Rhodes Ecofilms Festival

With over 100 films waiting to be screened, the Ecofilms Festival, to be held in Rhodes, promises to be a spectacular event. Addressing a broad spectrum of issues regarding the environment and the level and impact of human interaction with it, many of the films are European, and more specifically Greek premieres.
Some of the outstanding pieces waiting to be screened during the festival include “Stroke”, by a German director, Katarina Peters, who filmed her musician husband having a stoke, and “Veil of Berta”, by Esteban Larrain, a Chilean director, which is about a 90 year old Mapute Indian, Berta Quinterman, who opposed a multinational company’s plan to construct a hydroelectric dam on her tribe’s sacred land. Some others are “Decent Factory”, by Thomas Balmes, about Chinese workers being subjected to grueling work schedules for minimal pay, “Orgasm”, by Pablo Oliviero, which revolves around the lives of two unemployed people in Argentina, “Czech Dream”, by Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak, is about the power of advertising in a movie, that too about a supermarket that never existed and the most intriguing “Control Room”, which goes behind the scenes at Al-Jazeera, showcasing the efforts of the channels journalists reporting on the escalating war in Iraq.
The festival honors the feature films by offering awards under the categories of ‘Best feature-length film’, which has a prize money of 7000 Euros and 5000 Euros for first place and second place respectively, the ‘MedWet Award’, with prize money of 5000 Euros, ‘Short film award’, 5000 Euros and 3000 Euros for first and second place respectively and finally two audience awards, which are given in coordination with Rhodes Cinema Club, apart from many others.
Starting from the 21st of June and continuing till the 26th, the festival involves a lot of informal meetings between visitors and directors as they enjoy delicious wine and scrumptious cheese at the party sponsored by the Canadian Embassy.
“Ecofilms is not just a week of fireworks”, claimed Lucia Rikaki, film director and Artistic director of Ecofilms Festival. Aiming at engaging local communities and hopefully carrying the thought forward into their lives, the festival will showcase special screenings for nearly 4500 primary and junior high school students, from all over the Dodecanese islands. Supported by the prefecture of the Dodecanese, Rhodes Cultural Organization, the Ministry of Culture, the Rhodes Cinema Club, the National and Municipal Theater of Rhodes and MedWet or Mediterranean Wetlands initiative as well as Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Ecofilms 2005 is a must attend event.