey) – Filmmaker in attendance This film draws us from the half-lit corridors of a hospital to the village, to childhood and dreams, and into the world of a passionate cinéaste, Ahmet Uluçay, who had to face the fact that he had a brain tumor, and had his first operation 12 years ago.

Directed by: Thelyia Petraki. 53’ (Greece) – Filmmaker in attendance The documentary describes the last year of operation of the Zanneio Child Care and Education Foundation, which has made a significant contribution since 1874. While recording the daily life in the Institution, we meet the children, their educators and the staff which, after 130 years, we encounter at its prime.

18:00 INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE This year we are inaugurating, in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and, specifically, the Division of the Modern Cultural Assets and Intangible Cultural Heritage, themed section "Intangible Cultural Heritage", opening the dialogue to investigate in depth this notion. Filmmakers in attendance

Not All Plants Dye by Yiannis Markakis Εleni Anipsitaki - Daouraki, teacher, folklorist and founder of the Folklore Museum of Sitia, talks about dyeing, the technique of fast coloring of yarns with natural colors.

Warble the bagpipes by Dimitris Kitsikoudis In this film, two bagpipes players from the old generation unroll the history of bagpipes in Evros and talk about the years of the "deafening silence" of this instrument and they show their anxiety about its future.

The Mirror’s Bride by Despina Pantazi Pomacs live in the mountain scenery of Rodopi in Greece and Bulgaria and, despite the violent change in their language, religion and physiognomy, the matrimony custom is still followed in a small village in Bulgaria.

22:15 Haraka Baraka: Movement is a Blessing Student

Directed by: Lana Askari. 27’ (U.K.) After having lived in the Netherlands for over 20 years, the director’s parents decide to return back to Kurdistan and the film follows them whilst addressing the renegotiation of belonging, temporality and future during a (seemingly) timeless crisis.

Swamp Dialogues Directed by: Ildikó Zonga Plájás. 53’ (The Netherlands) The Danube Delta in Romania - the "Last European Sanctuary" - is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While major efforts are made to protect biodiversity, the plight of local communities is largely overlooked.

The Lost Land Directed by: Daria Fedyaeva. 29’ (Russia) Tatiana and Sergey came to this place when more than two thousand people lived in this village. There was a school, a hospital, a movie theatre. There were jobs. Now, they are the last inhabitants of a village on Chukotka, watching it suffer the same fate as many other villages in Russia.

SATURDAY 28.11 11:00 CONFERENCE Themed Section

The themed section this year includes a conference, during which we will investigate the way "the crisis of representation" is explicitly connected with the financial, social, political and existential crises experienced everyday.

14:30 Mariupol (work in progress) Themed Section

Directed by: Mantas Kvedaravicius. 60’ (Lithuania, France, Germany, Ukraine) – Filmmaker in attendance As the bombs fall in the outskirts of Mariupolis and gun battles are louder than the church bells, a Greek play is being rehearsed in the House of Culture. A film which is challenging the dominant image of a war zone and what happens when it feels like war is coming to a city.

16:00 MASTERCLASS Themed Section

The masterclass, which will be conducted by social anthropologist and director Mantas Kvedaravicius, will focus on the relation and the distinction between ethnographic film, documentary and fiction film. It will offer useful information on the process of film production and distribution, giving the opportunity to anyone who is already involved in film experimentation to discuss their plans.

17:45 SUMMER SCHOOL – Filmmakers in attendance 32 students from all over the world came together for three weeks in Athens in order to be "exposed" to visual anthropology and its contemporary tendencies, and work in groups in order to make a film. Now, after a few months, the students had the chance to re-think their experience and their projects, and we will present the final product -the 10 films- of their research in Athens in this special section of our festival, hoping that this is the starting point of a permanent section in our programme.

21:00 Trans X Istanbul Themed Section

Directed by: Maria Binder. 109’ (Turkey, Germany) – Filmmakers in attendance Thousands of Trans*Women live in the big cities of Turkey and crimes against them are mostly not investigated. Ebru, a Trans*Woman from Istanbul, fights against the displacement and murder of her companions. She wants to change Turkish society with humour, self-irony and political acumen.

23:00 Solaris Student

Directed by: Pavel Borecký. 25’ (Estonia) The movie exposes closing hours and night time, the heartbeat of a Tallinn shopping mall – a place built to entertain and mirror the world. This dialogue-free sensory ethnography will invite you to question the limits between the body and the world in one of the most vibrant urban ecosystems.

Strange Beasts: The Private Life of an English Dairy Farm Directed by: Kriston Jackson. 18’ (England) Set on the outskirts of the Bowland Fells, the film is a sensory exploration into the realms of an English dairy farm, observing the peculiar existence shared between man and one of the most fundamental creatures in human history: the cow.

Berlenga Grande Directed by: Vítor Carvalho. 21’ (Portugal) An island off the coast of Portugal: a seaside resort during the summer, a protected reserve for the rest of the year. Only the lighthouse keepers live there in winter. An immersion into solitude and the natural elements, filmed with a sense of framing that blends man into his environment.

SUNDAY 29.11 17:00 City Play Student

Directed by: Paloma Yáñez Serrano. 31’ (U.K., Egypt) This film, shot in Cairo, is a journey shown in two screens contrasting the different roles children can take in the city and later how those roles transform as they grow up.

To Work is to Grow. Organised Child Workers and Their Demands Directed by: Léa Klaue. 32’ (Norway, Bolivia) Gerald, Ruben, Neysa and their friends are children and adolescents who work as wheelbarrow pushers at the market and as prayer boys at the cemetery in the region of Cochabamba in Bolivia. They are also part of Bolivia’s working children’s labor union, through which they defend their right to work in front of the authorities.

18:00 Eat Your Children Themed Section

Directed by: Treasa O’Brien & Mary Jane O’Leary. 78’ (Ireland) – Filmmakers in attendance Αn inside-out activist film, a provocation that attempts to document the invisible. It is a road-trip quest by two friends who emigrated from Ireland during the financial crash of 2008 and who have now returned to probe Ireland’s so-called acceptance of debt and austerity.

19:45 Islam’s Wedding... and Other Bedouin Stories from the Naqab Panorama

Directed by: Yiannis Kanakis. 50’ (U.K.) – Filmmaker in attendance The film traces the stories of different Bedouin residents of Rahat and Laqiya (two of the seven Bedouin townships built by the Israeli authorities to settle the semi-nomadic Arab Bedouin population of the Naqab) and tries to investigate the ways the young and old hade been coped with the forced shift to urban life.

21:00 Roaring Abyss Panorama

Directed by: Quino Pinero. 86’ (UK, Ethiopia, Spain) If you go out around music bars and venues in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, you will enjoy a very characteristic scene, but if you want to get an idea of the different sounds from the country, you will get a very narrow view of it. In order to unveil the music universe and keep a record of this endangered music tradition, the filmmaker spent two years performing field recordings around every corner of Ethiopia, documented in this audiovisual poem.

EXILE ROOM Athinas 12, 3rd floor, Monastiraki.

The entrance is free of charge and on a first-come-first-serve basis.

All screenings have English subtitles.

Given the urgent needs of the refugee reception centres, we have decided to place collection boxes at the Festival’s venue, requesting the following items: — toiletries (shampoos, soaps, sanitary towels, razors, toilet paper, tooth paste, tooth brush) — baby products (powdered milk, powdered or bottled cream, diapers, baby wipes) — food such as biscuits, crackers, crisps, protein bars, nuts, sesame seed candy bars, dried fruit, single-serve juices and single-serve pasteurized milk — medicine for adults and children All collected items will be delivered to the refugee reception centre of Votanikos by the Festival.

Find out more about the films, directors and side events on

ethnofest.gr

www.ethnofest.gr