Tassos Boulmetis leads short-film jury
The director of the award-winning film «Politiki Kouzina» (A Touch of Spice), Tassos Boulmetis, will head the jury at this year’s 27th Short Film Festival in Drama, which begins on Sunday. The annual event has grown over the years, as has its more recent universal version, the International Film Festival of Drama, now 10 years old. For the second year running, the festival has been included on a list of select European festivals that all offer Jameson Short Film Awards. The winning entry at Drama will qualify as a nominee at the European Film Academy’s coveted «Prix UP» awards. Film projections at the festival in Drama will take place at the Asteria Cinema as well as at the Olympia, an historic theater venue in the city that has been refurbished. The competitive section for Greek films includes 28 feature films, while the festival’s international competitive section will feature films from 41 countries. Events running parallel to the festival include a collaborative effort between the organizers and the British Council for a presentation of British short films. Also on the agenda are various Free Cinema masterpieces, debut films by directors who eventually became major figures in filmmaking, while, on the opening day, organizers will throw an audiovisual party. Of all the parallel events on offer, noteworthy activities include: exhibitions by three artists (Christos Dimitriou, Giorgos Kaltzidis and Giorgos Kasapidis); a seminar organized by ERT state TV and radio on September 29; and «Olympic Stories,» a series of 10-minute films on athletes who took part in the Athens Olympics as well as others who didn’t compete for various reasons. Productions include films from Croatia, Wales, Romania, Poland, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Also running parallel to the festival will be a three-day cartoon workshop for Drama’s schoolchildren. A concert by popular singer/composer Evanthia Reboutsika at Aghia Varvara Lake will bring the international festival to a close on September 25.
