2nd GIFF
26/02/2025
THE EYE
Diana travels back to the island where her husband Felix drowned to scatter his ashes. Isolated by language and grief, she learns of a twisted form of the Evil Eye which exists only on the island, and is offered a dark choice: bring back her husband, by killing someone else. With her mental state deteriorating, Diana senses a grim conspiracy lurking in the village and puts a young boy's life in danger. Pushed to her limit, Diana must decide exactly how far she'll go to bring back the man she loves. FEATURE FILM - WORLD PREMIERE Director: Daphne Schmon BEST FEATURE FILM π BEST DIRECTOR FEATURE π
GOLDEN SHOPPING ARCADE
Created by Italo-Irish filmmakers Neri and Skino Ricci, Golden Shopping Arcade imagines a desensitised world, surrendered almost entirely to free enterprise in its most militant and unshaken form. It takes place within a dystopian β yet eerily familiar β setting in which hospital patients are screened for the burden they place on the monolithic Farmax operation, typically refused the health care they require. SHORT - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Francesco "Skino" Ricci Lotteringi BEST DIRECTOR SHORT π BEST ACTOR π MARCO SINCINI
TILL THE MUSIC STOPS
Witness at her best friendβs wedding, Pauline hopes to enjoy this extraordinay day and to get closer to the handsome Raphael. But it will be hard for her to take her eyes off her disabled daughter Emma, whom she could not bring herself to let keep. SHORT FILM - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Emilie de Monsabert BEST ACTRESS π SARAH SUCO BEST CHILD ACTRESS π EMMA REYNES
VIMUKTH
As the title suggests, this film depicts the story of a young mischievous boy, who lands himself in trouble at school. Heβs forced to spend the day in confinement to reflect upon his behaviour, and the ordeal eventually helps him understand the value of freedom.. SHORT FILM - WORLD PREMIERE Directed: Riyan Shetty BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY π RIYAN SHETTY BEST CHILD ACTOR π SAHIL JOSHI
THE LANDVAEITTIR
Introducing the world of Landvaettir, A Short Film based on a Norse hero Eva and her fight for freedom among a battle between saxon & mercenaries. SHORT FILM - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Liam Arnold van den Berk BEST FIRST-TIME FILMMAKER π BEST COLORING π
THE LIST
Tony is a 41-year-old man with a monotonous and boring life. Fed up with the routine, he decides to take his own life, but before doing so, he writes a list of things he must do before he dies, among which is taking his favorite milkshake for the last time, which will change the course of his destiny. SHORT FILM - GREEK PREMIERE Directed: Fernanda Fraga
INDIO IN CHINATOWN
In a post-apocalyptic world where music is forbidden, Manuel Chinetti became a rebellious collector of prohibited melodies from a young age. He secretly fought to revive music, leading an underground movement that shared rhythms in a silenced world. His legacy is at risk when a gang of mobsters intercepts his best cassette: 'Indio in Chinatown.' MUSIC VIDEO - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Juan Marino BEST COSTUME DESING π
EVERYONE SITS ALONE
He planned this moment in great detail, to be like in the movies, but in reality everything collapses time after time. Is it a wish or a mysterious curse? MUSIC VIDEO - WORLD PREMIERE Director: Ophir Benshimon
THE RISE OF LACK DRAGON
DIE SWART DRAAK ONTWAAK is an origin story set in contemporary Cape Flats gangland, a town contaminated with crime and corruption and controlled by its feared ruler and Muay Thai warrior, The Kingpin. It centers on the character of Clifford Smit, a disciplined traditional Martial Arts teacher set on rehabilitating the youth seduced by gangsterism in his town by teaching them the morals and disciplines of Martial arts. SHORT - EUROPEAN PREMIERE Director: Redione Stephens
TO THE SEA
A Palestinian fisherman tries to breach the naval blockade in Gaza to get treatment for his sick daughter. SHORT - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Ishaan Thompson BEST FOREIGN FILM π
RARE LAND
rom darkness into the light. On a beautiful summer day, Alexandros and his brother bike along a pier in a remote seaside village in Greece. As he bikes precariously close to the edge, Alexandros feels a strange dizziness and tumbles into the sea... MID-LENGTH FILM Director Efthimis Hatzis BEST GREEK PRODUCTION π
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU
Two women discover a mysterious workshop where a collection of stitched dolls are carefully placed on tables and shelves. The artist Odette Picaud installs them in her lair and undertakes a performance of sewing and patching with the singers of "Duo du Bas" as her material... MUSIC VIDEO Directed: Quentin Bernard BEST MUSIC VIDEO π
PINA
At the end of the 19th century, in a Sicilian countryside village, the young Pina holds the power to regenerate the land. With each harvest, the village is prey to shameless mafia looting. Pina's encounter with the mafia chief will plunge the hamlet into an era of starvation, endangering the destiny of the whole country. SHORT Directors: Jeremy Depuydt, Giuseppe Accardo BEST SCORE π
THE ORCHESTRA CHUCK BUILT
In 2016, the League of American Orchestras conducted a study that revealed a shocking statistic: only 1.8% of the professional orchestra workforce in the US is Black. From an old church rec room in the inner city of Los Angeles, former lawyer-turned-conductor Chuck Dickerson is on a mission to change that. SHORT - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Christopher Stoudt BEST DOCUMENTARY π
STRANGE TOWN
A childhood memory triggers a girl to embark on a journey of adulthood. A strange town to many, hides roots under the surface. Moments, like punctuation marks, they hold a victory and an embrace. MUSIC VIDEO Director: Eftychia Kondyli BEST MUSIC GREEK VIDEO π
ALCIBIADES
ALCIBIADES follows the life of the charismatic politician and unbeatable Athenian general who single-handedly determined the course of the Peloponnesian War. A former student of Socrates and lover of the Queen of Sparta, Alcibiades is one of the youth Socrates was convicted of corrupting when he was condemned to death. But Alcibiades is the opposite of everything Socrates stands for. Socrates dismisses superficial pleasures so he may relentlessly pursue truth, and he insists upon following Apolloβs dictum to βknow thyself.β On the other hand, Alcibiades, the handsome, wealthy, and well-connected ward of Pericles, has no inner self to know. He loves luxury, sensuality, self-indulgence, and public adulation, and he can seemingly alter his core identity at will. FEATURE SCREENPLAY Writer: Richard A. Schwartz BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY π
THE BEAST
On vacation on his family in the countryside, a young city boy is forced to participate in wild boar hunts in the cornfields. Naive and fearful, he lives in constant fear of a mysterious beast that adults say would live in the countryside. SHORT FILM - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Joris Laquittant BEST PRODUCTION π
HANTUSH - A FAIRYTALE
When Israeli bulldozers arrived at her Bedouin village to demolish her home, 14-year-old Palestine refugee girl Salha called on her flying lamb Hantush to take her somewhere far away... SHORT Director: Alexia Tsouni BEST STORY π
ETHEL
Ethel discovers boxes with glittering clothes of her late mother, who was a figure skater. In the snowy forest she searches for the idyllic pond where her mother once taught her to skate. She wants to relive those memories, attempts to understand her motherβs passion. On the frozen pond Ethel, however, encounters the Bone Ice Princess, who challenges her to a dangerous dance on thin ice. Will Ethel survive this contest in one piece? A tale of letting go and growing up. SHORT Director: Beatrice JΓ€ggi BEST ANIMATION π
MANTO
Two centuries apart, two young and dynamic women face the social adversities of their times.Drawing strength from their common family tree, they try to free themselves from their shackles, in this quest the only ally is the hero they hide inside them. The ephemeral becomes eternal through the feat of individual transcendence against the backdrop of Mykonos, then and now. Two women unknown to each other will manage to become a heroine of today. SHORT Directors: Domenikos Koukas, Eleftheria Stefanouri BEST GREEK SHORT FILM
LAKE OF DREAMS
βLike water, desire always finds its wayβ A young man suffers from the fixed idea of his dream woman. He tears himself away from his demons and heads towards his vision with the boundless power of desire. MUSIC VIDEO Director: Axel Werner
LOOK AT THE STARS
In the twilight of his life, an elderly man revisits a bittersweet memory and reshapes it in the way he would have liked to have lived it. SHORT Director: Aris Kouvaras BEST GREEK FIRST-TIME FILMMAKER π
I AM YOURS
In a quiet corner of Ukraine, Sofia and Mykyta lived an ordinary life, filled with laughter, love, and occasional arguments. They cherished each other and reveled in the simple pleasures of their carefree life. Their days were adorned with dreams and hopes for a future that seemed within reach. TRAILER Director: Dmytro Koturanov BEST TRAILER π
UNDER OFFER
Two squatters, a budding family, and two undercover property developers engage in a whimsical showdown for a house, while an estate agent endures a comically disastrous first day. SHORT - GREEK PREMIERE Director: Vincenzo Pellegrino BEST STUDENT FILM π
UNDER THE MOON
Two newlyweds, Matthieu and Audrey, leave their daughter in the care of Matthieu's brother Benjamin for their honeymoon weekend. For an unforgettable stay, nothing beats a yurt for a complete escape. When they arrive at the rental property, they meet the owner, CΓ©line, a prodigious lawyer, who hands over the keys. As she greets them, she recognizes the young bride, who doesn't seem to recognize her. The two lovers enjoy their getaway, unaware of all the events and challenges that await them... SHORT SCREENPLAY Writer: Julie Montarnal BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY π
WAITING FOR THE NEXT RIDE
In a tranquil scene, the focus is on a simple and inviting bus stop. Several people eagerly await the bus, their expressions blending patience and excitement. Surrounding them, lush yellow trees create a picturesque backdrop, contrasting beautifully with the urban setting. This snapshot embodies a warm summer day, where the allure of adventure meets the serenity of nature at a bustling bus stop. PHOTO Photographer: Jimin Han BEST PHOTOGRAPHY
WITH LOVE L
Jane's life in a big city is monotonous and every day feels the same. One day she finds a mysterious note on her doorstep that takes her out of the dreariness of her daily grind and aducts her on an emotional adventure that turns out differently than expected. SHORT - GREEK PREMIERE Directors: Max Fritzsching, Chari Krause
SHINING
For us the text of the song is the admiration of female friendship. This motif was the building block of our film story, stretched between the trifles of everyday life and the admiration and respect our heroines feel for each other. Location is an important part of this story. The city where the friendship described in the text really happened. We show Szczecin through unobvious places, although crucial for its identity. We see mosaics, a shipyard, blocks of flats in the Szczecin system, but also the Turysta milk bar, which every inhabitant of Szczecin knows. It is in this urban everyday life that the friendship we are talking about was born. MUSIC VIDEO Directors: Kuba Lorenc, Anita Trzyna
LIVE
This is not a movie not a video clip, this is a true story. Adeline Toniutti through the broadcast of this film wants victims to escape. In France, Adeline is a major figure of the defense for victims of domestic violence. She is on top of that a top charting singer and musician, writer and composer. She is the main TV figure of Star Academy, Prime Time TV show on Channel 1 in France. βI was a domestic violence victim for one year, and felt the fear everyday that I was going to die. When I told him Iβm leaving, he threatened to kill me and my parents. My only solution was to commit suicide and the only thing that prevented my from doing it was when I pictured my parents in front of my coffin. I felt that I had to run away and that it was my calling to go through this and to spread my experience to help other women.β β Adeline Toniutti MUSIC VIDEO Director: Thierry Vergnes
ESTRELLA
MUSIC VIDEO - EUROPEAN PREMIERE Director: HernΓ‘n Velit
