The Peloponnisos International Doc Film Festival's purpose has always been to introduce the audience of Peloponnese some very special films from all over the world. This year according to the difficult circumstances it was decided that there will be a hybrid version of the festival with an ONLINE release in February and a live premiere in May. In this situation we asked volunteers and festival staff to interview the directors of the ONLINE program to bring them closer with the audience even if they couldn't have met in the theaters. Behind the scenes information, personal stories and more in depth approach to the films are available through these interviews. The interviews of the films included in the "Claiming Freedom" tribute have been conducted by the students of Theater Studies of University of Peloponnese, as one part of our collaboration with the University.
The interviews of the directors were conducted by: Manos Kalafatelis, Dina Sotaki, Stella Papakonstantinou, Kostas Metsos, Giannis Koutresis, Ioannis Manoloudis, Andrianna Giannakopoulou, Daphne Alihatzoti, Ornela Koutrolli, Ilektra Katsimiha, Valia Orfanidou Antonia Pternea and Maria Siamatra, Maria Nikolakopoulou, Giorgos Geranakis, Aggelos Kourepis, Maria Galani, Kalliopi Kalpodimou, Katerina Mefsout from Theater Studies faculty of University of Peloponnese team.
Jannik Splidsboel "Being Eriko"
Director Jannik Splidsboel has studied Art and Film in Denmark and Italy, and he has a Master’s Degree in Communication. After his studies, he worked as a Director’s Assistant/Line Producer on several international productions as well as an internal creative producer for. RAI and Canal+, among others. At one point, Jannik took a break to start working as a director, and he has not stopped since.
Jannik directed a long list of international short and documentary films. To name a few: How Are You (2011) about the artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset, Misfits (2015) about young homosexual people in the Bible Belt of the United States of America – both of which were selected for the Panorama Program at the Berlinale in their respective years. Misfits was furthermore a part of Amnesty International’s campaign against homophobia, and it was nominated for a Bodil Award (the Danish Critics’ Choice Awards) in 2016.
His films have been screened at more than 300 festivals worldwide, and been sold and distributed internationally. Apart from directing, Jannik works as a Creative Producer and a tutor/consultant.
You can check out the interview by Dina Sotaki with Jannik here.
Judit Kalmár & Celine Coste Carlisle "Silence - Voices of Lisbon"
An economist and journalist by profession, Judit Kalmár has started her career as editor and reporter, and worked at different Radio and Tv Stations in Hungary for more than a decade. She worked in various news departments and provided short feature documentaries for the National Television. She started her independent filmmaking career by establishing Codebar Productions, a production company, where she self-produces web-based short films for companies and non-profits, and has also started making documentaries with the contribution of a professional team. Her interest has always been finding the fine bridge between the rational and emotional, culture and community. Judit has always been passionate about traveling, used to live in the UK, spent 7 months in Ecuador, and 2 years in Portugal with her family. Probably this is the reason why Judit is fascinated by Portuguese culture and Portuguese people.
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Céline Coste Carlisle obtained her degree in Art and Mixed Media at the ESAV (now HEAD), in Geneva, having started experimenting with cinema and video art as part of her academic practice. She was part of the team of the Geneva Opera House, where she worked with some of the industry's legendary set and light designers like Hiroshi Teshigahara, Pier Luigi Pizzi and Wolfgang Göbbel. She moved to Portugal in 1999 and her project of collecting and photographing collages of plastics washed up in the tide at Guincho beach won acclaim from the Tribune De Genève art section, as well as being exhibited by a local NGO to raise awareness on the subject. In 2018, she took part in the “Triple Grace” exhibition at Lisbon’s Pálacio da Independência where she exhibited her newest work inspired by the making of the documentary “Silêncio – Vozes de Lisboa”.
You can check out the interview by Antonia Pternea with Judit and Celine here.
Iara Lee "Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration after apocalypse"
Iara Lee, a Brazilian of Korean descent, is an activist, filmmaker, and founder/director of the Cultures of Resistance Network, an organization that promotes global solidarity and connects and supports agitators, educators, farmers, and artists to build a more just and peaceful world through creative resistance and nonviolent action! As a filmmaker, Iara has directed/produced several full-length documentaries and dozens of short films over the past decade. Her latest film, entitled WANTOKS: DANCE OF RESILIENCE IN MELANESIA (2019), which highlights the Melanesian performers who are using their talents to celebrate local culture and draw international attention to their islands’ fight against climate change, premiered in May 2019. Her other recent documentaries were shot in West Africa: BURKINABÈ RISING (2018), about the intersection of art and politics in Burkina Faso, and BURKINABÈ BOUNTY (2018), on agroecology in Burkina Faso. She currently has three other projects in post-production: STALKING CHERNOBYL, a film examining the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone three decades after the world's most infamous nuclear disaster; FROM TRASH TO TREASURE, a short documentary on turning negatives into positives in Lesotho; and THE SAMI'S SONG OF SURVIVAL, a short documentary about indigenous resistance on the arctic frontier. Iara is a long-time supporter of Greenpeace, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and many organizations around the world through the Cultures of Resistance Network.
You can check out the interview by Antonia Pternea with Iara here.
Martijn Veldhoen "In Transit, Identity and Love in Europe"
Martijn Veldhoen (1962, Amsterdam) studied painting at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He first started working on video installations that showed in various international galleries and museums. From 2005 onwards, he started working on short films and documentaries. These films have been shown worldwide on exhibitions, film- and videofestivals and have won several prizes.
You can check out the interview by Valia Orfanidou with Martijn here.
Don't forget to check out the films in today's program 10/2 from 00:00 till 23:59 GR Time in this link.