20 years after the proclamation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, the Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival opens its 14th edition with a great tribute to this substantial effort for the promotion and safeguarding of the world’s cultural heritage. Under the auspices and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the tribute, which will run before, during and after the festival, is entitled “20 Years of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Inside the World”, will include 20 films, and will be accompanied by open discussions, a special publication as well as accessible screenings.
The beginning will take place on Friday, the 24th of November at Andora Cinema, in a pre-festival screening of the documentaries “Koulouriotiko Chasapiko“, implemented by the Lykeion ton Ellinidon of Salamina, and the “Syrianο Loukoumi, 200 years of history“, implemented by the The Asia Minor Association of Ermoupolis Syros.
Within the same context, but this time at the Greek Film Archive, on Tuesday, the 5th of December, the audience will have the rare opportunity to watch on the big screen two great short documentaries: the “The Goat Dance” (1971) by Pantelis Voulgaris and the “Feast in Drapetsona” (1977) by Takis Papagiannidis. The films will be screened with Audio Description for the blind and the visually impaired and Subtitles for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
The main programme of the festival also includes a series of music documentaries, which will be screened in collaboration with the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Prominent among them is the film “Margot” by Catarina Alves Costa, based on rare visual and sound material, which examines Mozambique’s past as a Portuguese colony and how this was reflected upon its musical tradition. The film’s director will be present at the screening to discuss with the audience.
Finally, a special mention should be made to the screening of the film “The Village” (1968) by Mark McCarty. 55 years after its creation, this unknown gem of ethnographic cinema will be screened for the first time in Greece.From the Irish province of Kerry, where “The Village” is set, the films of the tribute will take us on a journey “Within the World”, introducing us to aspects of the world’s cultural heritage that may not be tangible, but are certainly alive and vivid.
Since 2014 and its initiative for the utilisation of ethnographic documentaries by the educational community, Ethnofest continues to highlight, evolve and creatively reinvent the ways in which we perceive and communicate the concepts of “tradition” and “Intangible Cultural Heritage”.
The detailed programme of the screenings and events of the feature along with the main programme of the 14th Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival will be announced soon. Stay tuned at https://www.ethnofest.gr
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The feature is implemented under the aegis and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
