In a warm closing ceremony of the 48th Drama Festival, in which young creators loudly expressed, in the presence of Deputy Minister of Culture Iasonas Fotilas , their anguish over the problems facing their industry and the suffering of Palestine, Neritan Zinziria was declared the big winner. Noi ’s short film won the Golden Dionysus, automatically securing the coveted “ticket” to participate in the Oscar® process. The film, which takes place in a Vlach village in Metsovo, stars a horse and a boy. When the older brother is killed by his beloved horse, the younger one must decide – through nightmares and visions – whether to kill the animal or forgive it.
Neritan Zinjiria, an old acquaintance of the festival, won the Golden Dionysus for the first time for his film Chamomile in 2012, while the year before last he also won the DISFF documentary award for Light from Light , once again penetrating with his lens the essence of the Balkan soul.
The Tonia Marketakis Award for Best Director went to Kostis Theodosopoulos’ film The Man Who Once Was . Aris Balis was honored with the Best Actor award in the same film, for his role as a gay vampire in modern Greece. The film also won the Drama Queer Award .
The award for best actress went to a young girl, Filia Papagelidi , the star of Mitsi by Gevi Dimitrakopoulou, who plays a tomboy who experiences her first period in an unorthodox way, while the screenplay award was shared by Yannis Symvonis and its protagonist Giorgos Angelkos for The Small Body , a powerful story about what connects a man and a young boy.
The documentary award went to the film Requiem in Salt , by the duo Sylvia Nikolaidis and Nikolas Iordanos from Cyprus, while the Special Jury Prize went to Khous eἶ kai εἰς χουν απελευσει by Dimitris Papathanasis .
The Grand Prix of the International Competition went to Correct Me If I’m Wrong by Hao Zhou (Germany, USA), which also automatically enters the Oscar process. It is worth mentioning that a Greek, Thelgia Petraki , who has also won a Golden Dionysus in the past, distinguished herself in the International Competition: Her film 400 Cassettes won the award for best film from Southeastern Europe.
The full list of awards for all competition sections has been posted on the DISFF website HERE .
The platform where the films are screened, for free, throughout Greece will remain open until Tuesday 16/9, at 11 am.
Watch the video with moments from the 48th event here:
* The awards ceremony of the 48th Drama International Short Film Festival was held at the “Antonis Papadopoulos” amphitheater of the city’s Municipal Conservatory, hosted by Vasilis Terzopoulos .
Before the speeches began, in a surprise move, the small group of people took to the stage and raised the Palestinian flag, with actor Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos reading a text about the Greek ship Oxygono “which leaves the port of Ermoupolis to join the international fleet heading to Gaza, carrying hope, life and humanitarian aid.”
*The ceremony was opened by the Mayor of Drama and President of the Drama Short Film Festival Cultural Organization, Giorgos Papadopoulos , who emphasized that “this year’s participation in the festival surpassed all previous ones with 3,800 films. Despite the limited time he had, the new artistic director Giorgos Angelopoulos showed great love, patience and perseverance, and when we shook hands, the result we see today was already visible.”
After thanking Minister Lina Mendoni and Deputy Minister Iasonas Fotilas, Mr. Papadopoulos said that “in the area where we are, the demolition will begin tomorrow, as both this hall in the Municipal Conservatory, as well as the “Olympia”, will be radically renovated. The Ministry of Culture has secured 1,400,000 euros for this upgrade.”
At the same time, he referred to the other major project that is starting at the Andrikakis camp, within the framework of a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, EKKOMED, the Region and the Municipality: “Work will begin with the first 4 buildings and the amount of 10 million.”
*The Vice President of the Drama Short Film Festival Cultural Organization, Petros Paraskevaides , after thanking the Ministry of Culture, the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Hellenic Parliament, the sponsors of the event, the staff of the Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Drama, the partners and of course the volunteers, said that “we experienced one of the best festivals to date. The Drama Festival is now an internationally recognized institution and reference point for short films, and leaves a strong social footprint in the city, the country and beyond its borders.” Addressing the young creators, he said: “Drama is you!”.
A particularly moving moment was when, amidst warm applause, the head of the Drama Festival, Eleftheria Kavaka , took the stage and said goodbye to the Festival, as she is retiring after 40 years of service to the institution. Ritsa Kavaka, who has lived through 6 municipal authorities and 4 artistic directors, thanked the original team of artistic director Antonis Papadopoulos, Sofia Georgiadou and Manolis Melissourgos and expressed her satisfaction with the development of the festival and the much larger and stronger new team.
Taking the stage, Deputy Minister of Culture Iasonas Fotilas underlined that “the Ministry of Culture has long embraced the Drama Festival. We believe in its development potential. Never before has so much money been spent in the audiovisual sector as in the period 2019-2025. According to official data, during this period, over 1,000 projects were financed with almost 230 million, while private individuals invested another 555 million euros. Of these, over 2 million were given for short films and around 8 million for documentaries. More and more countries are choosing Greece for their productions. The Greek audiovisual sector is a huge driver of development. The contribution of the Drama Festival is invaluable.”
However, the detailed listing of the amounts allocated to cinema since 2019 sparked the reaction of many filmmakers or members of the critics’ committees, such as Panagiotis Evangelidis and Angelos Frantzis, who commented on it as they took the stage to present or receive their awards.
Mr. Fotilas’ response, as he took the stage to award the Golden Dionysus, in relation to the demands of the “Zero Visibility” movement but also to the pay-TV fee (which, as he said, “Greek citizens will no longer pay, but Greek cinema will not lose a single euro”), prolonged the uproar, which subsided when the presenter declared the 48th DISFF to be over : a festival that will remain unforgettable for everyone, albeit for different reasons.
George Angelopoulos , by common admission, won a big bet in his first organization, which he brought to fruition within just a few months of taking office. Excited, he managed once again, as in the opening ceremony, with his speech to turn the attention to the true protagonists of the Drama Festival: the young filmmakers – award-winning and not:
“I thought that this year I would participate in the Festival as a contestant and in part the wish came true, as I shared with all the candidates the stress and anxiety that a “premiere” brings (…) And my thoughts inevitably end up again with the child sitting in this seat far back at the edge and the feeling of disappointment that he will feel by the end of the evening. The chances of an award are unfortunately against him. So many years, so much effort, so much fatigue and money and in the end? None of this is recognized? Maybe I’m not for this? – the child thinks. Maybe I don’t have talent or the right acquaintances? And maybe they will go round in circles in the child’s mind and while he really wants to rejoice in the joy of others, at the same time from within he begins to reconsider everything. I have to give up, he thinks. It’s foolish to think that I will succeed. So many people tried and failed – and they were better than me. And what was I thinking when I put this font in the titles of my film? It makes sense that I wouldn’t get any awards. Tomorrow I’ll ask about that office position they offered me. There are possibilities for advancement there. I’ll finally have a stable salary and be able to leave the house, rent my own place. It’s time to get serious, he thinks.
As he leaves the ceremony, a girl stops him to congratulate him. He tries to tell her that he didn’t win an award, but she continues telling him how much his film touched her, how she had a similar experience with the hero of his story and how moved she was. Even the choice of font in the film’s titles thrilled her! The child thanks her and heads for the exit smiling. The girl reminded him of an old classmate who had told him an incredible story. A very funny story. Now that he thinks about it, this story could be made into a nice film. Maybe next year we will host it here in Drama. Thank you for your films. Good luck with the next ones.
