Ecofilms gears up for this year’s festival on Rhodes, June 20-26
Ecofilms is gearing up for this year’s international film and arts festival on Rhodes from June 20-26. True to its tradition of raising tough issues related to the environment, the festival will feature hard-hitting films and in-depth discussions with filmmakers. Jonas Mekas, a Lithuanian-born poet and groundbreaking film director who founded and currently directs the Anthology Film Archives in New York, will be a guest of the festival, director Lucia Rikaki told the press yesterday. There will be screenings and presentations of his work. In memory of those who died in the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ecofilms will mark the anniversary of the tragic event with screenings of films by Gunnar Bergdal. They include the world festival premiere of the follow-up, 20 years later, to his emotive film «Ludmila,» the story of a woman who lived and worked at Chernobyl. Among the themes of the festival are rebels of different kinds, notably in Latin America, and food. As usual, the festival offers two prizes each for feature-length and short films. More prizes will be announced when the details are finalized. April will see a continuation of the selected screenings and creative activities for schoolchildren on Rhodes that proved such a great success in the runup to last year’s festival. The exact number of films to be screened is not yet definite, Rikaki explained, as entries are still being accepted until the March 1 deadline. Ecofilms is organized by the non-profit association Image and Environment with support and funding from the Municipality of Rhodes, the Prefecture of the Dodecanese and the Culture Ministry.
