Drama Film Festival kicks off on Sunday
Drama Mayor Thomas Margaritis and Antonis Papadopoulos, film adviser to the Ministry of Culture as well as director of the Drama Film Festival, presented the upcoming festival’s program at a recent press conference. The Drama Film Festival, which will kick off on Sunday and run to September 24, will feature 54 films in its Greek section and 79 films from 46 countries in its Shorts section. The festival will also comprise many tributes (such as screenings from the Cannes film festival and the Jameson awards), a lecture and meeting with acclaimed filmmaker Pantelis Voulgaris on September 21 and a two-day workshop run by writer Nikos Panayiotopoulos. Actor Costas Voutsas and Pantelis Voulgaris, who is also head of the jury, will receive awards this year at Drama, while the National Book Center (EKEBI) will give an award of 3,000 euros to the best script adaptation of a book (the jury consists of Fotos Lambrinos, Yiannis Leontaris, Eva Stefani, Nikos Tamiolakis and Dimitris Nollas). The State Radio and Television Broadcasting Company (ERT) is, once more, a sponsor, as was the case with past festivals. ERT will also participate as a producer and a joint producer of films and will also present a photography exhibition in the Melina Hall of portraits published on the covers of Radioprogramma magazine, which today has changed its name to Radioteleorasi. At the press conference, Deputy Minister of Culture Petros Tatoulis announced that the law regarding tax incentives for the local film industry is ready and is about to be laid before the unions; it will be submitted to Parliament before the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Tatoulis added that the new law is in accordance with all EU regulations.
