To Ethnofest – The Athens Ethnographic Film Festival celebrates its 15th anniversary this year and invites you to this year’s edition, featuring new sections and collaborations alongside all the elements that have firmly established it as one of the city’s most interesting and consistently relevant film festivals.
Fifteen years of moving, disarming, mobilizing films that render the stories of this world visible; fifteen years bringing us closer to the ongoing international conversations about the present and future of documentary film; fifteen years of pride in having created a festival that has significantly impacted the city’s cultural and social life.
While awaiting the detailed program, we present the first highlights of the upcoming festival.
Opening Film and Screenings at the French Institute of Greece in Athens
Women and their powerful testimonies set the tone in the opening film After the Odyssey (Au Lendemain de l’Odyssée) by Helen Doyle. On the Italian coast, not far from us, solidarity and empowerment become a reality as local women coexist with women migrants from Nigeria creating a safe space for integration and creativity. This optimistic, alternative perspective is rare but essential in our times. Marking its longstanding collaboration with the French Institute of Greece in Athens, Ethnofest will return to Sina 31 for the premiere on Tuesday, November 26, and for a special screening on Tuesday, December 3, featuring Evy & I (Evy & Moi) by Hélène Bares and Empty Hours (Les Heures Creuses) by Judith Longuet Marx.
New Collaboration – Amnesty International
Ethnofest is excited to announce its partnership with the Greek Section of Amnesty International, through which it will annually present films focused on human rights, with a special emphasis on gender justice. This joint effort aims to underscore the need for a society in which everyone can live a life of dignity and choice. Fairy Garden (Fanni Kertje) by Gergő Somogyvári—a poignant coming-of-age documentary about the friendship between Fanni, a transgender teenager cast out by her family, and Laci, a homeless man—will be the inaugural film for this collaboration.
Spotlight – Mahdi Fleifel
This year’s festival proudly highlights the acclaimed Danish-Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel. His four short films—Xenos (2014), A Man Returned (2016), I Signed The Petition (2018), and 3 Logical Exits (2020)—offer an intimate and compelling portrayal of Palestinian identity, revealing the struggles, aspirations, and resilience that define the Palestinian experience. In a brutal and devastating situation in the Middle East, where war continues to take the lives of countless people and forcibly displace entire communities, Fleifel’s documentaries emerge as powerful testimonies that even more urgent and essential.
For more information about the program, events, and news from the festival, please stay tuned for the Press Releases amd announcements that will follow throughout November.
ORGANIZATION
Anthropological Society of Athens – ETHNOFEST
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UNDER THE AUSPICES AND WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF
Ministry of Culture
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Directorate of Contemporary Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture
French Institute of Greece
Embassy of Spain
IN COLLABORATION WITH
Greek Section of Amnesty International
Laboratory of Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology, Department of Music Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
WITH THE GENEROUS SPONSORSHIP OF
ALE BOX BREW SHOP
COMMUNICATION SPONSOR
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