Photopolis Film Festival
Screening Program 2024
We announce the screening schedule of the 16 short films, selected from the 519 submitted to our open call, which will be screened at the Festival events on September 14 and 15.
The screening will take place at the municipal cinema “ELLINIS” in Agrinio.
All films are nominated for the two awards that will be presented (best film and best photography).
The qualifying committee consisted of the directors: Konstantinos Ioakeimidis, Zephy Ross and Nontas Sarlis.
The jury that will select the films that will receive the two awards consists of: Christina Balaska, Christos Manglinis and Dimitris Kourtis!
Saturday 14 September
Whistle
Director: Thanasis Protatos
Writer: Sotiria Ioannidou
Country of Origin: Greece
Duration: 19:13
A woman finds herself trapped at a friends reunion. To avoid boredom, she escapes the gathering. As she slowly sinks into the silent urban landscape, a series of events will start to unfold. Anastasia never pays any serious attention to these ever so slight changes around her, until the moment she discovers she is not alone… At the same time, in a recording studio, a director and a sound technician make final tweaks on a movie score. When left by themselves, late past midnight, they have an honest discussion. Their words reveal that demons exist not only in the imaginary world of a movie but also in the real one…
Bubbles
Director/Writer: Meri Dishinica
Country of Origin: Italy
Duration: 15:31
A forty-year-old woman named SOL, floats in a long-distance relationship bubble. She starts the day waiting for the wake-up call to accurately perform her morning ritual, which seems to be a video call with her longtime boyfriend FRED. He is so far away that the sunrise at Sol’s window marks the sunset at his’. They both look weary and on the verge of frustration as they wait to see each other for Christmas— so the story goes, for some bizarre reason, for the two of them to meet requires the crack of Fred’s bubble, which never occurs.
Sympoiesis
Director: Ana Baer, Rocio Luna
Country of Origin: Mexico
Duration: 6:35
El lago de Cuitzeo -Cuitzeo’s lake, (Mexico’s second largest), is in danger of extinction. Urban development, change of land use, fires and negligence are provoking its imminent drought.
Orca
Director: Nikita Ratnikov
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Duration: 8:10
A toy orca from a childhood appears in our heroes’ life. Now it looks like a big actual mammal which has a defined mission: lead the heroine from her everyday life to an adventure she was waiting for.
King's Garden
Director/Writer: Iraj Mohammadi Razini
Country of Origin: Iran
Duration: 07:08
Για να κερδίσει την καρδιά της αγαπημένης του, ένας εραστής πηγαίνει στον απαγορευμένο κήπο του βασιλιά για να μαζέψει λουλούδια…
On the Hill
Director: George Stagakis
Writer: Damianos Chrysochoidis
Country of Origin: Greece
Duration: 17:12
Transcriptionist, the operator of Epaminondas’ brain, records moments from Epaminondas’ life on post-it notes. Giannis, Epaminondas’ best friend, urges him to go on a hike in order for Epaminondas to forget his recent break-up. Time passes, Epaminondas becomes a father and years later he is staying in a nursing home while having dementia. Transcriptionist’s room is, now, in danger.
Fire extinguisher
Director/Writer: Rodrigo Sopena, Joana Solnado
Country of Origin: Spain
Duration: 05:00
Milagros is obliged to install a fire extinguisher in her chapel. But first she will have to ask someone’s permission…
Baby Ant
Director/Writer: Derya Uygurlar
Country of Origin: Turkey
Duration: 15:00
Tomorrow is an important day, Ayser will pay a visit to her husband in prison. But before then, she has to finish suing clothes to pay the lawyer, settle a dispute with her sister Emine and convince her daughter Deniz that children are not allowed in prison.
The Gift
Director/Writer: Dumitru Grosei
Country of Origin: Romania
Duration: 17:35
A kid gets a pair of binoculars as a Christmas gift, but what he wants more is to go hunting with his father
Sunday 15 September
The Armchair on the Pavement
Director/Writer: Mary Kolonia
Country of Origin: Greece
Duration: 14:53
An old song from the radio, suddenly triggers memories of youth to an elderly ex-army General suffering from dementia, making him momentarily recall the evening of his engagement to his wife. After a telephone from his old-time friend, a grocer, telling him that his favorite grape variety has finally arrived, a growing urge to reclaim his old freedom and independence make him secretly escape against the doctor’s warning. An unexpected incident seriously reverses the couple’s fragile daily routine, while unpredictably rekindles the spark of their life long flame. Can you ever forget love?
Why Won't You Dance?
Director/Writer: Penelope Mavropsaridi
Country of Origin: Greece
Duration: 15:00
Anna wants to find someone to talk to at the party. She wants to, but not really. Vasilis for sure doesn’t want to talk to Anna at the party. Their reluctant meeting will bring forth memories for Anna that she would much rather ignore.
Big Small War
Director/Writer: Myroslav Latyk
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Duration: 19:24
Galya does not give a shit about the Great War of Russia against Ukraine. The war is a thousand kilometers away from her village, lost in the middle of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. A small village, a tiny church, microscopic people with their huge problems. Galya knows about Orisya, who is constantly beaten by her husband. Galya knows about Lydka, from whom the man fled to France. But when Galya finds out that her son-in-law is cheating on her daughter, it’s a real disaster.
Fiori (Flowers)
Director/Writer: Kristian Xipolias
Country of Origin: Italy
Duration: 14:58
What would Antonio Ricci, the protagonist of “Bicycle Thieves”, do if he lived in Italy in 2021? Perhaps he would be like Manfredi, a forty-year-old man, unemployed and with no expectations, whose only chance is to become a rider. But to become a rider he needs a bicycle
Robert
Director/Writer: Mohammad Javad Haghani Fard
Country of Origin: Iran
Duration: 14:40
Its about an old man who wants to fix his old radio which is his most important motivation for life
Gerard Lucas
Director: Hani Gimna
Assistant director: Mikkel Haynes Dahlberg Hansen
Country of Origin: Germany
Duration: 14:58
In this experimental performance film, Hani Gimna intersect how a historical neurodivergent figure named Gérard Lucas experiences and handles language with the process of an Artificial Intelligence(AI) image generator creating images. Both practices have in common that the mediating role of the mediums takes priority over the meaning. She looks at performance through the lens of Gérard and AI, that is mediated by the act of filming with choreographed camera movements.
Islam: We walk with you
Director: Kazuya Isobe
Country of Origin: Japan
Duration: 14:53
In a village in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, there is a family of four living peacefully. They have a precious son named Islam. He was born with cerebral palsy and cannot walk by himself. Because of the remote location, the village is unable to provide rehabilitation for him. Milk tea poured into the empty cup, his mother staring at the clinic, his father and brother fixing the car. All lead to one hope.