The second edition of the Evia Film Project is an ecological and cultural initiative organized by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Five days of screenings, masterclasses, actions for professionals, workshops for children and students, as well as unique musical events will be the main pillars of this celebration of green cinema in Northern Evia. The 2nd Evia Film Project will be held from 20-24 June, in Agia Anna, Edipsos and Limni, with admission to all screenings and events being free and open to the public.
Double Oscar winner Alexander Payne will open the event with his film Downsizing (2017), a surreal social satire on the aftermath of climate change and the repercussions of overpopulation, which explores the relationship between man and nature. The director, whose birth name reveals his Hellenic ancestry (Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos) is about to release his new film, The Holdovers, starring Paul Giamatti. Following the screening of Downsizing, which stars Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig and Christopher Waltz, and will also be attended by his cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Payne will take part in a Q&A with the audience, and the following day he will meet the press at a panel discussion, where he will talk about his career.
Alexander Payne.
This year, the project will also aim to showcase the locations in the north of the island of Evia, where Triangle of Sadness was shot, by introducing them to the film industry professionals who scout and select filming locations for major productions around the world. For its part, the Festival’s Agora hosts CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator, an acclaimed documentary development workshop aimed at female-identified producers and directors, ranked as one of the most prominent international documentary development programs, and hosted for the first time in Greece, within the framework of the 2nd Evia Film Project.
The meeting also focuses on music, and like last year, invites the public to enjoy two unique musical events. On Saturday 24 June, the beloved singer and composer Nikos Portokaloglou will give a great concert at Edipsos, accompanied by Vicky Karatzoglou and Byron Tsourapis. In addition, on Wednesday 21 June, Evia Film Project celebrates World Music Day with a party in Limni, under the sounds and melodies of the band Agia Fanfara, which has won accolades from all over the world recently, as part of the events of “2023 Elefsis European Capital of Culture”.
Nikos Portokaloglou, Vicky Karatzoglou and Byron Tsourapis.
Landfill Harmonic – A Symphony of the Human Spirit, directed by Brad Allgood, will be screened at the Elymnion Cinema in Limni. The film tells the incredible story of a group of young musicians from Paraguay who make musical instruments from waste, paving the way for the coexistence of ecology and music. At the end of the screening, Agia Fanfara will provide musical accompaniment for filmgoers as they leave Elymnion and head towards Limni Pier. The band will perform traditional and contemporary folk melodies from Greece, the Balkans and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region.
The meeting’s masterclasses will bring together renowned filmmakers, as well as film and television industry professionals from Greece and around the world, who will share the secrets of their art and work with the public in the north of the island. The masterclasses will take place in Agia Anna and Edipsos, with free admission for the public. Among the prestigious names who will be giving a masterclass are Zacharias Mavroeidis, Lefteris Charitos, Elina Psykou, Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, Olympia Mytilinaiou, as well as Austrian director Hubert Sauper and Georgian filmmaker Salomé Jashi.
Virtual reality will be present at Evia and audiences will be able to discover the latest VR films that raise ecological issues and explore the impact of human intervention on the environment. Fascinating podcasts that address our relationship with the environment, nature, and animals from a completely different perspective can also be discovered on the festival website, filmfestival.gr.
Evia Film Project is also organizing a full program for children and parents, with screenings, toy-making workshops, and handmade eco-games. The little ones will explore the magic of film through its history, creating their own film narratives and directing their own photo essay, together with a panda.
The project also boosts the local economy in a context of sustainability and respect for the region’s ecosystem, monitoring its own environmental footprint (participants carry their own lanyards and water bottles and no plastic is used), and raising awareness of sustainable practices that can be easily applied. The Evia Film Project aims to consolidate this region, severely affected by the calamitous forest fires of 2021, as an international center for green cinema and is carried out thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, in the context of the program for the Reconstruction of Northern Evia, and in collaboration with the Region of Central Greece, the Greek Film Centre, the Municipality of Istiea-Edipsos, the Municipality of Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna and the Port Authority of the Island of Evia (OLNE S.A.). The Thessaloniki Film Festival collaborates with all the institutions and bodies based in Euboea and with the Department of Digital Arts and Cinema of the National and Kapodistrian University, based in Psachna.
Information provided by the press office of Evia Film Project.
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