The 14th Ethnofest – Athens International Ethnographic Film Festival came to a successful end bringing together the community of ethnographic cinema and of visual anthropology as well as the city’s cinephiles with its multifaceted programme. 

On Wednesday, 29th of November, Goethe-Institut Athen hosted for the first time our premiere, the poetic and deeply emotional Jennifer Rainsford’s documentary “All Of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars” in the presence of the producer, Mirjam Gelhorn in a packed theatre. 

Many more creators were present during the festival – including the director of “The Order of Things”, Jeff Silva who also attended an open discussion and Catarina Alves Costa, director of “Margot”, the screening of which stood out within the framework of the collaboration with the ethnomusicology and cultural anthropology laboratory of the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. 

Two were the main tributes of the 14th Ethnofest, the “Intangible Cultural Heritage: 20 Years Within The World” and the “Focus on the Environment”. The first one was implemented under the aegis and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and – 20 years after the proclamation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO – the festival brought out this substantial effort for the promotion and safeguarding of the world’s cultural heritage via screenings, open discussions, a special publication as well as an accessible screening of two emblematic short film documentaries: “The Goat Dance” (1971) by Pantelis Voulgaris and the “Feast in Drapetsona” (1977) by Takis Papagiannidis, which were screened with Audio Description for the blind and the visually impaired and Subtitles for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing at the Greek Film Archive.

Focusing on the environment, a series of selected films explored various aspects of the increasingly relevant issue of the interaction between humans and the environment. Sustainable, innovative filmic techniques, urbanisation, gentrification, memory in the urban landscape, different interpretations of ecology, were just some of the different approaches of the tribute.

As expected, the screening of Mark McCarty’s “The Village” drew a great deal of attention. 55 years after its creation, this unknown gem of ethnographic cinema, a forerunner of the observational cinema, was screened for the first time in Greece.

Anthropologists, historians and academics took part in the presentation of the publication “Camera and Ethnography in Greece” by Athina Pegglidou, which was successfully held at the Komprai bookstore in collaboration with Alexandria Publications, while the younger generation of visual anthropologists and creators presented promising specimens of their work through the screenings of the International and Greek Student Films Initiations sections.

The other sections of the Festival, Panorama and Film Experiments in Ethnography, reflected the present and the future of the constantly restless and creative world of ethnographic cinema.

The closure of the screenings in the physical theatres was followed by a series of online screenings via the festival website, providing an even wider audience with the opportunity to watch selected films from the programme.

 

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 festival section “Focus on The Environment” contains a series of selected films that explore various aspects of the timely and urgent issue of the interaction between humanity and the natural environment. “Green” innovative film techniques, urbanisation, gentrification, the function of memory in the urban landscape and different interpretations of ecology are just some of the different ways in which this tribute is approached.

Book Presentation of the book "Camera and Ethnography in Greece" by Athina Pegglidou

The conversation will be held in Greek

Speakers

Aris Anagnostopoulos (Anthropologist-Historian HERITAGE and University of Kent)
Dimitris Koutsampasiakos (Associate Professor of Film Directing
Dimitra Kofti (Associate Professor of Social Anthropology, Panteion University)
Athina Peglidou (Volume Editor)

The talk will be coordinated by Konstantinos Aivaliotis (Co-Founder and Director of Ethnofest – Ethnographic Film Festival of Athens)

 

Open Discussion with Jeff Silva

Anthropologist and filmmaker Jeff Silva will share his personal experience with the audience in an open discussion about his work and, in particular, the research process required before and during filming.

Open Discussion: Intangible Cultural Heritage:20 Years Within the World

The conversation will be held in greek.

On the occasion of the tribute entitled “Intangible Cultural Heritage: 20 Years Within The World”, Ethnofest organizes an open discussion in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Music and Ethnographic Research | Open Online Discussion

 

From ethnographic research to film and vice versa, how does music function as a means of exploring ourselves
and our relationships with people?

Ethnomusicologists and filmmakers Marco Lutzu and Daniele Zappatore discuss with the team of the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology (NCCA) on the occasion of their films Santeros and Carang Pring Wulun: The journey of a Bamboo Gamelan Maestro*.

*The films will be screened in the online programme of Ethnofest from 4 to 10 December.
*More information at ethnofest.gr

The conversation will be held in English.

Under the auspices and with the financial support of
the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
With the Support of:
Directorate of Modern Cultural and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
French Institute
Goethe – Institut Athen
In Collaboration With:
Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology Laboratory of University of Athens
KOMPRAI
FÅRÖ
With the Kind Support of:
Amyntas Wines Winery
Media Sponsors:
ERT
KOSMOS 93.6

 

 

Organisation
Athens Anthropological Society – Ethnofest

Co-Founders
Konstantinos Aivaliotis & Nikos Sfakianakis

Director
Konstantinos Aivaliotis

Head of Programme
Christos Varvantakis

Festival Coordinator
Electra Karatza

Programme Coordinator
Nikoletta Charou

Press & Communication
Natasha Pandi

Text Translation & Editing
Leda Dialyna

Programme
Andreas Anastasiades
Nikoletta Charou
Mar del Mar Rodriguez
Geli Mademli

Development and Coordination of the Tribute “Intangible Cultural Heritage: 20 Years Within the World”
Silas Michalakas
Konstantinos Aivaliotis

Social Media
Alba Koka

Production Coordinator
Eleftheria Litou

Traffic Coordinator
Andreas Anastasiades

VOD
Alba Koka

Poster & Overall Design
George Skarmoutsos

Trailer & Radio Spot
Silas Michalakas

Website Coordination
Electra Karatza
Eleftheria Litou

Web Development
Apostolos Troulitakis

Subtitling
Yannis Papadakis – PROJECT TITLING

Photographer
Christina Pappa

Volunteers
Amalia Birba
Melissanthi Mantziou
Magdalena Zotou
Silia Vasiliki Mavropoulou