5th Olympia Film Festival

Having as a starting point the city of Pyrgos, the Festival has travelled to other cities of the Ilia Prefecture, such as Ancient Olympia, Amalias, Krestena and Zaharo.
 In this year's festival short and feature films, of recent production, coming from all over the world took part. In total 41 films, 12 feature and 29 short from 25 countries throughout the world were screened. Films from countries with a long tradition in quality cinema such as Canada, China, Iran, France, Germany, Poland and the Scandinavian countries participated. There were also participations from Colombia, Venezuela, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Belgium, Albania, Singapore, Brazil and Cyprus.

The presence of Greek filmmakers was remarkable, with the participation in the competition section of the feature film by Penny Panagiotopoulou "Hard Goodbyes: my Dad" as well as with the short films "Gravity Law" by Spyros Rasidakis, "Star System" by Spyros Siakas, "Overground" by Jordan Ananiadis and "Offered Boy" by Marsa Makri.

Concomitantly a tribute to the great Danish creator of animation Jannik Hastrup was paid, as well as a tribute to children of Palestine with 9 films created in the framework of the program AL JANA.

During the whole Festival the newspaper Zizanio was circulated, with critics of films, reportages, comments, sketches etc., edited by children and supported by professionals.

For one more year, the younger friends of the Festival had the opportunity to participate in different workshops (animation, editing, painting, mask making, puppet making, shadow theatre and comics).

In addition to the above, young and grown-ups had the opportunity to attend the Camera Zizanio with the screenings of 109 films from 14 European countries as well as the Panorama of Student Films with the screening of 38 films.

The presence of foreign people (producers, directors, actors, teachers and children) was impressive, as it reached the number of 150 people. The presence of Greek people superseded any expectancy.

 

5th Olympia Film Festival - The Awards

INTERNATIONAL JURY AWARDS

The International Jury of the 5th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, composed by Jannik Hastrup, Krister Kjellstrom, Reinhold T. Schoeffel, Michelle Humbert and Leonidas Vardaros gave the following awards: 

Best Feature Film to YOU ARE FREE by Mohammad Ali Talebi, Iran

Best Direction of Feature Film to Huang Hong for the film 25 KIDS AND ONE DAD, China

Best Scenario to Lisandro Duque Naranjo for the film THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN, Colombia - Venezuela

Best Young Actor equally to Ehsan Ghasemi and Siavash Lashkari in the film YOU ARE FREE by Mohammad Ali Talebi, Iran

Best Young Actress equally to Oksana Akinjshina & Katya Gorina in the film SISTERS by Sergei Bodrov Jr., Russia

Best Music to Peiman Yazdamian for the film LITTLE BIRD FREAK by Rahbar Qanbari, Iran.

Best Short Film to A MAN THING by Slawomir Fabricki, Poland.

Best Animation to THE HEDGE OF THORNS by Anita Killi, Norway.

CIFEJ Prize to 25 KIDS AND ONE DAD by Huang Hong,China.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

SHORT ANIMATION FILMS: STAR SYSTEM by Spyros Siakas, Greece

                                       THE LAW OF GRAVITY by Spyros Rasidakis, Greece 

SHORT FICTION FILMS: ADIOS by Jean Stephane Sauvaire, France

                                   FIRST LOVE by Bernard Garant, Belgium

DIRECTION OF FEATURE FILM: SISTERS by Sergei Bodrov Jr., Russia

CHILDREN'S JURY AWARDS

The Children's Jury of the 5th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, composed by 21 members, gave the following awards:

Best Feature Film to HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER by Penny Panagiotopoulou, Greece

Best Short Fiction Film to THE OTHER ARTEMIS, by Kyriakos Tofarides, Cyprus

Best Short Animation Film to THE LAW OF GRAVITY by Spyros Rasidakis, Greece