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Browse through the detailed list of the official nomimations of the 6th Santorini Film Festival edition.
3 geNarrations
3 generations, 3 narrations, 3 different points of view. A dance of generations.
Paulina Ziółkowska
A Feast That Never Comes
Four characters inhabit cycles within cycles of contentment, discontentment, inertia, movement, desire, and betrayal. A story emerges—told through the marriage of music (Ex-Fiancée) and dance (ChrisMastersDance)—functioning as a set of nesting dolls, inviting you to uncover as many layers as you wish.
Maria Juranic
A Firecracker Story
An 8-year-old boy searching for fireworks on a Chinese New Year’s Eve, after the firework ban is introduced in this southern Chinese town.
Zhizi Hao
A Rising Fury
A Rising Fury follows two hopeful Ukrainian idealists from the peaceful protest in Kyiv in 2013 to the full-scale Russian invasion to Ukraine in 2022. Pavlo and Svitlana met and fell in love at the Maidan Revolution and were filmed over 8 years with several expeditions to the frontlines of the war. When Russia invades Crimea and Donbas in 2014, Pavlo loses his family home and joins the Ukrainian military effort. To defend his nation, he engages in deadly firefights against former friends and a close military instructor who join Russian forces. As Svitlana transports food and medical supplies, both find themselves on the battle lines, protecting their land, democracy, and their relationship.
Lesya Kalynska, Ruslan Batytskyi
A Simple Man
Makis, a peaceful winemaker tries to protect his headstrong daughter from getting involved with a dangerous fugitive that is holding them hostage. Will his lost dignity, selfishness or love for his daughter push him to his limits?
Tassos Gerakinis
Abyssal Zone
Whilst sailing with his girlfriend, Jason, a troubled young man, will face his biggest fear, diving into deep ocean waters. This will bring to the surface the issues he faces in his relationship, forcing him to come to terms with them.
Antonis Kitsikis
Aikāne
A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. When the octopus who rescued him transforms into a handsome young man, they become aikāne, bound by love and trust, and an epic adventure begins.
Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson
Amar Colony
A crippled widow demands respect for her beloved pigeon. Caught in the maze of loneliness, a pregnant woman finds her escape in a tomato. When paranoia strikes, a religious devotee of Lord Hanuman battles it with a mace. Amar Colony is a surreal & absurd portrait of an exotic community in India that represents all of us.
Siddharth Chauhan
Aurore
When Aurore asks her friend Charles, a photographer, for a shooting in her house, she wants to feel beautiful again. But nothing ever goes as planned, and the way she sees herself complicates things and awakens unforeseen reactions.
Marie Chauderlot, Marie Falys
Breathe
In 1983, Julie Ridge became the first person to swim two consecutive laps around the Island of Manhattan (earning her a guest appearance on the David Letterman Show). Now living in Manhattan and working as a clinical social worker with over 25 years of experience, she dives into her memories of struggling with bipolar. BREATHE explores her relationship with marathon swimming and how the water has aided her along her journey.
Zac Norrington
Cockroaches
In a dystopian city on the verge of collapse after cockroaches have taken over, a brotherhood sends 17-year-old Tim on a mission to blow up the cockroaches’ nest to save his hometown. But a meeting with a stranger makes Tim reconsider his perception of reality. Cockroaches is an animated fable about exclusion and extremism, showing how search for acceptance can have fatal consequences. In a time when the extreme right is once again marching across many European countries, the film aims to send a warning.
Adel Khan Faroog
Collectables
During one fatal weekend life changes forever for young Alberte. From pure happiness when she finally loses here virginity to her big crush, August – to complete horror, when she finds out that August secretly have taken pictures of her and mistakenly shared it on the all-consuming internet.
Jonas Frost
Curral de Moinas – the People’s Bankers
Peace in the fictional Portuguese village Curral de Moinas is disturbed when Quim discovers he had a father who left him a huge inheritance with a bank, the prestigious BLOW-ME (Bank of Loans Over Worth-Market Exchange). So the two friends Quim and Zé head for Lisbon and start living a life of luxury, drinking bubbled wine and cars with more than 20 horse power engines. But money and the big city corrupt Quim… Will their friendship resist the challenge? Will Quim be able to manage BLOW-ME when he can't even sort out the change at a grocery store? Is the night life in Cascais ready for Zé's single eyebrow? Lisbon will never be the same… Curral de Moinas is already the banking-romantic-financial comedy of the year!
Miguel Cadilhe
Delivery
Delivery is a 3D film exploration into the prevalence of mishaps in daily life. It features characters’ unpleasant accidents, which initially discourage them, but turn out to be a blessing in disguise, bringing connections with others. The motion design is minimalist in style, and settings include common, everyday places, such as streets, offices, and sports arenas, in order to invite viewers to more easily relate the stories to their own experiences.
Hsin Ting Lin
Dignity
On the day of their ailing, elderly father's birthday, the reunion of three siblings leads to an intense confrontation after which their lives can no longer remain the same.
Dimitris Katsimiris
Dimitris Skyllas: Afterpop
Who is more pop, Madonna or Beethoven? From the Greek mountains to BBC’s grand stages, the 35-year-old provocative composer Dimitrios Skyllas reveals the secrets of today's music-making. The sacred musician, the party freak, and all the life in-between. A visionary gesture to break the stereotypes of classical music in our fast, pop-consuming universe. AFTERPOP was made to bring a fresh, personal perspective of what the real meaning of pop is. Following the creative life of the composer Dimitris Skyllas, the film functions as a contemporary statement of what it means to be an active, young composer in the 21st century, surrounded by constant influences of pop culture. Through a journey that begins on the bucolic cliffs of Greek mountain Pelion and meets its climax at the Barbican Centre's main stage, Skyllas represents a vivid proof that right here, right now, classical composers and other intellectual creatives are no different to popstars. They live among us; they eat, they laugh, the make love, they worry, they dance ecstatically at a party.
Dimitrios Zivopoulos
Eindis Ends It All
Eindis is a woman at the end of her rope. Figuratively. Literally, she’s still working on finding one that’s long enough. Eindis Ends It All is a sci-fi comedy about a woman on a mission to get her shit together by spending time in nature. As one does. Instead, she finds herself inexplicably trapped in a post-apocalyptic world with only herself and her new best friend—a mop with buttons for eyes. With no explanation of how she got there and no clues on how to get home, Eindis is ready to give up when a man suddenly appears over a year after her arrival. His appearance raises more questions than it answers, but Eindis becomes determined to find the truth. Or at least to pass the time trying.
Tamara Rosenfeld
Elefsis
A collection of still shots, of the inhabitants of the port of Eleusis. People have reach their destination in front of the Sea of Eleusis scenary, against the horizon lines, resembling a kind of purification process. Time stops here and it is becoming of abstract meaning: There is no "past", no "future", just "eternal present".
Takis George Bardakos
Gardez
Silvia Brockmann, the wife of a rich industrialist, is no longer considered by her husband. Fascinated by the sensual appearance of a young church attendant, she decides to bring a little joy into her dreary everyday life. She cleverly uses the unsuspecting and good faith pastor of the congregation to get the attention of the church attendant.
Julian Isfort
Grandchild
Surrounded by friends of their age, many of whom already grandparents, Claudio and Hilla yearn for their first grandchild. Nitai, their son, begins a surrogacy process with his husband in Canada. But the family has to bridge intergenerational gaps.
Claudio Steinberg
Granny
Granny is really old. She lives alone in her house lost in the countryside in Normandy. Her health is getting worse, she is starting to go blind. Granny knows that death is near but she refuses to face reality and keeps on living as usual. The arrival of a new neighbour (a young boy) will give her the strength to fight a little bit longer.
Celine Bailbled
Heart Fruit
City people set off into a warm late summer night. Glances meet in a library. At a workout, two men discuss where to buy love. A couple kisses intimately. She bites him. No sooner has he bought a match than a better offer calls. Doubts arise.
Kim Allamand
Hiding
Two strangers meet in stark winter in this pandemic-based music video spanning the length of the 12-minute indie rock EP by the same name, by Bellhoss.
Shelby Rahe
Home
Dùthchas | Home is a poignant, touching and emotive exploration of what it meant – and still means – to people, especially women, to have to leave the island of their birth to get an education, work, and live. We explore the effects of the resulting cultural and linguistic loss. Featuring unique and unseen archive film footage, contemporary interviews and a powerful soundtrack composed by Donald Shaw, this will be a particularly moving film for anyone with a connection with the Hebrides. This fascinating and unique collection of archive footage from the 60s and 70s reveals repeated iconic scenes of leaving the island, friends and relatives on the pier waving as they recede into the distance. Although the film is silent, you can almost hear the keening.
Andy Mackinnon, Kirsty Morag MacDonald
Intrance
Spiralling through spaces redefining my identity, culture, memories and future. From Ukraine to the UK and back, from precipice of infinite possibilities comes a self-portrait INTRANCE exploring fear, resistance, bravery and change.
Diana Olifirova
Liturgy of Anti-tank Obstacles
The reality in Ukraine split into before and after the war. Every citizen is trying to contribute to the nationwide resistance. Many people retrained for the needs of the military. Sculptors and metalworkers now make anti-tank obstacles. In the art workshops, among the artwork, anti-tank obstacles are being produced. The artists make the anti-tank obstacles, surrounded by the sculptures of angels, Cossacks, and famous Ukrainian personalities. Statues stand in the corners like a silent army. Multiple copies of Jesus Christ, like a terracotta army, froze in various poses and waiting. Masters weld metal for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
Mother of the Station
During the 20th century, a lot of Greek women left their homeland for economic reasons and emigrated in Germany.Although many of those women (immigrants) later returned to Greece, there was an 84% increase concerning Greek female migrant workers in Germany during the first semester of 2011: most of these women are young and highly educated
Kostoula Tomadaki
My Unborn Son
Nora is facing the life-altering choice of whether or not to become a mother. In her uncertainty, she has turned to science: by means of a lifelike simulation, she can meet an AI version of the child she could have. In the real world, there is only a stream of code on a screen and a cluster of cells in a Petri dish – but in virtual reality, there is a grown man, full of life. What will Nora see when she looks into the eyes of her future child?
Gyöngyi Fazekas
Nostromo
For the past 20 years, Olivier, a Frenchman, has lived alone on a small island lent to him by First Nations people, located 200km from Yellowknife, the only city of Northwestern Territories in Canada. One day, three visitors land on the island and disrupt his peace. Nostromo is a film about the dream of living alone in a remote place and its limits. Through its characters, Nostromo explores the thin line between happiness and self-convincing in an unforgiving nature.
Fisnik Maxville
Otar’s Death
Keti (36) and her son Nika (16) find themselves in a precarious situaton when Nika kills an old man in a car accident. The victim’s family promises to refrain from pressing charges against Nika if he compensates their loss in cash. Within a single day Keti has to raise a large amount of money to prevent her son Nika from being imprisoned. The events come thick and fast. An unexpected turn gives the drama a tragicomical air.
Ioseb Soso Bliadze
Perfect Storm
During the perfect storm of the pandemic, the beauty of nature and the connectivity of humanity endures. On the wild west coast of Auckland ( New Zealand ) we follow one mans enforced isolation. Pacing into the unknown, wondering if those dear to him, will ever be seen again.
Morag Brownlie
Polywood
Unlucky-in-love Clayton is anxious for his first date with August, whom he met on Grindr, but his roommate Julian's prodding questions and sex-positive support are only worsening Clayton's nerves. When he meets August, Clayton is almost immediately at ease, charmed by how natural their connection feels. The date comes to a screeching halt when August casually mentions his partner, and Clayton walks out on him, aggressively judging August’s choice to be polyamorous. With his suave veneer fractured, a dejected August seeks comfort to the one person who understands how it feels to seek romance outside a relationship – his boyfriend.
Alessio Mineo
Red Lines White Lines Fine Lines
A young woman paints an intimate picture of her destructive thought patterns by chronologically reciting poetry she wrote during her darkest years. Passing through three stages of her psyche, she admits she fears to lose her creativity in happiness – how to be the artist who does not suffer?
India Zahra Lyell
Remain
"Remain" explores themes of solitude and subtlety within the naked body. It exists in an abandoned space where small shifts in movement create tides of energy that swell and reignite a sense of hope. This project was self filmed during a Covid-19 lockdown and is part of the 9 part dance film series "Turbulent Kingdoms."
Kit Reilly
Remember Me
A young boy dreams of traveling to a faraway place only to realise his dreams.
Michael S.U. Hudson
She Said No
On a street in Berlin, Sara joins her boyfriend Tarek in a line to view a flat. Sara just came from the gynecologist; she is 10 weeks pregnant. Tarek starts discussing marriage plans, after all an Egyptian couple they have no choice but to marry. But Sara who has left Cairo in search of free life struggles to accept that they should ignore all their problems as a couple and rush to marry for the baby. When she fails to stop Tarek’s excited planning, she breaks the news; that she already had an abortion. Miles away from home, Sara is still battling the demons of her patriarchal society that are mirrored in her relationship with Tarek.
Sondos Shabayek
Sun & Shadow
There was light and it was brutal. Shadows could not heal. The Boy had fallen into sleep.The Girl was recalling and sand was everywhere.
Melina Loukanidou
That´s a Wrap
Rebecca has been uncertain about what her future life should look like. On the one hand, she is on her way to becoming a teacher, and on the other hand, her passion for making films won’t let her go. When her new short film is accepted at a film festival, she and her team travel to Saarbrücken for the premiere. Once at the festival, however, it’s not just Rebecca who has to deal with her life’s dreams. Her ex-boyfriend and cinematographer Andie, as well as her cast, Robert and Saskia, also throw themselves into the festival life in order to land new jobs. Soon they realize that not everything in the festival bubble is glamour. Especially for Robert, networking is not easy, as he is forced to spend the night with film fan Ingo, who won’t leave his side and tries to find interested parties for his own script. Will there be a happy end or an early wrap?
Niclas Mehne
The Ballad of Piargy
A story of a young woman, Juliši, who marries the son of the richest landowner in the village, but does not resist her father-in-law’s violent seduction and inadvertently finds herself in the middle of a rough love triangle. The ballad of Piargy is a symbol of modern Sodom and Gomorrah, a mirror of the distorted morals of the society. At the same time, it is a naturalistic metaphor for the subordinate position of women in the patriarchal society.
Ivo Trajkov
The Boar
Fotis returns to a deserted village in the Northern Greece mountains for his deceased father's will announcement. He collides with the villagers, local environment and his own routes till he finds out that he is closer to his father than he ever thought he was.
Konstantinos Tsiodoulos
The Chalice Of Sons and Daughters
The film takes the viewer straight into the heart of a traditional Roma community from Transylvania where there is little if any freedom of choice in individual lives. Everyone here is compelled by culture to follow a predictable trajectory, namely to marry and conceive offspring. Marriages are arranged by parents for their children at early ages. Yet marital ties are fragile and made to endure only by the birth of a boy to the new couple. Boys alone inherit the family’s badge, the TAHTAIs (chalices)- silver cups that come from their ancestors. Daughters are not desired because they bring the prospects for their parents to pay big cash dowries to marry them off. Conseqeuntly couples often resort to sex selective abortions. When a marriage is arranged, the boy’s chalice is given in trust to the bride’s family until the new couple has a son who will inherit it and will secure the couple’s marriage.The documentary follows Peli and Nina, a young couple in their mid-20s, parents to a 5 year daughter who are striving to conceive a son, in order to comply with the local custom. While they are living under tremendous strain as they are taking fertility and ultrasound checks, their respective families are disputing their rights in the chalice pledged when they arranged the couple’s match. The intricacies of this marriage are teased out by Peli’s sister, Bara, who makes a tear fetching confession about her condition as a female in the community. As we are impatiently waiting for the resolution of the conflict, we are invited to reflect on the strength and resilience of women in a male dominated society.
Catalina Tesar, Dana Bunescu
The Honey Movie
A man’s journey to show the true value of honey and its purpose for humanity. The film follows the hero for 30 days, thru 6 different countries, eating only honey for the entire duration of filming. It explores how different cultures relate to this product, how they cultivate it and dispels the myth that honey and sugar are the same. From the tribes of Ethiopia, to the modern European techniques, the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, and the jungles of Java – the film unravels how much work a jar of honey really contains, the importance of bees, and how miraculous this product really is.
Sasha Nikitin
The Last Hunt
Dimitris Zannes has dedicated his life to his two great loves – his wife and the ocean. But now, witnessing an ocean in decline from the frontlines of his fishing boat, he wonders what kind of ocean he will leave to his sons.
Charalampos Giannakakis
The Undertaker
Undertaker Adrian, a gloomy and silent man, didn’t have much of a laugh. One day he made a joke and invited his dead clients to a housewarming party, the joke turned out to be his last one.
Sergei Kibus
TolisLive or (Toronto)
An elderly former singer decides to return to his career but he comes against his past, the choices that shaped him as a character and Toronto.
Alexandros Rellos
Topple
Topple is an original song and video, from the album called “In the realm of a dying star.” The video reenacts a history of toppled statues symbolizing colonialism and institutionalized oppression, as an encouragement for the same to happen in the United States. It is joining the conversation that has been going on for years– calling for confederate statues to be taken down. The sets and miniatures are exact replicas of the historical scenes and statues that were toppled in other countries by its citizens, including Christopher Columbus in Caracas, Joseph Stalin in Kiev, Bashar al-Assad in Raqqa, Louis XIV in Paris, Cecil John Rhodes in Cape Town and King George in New York during the birth of the US.
Sarada Rauch
Traje de Luces
The story is set during the early 1980s in a small town in rural Spain. El Chiqui is a talented young man about to debut in the local bullring, expected to continue the legacy of his family name. But that is not what he truly wants. His secret relationship with a young man from the town, Nicolás, offers an escape from the village, leaving the family pressures behind.
Sergio Jaén Sánchez
Wayan
"Wayan" tells the story of a young artist's journey through the trials and tribulations of living with a rare and incurable skin condition known as Epidermolysis Bullosa. Wayan's condition presents him with significant challenges in his daily life, but he overcomes them with remarkable resilience and a steadfast commitment to his passion for painting. After undergoing a life-changing surgery to separate his fingers, Wayan discovered his natural talent for creating stunning traditional Indonesian artworks. He sells his paintings to support himself and his family, and to continue his passion for creating. Wayan dreams of one day hosting his own art exhibition, a symbol of his artistic journey and a celebration of his inner spirit. Through the lens of the camera, we are captivated by the vibrant colors and intricate details of Wayan's creations, and we are reminded of the transformative power of art in the face of adversity.
Jakob Puff
Zabeta
“Zabeta” follows our 90 year old grandmother on a day in her life. Her everyday activities, watching tv, talking on the phone, visiting her neighbourhood’s elderly center become the backdrop, as she narrates the story of how she had to immigrate to Canada, flee back to Greece and get divorced and remarried in the 60’s. The film plays on the line of reality and staged reality and questions notions of patriarchy, sexism and religion. “Zabeta” gives us a glimpse into an old woman’s adventurous past and current lonely life, through her humourous and empowering point of view.
Elissavet Sfyri, Sofia Sfyri