elc team
The afternoon and evening program includes 10 award-winning documentaries , nine of which are being screened for the first time in Athens. The films focus on key contemporary issues, with thematic axes of equality, solidarity and the environment, highlighting stories that inspire reflection, empathy and dialogue.
The screenings are accompanied by three internationally renowned filmmakers: Eylem Kaftan , whose work combines social research and personal narrative; Abdullah Harun Ilhan , who explores the human experience through geopolitical contexts; and Belgian Ruud De Keyser , who stands out for his penetrating cinematic look at contemporary European documentary. Their presence gives the audience the opportunity to directly interact with their creative vision.
The educational dimension of the Festival has a special place in the program, with special student screenings and activities that cultivate critical thinking and artistic expression. The innovative program “Musical Filmmaking” stands out, where the award-winning documentary Daniel by Pavlos Vissariou is presented with live, original music created by students of the Tripoli Music School, offering a unique partnership of cinema and youth creativity.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
16:30 Off the Mark / Off the Mark (114′)
(Germany-Norway, 2024) Director: Wera Uschakowa
Honorable Mention for the Environment Prize, 11th IFF
What for the Norwegian government is an energy strategy, for the indigenous Sami people translates into violent resource extraction and encroachment on their ancestral lands. The film reveals the dark side of the so-called “Green Transition”, documenting the struggle of activists against plastic pollution, but mainly focusing on the desperate battle of the Sami.
18:30 The Lost Season / The Lost Season (63′)
(Iran, 2024) Director: Mehdi Ghanavati
Equality Award at the 11th IFNF.
Seasonal dust has covered the village where the teenager Kosar lives. Lake Hamoun has dried up and the Sistan region, near the Afghan border, is getting drier every year, while life seems to disappear from there. Like all the teenage girls in the region, Kosar must marry according to a tribal tradition, but she has one dream: to go to university. Her dreams are gradually fading away amid the drought and the spread of fine dust in southeastern Iran.
19:45 A Day, 365 Hours / Μια Μερα, 365 Ορες (79′)
(Turkey-Croatia, 2023) Director: Eylem Kaftan
Director in attendance – Q&A to follow
First Prize at the 9th Turkish World Documentary Film Festival, Audience Award at the 10th Turkish World Documentary Film Festival, and Work-in-Progress and Distribution Awards at the Antalya Film Forum 2023.
Three young women are united by their shared experience of abuse. Their unexpected encounter creates a strong bond that gives them the strength to confront their abusers in court and help other young women seek justice.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26
16:30 Lagunaria (85′)
(Italy, 2022) Director: Giovanni Pellegrini
Tribute Award “Cities of the World” at the 10th International Venice Film Festival.
What is it like to live in a city that is slowly dying? Pellegrini’s experiential documentary is a cry of anguish for Venice, given through an original narrative form. Using a “voice from the future” that recalls the past, he records daily life in the lagoon, away from the spotlight. From the devastating floods to the invasion of cruise ships, the director presents a city that is violently changing, inviting the viewer to reflect on his responsibilities towards history and the environment.
18:15 Sheep (40′)
(Belgium 2024) Director: Ruud De Keyser
Director’s Presence – Q&A to follow
Environment Award at the 11th IFNP.
For years, Belgium has been safe, but the return of the wolf changes everything. This immersive documentary does something unique: it adopts the perspective of the prey. Through the eyes of the sheep, we experience the fragile everyday life and the invisible terror that lurks in the darkness. An atmospheric look at the age-old battle of the wild with the domesticated, where three shepherds struggle to protect their flock in a new, dangerous reality.
19:30 Belle de Nuit – Grisélidis Réal, Autoportraits (73′)
(Belgium, 2016). Directed by: Marie-Eve de Grave
Equality Award at the 5th IFNP.
Grisélidis Réal, a woman-phenomenon: writer, painter and sex worker, turned her own life into a manifesto of freedom. The film follows her uncompromising journey, from the prisons of Munich in the 60s where she began to write and paint, to her intense activism in Paris and Geneva for the rights of prostitutes. Through rare archival material, interviews and her own poetic texts, Réal combined art with marginalization and dignity with provocation. The term “Belle de Nuit” is a direct reference/pun to Buñuel’s film “Belle de Jour”, but also a French euphemism for prostitute.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27
16:30 What Color is This World (60′)
(Bulgaria, 2019) Director: Ralitza Dimitrova
Equality Award at the 6th International Film Festival
A tender and poetic portrait of the talented Bulgarian poet Danila Stoyanova, who passed away at the age of just 23. Although she did not become widely known during her lifetime, her poetry traveled as far as the USA and her verses even adorn walls in Leiden, the Netherlands, next to works by world poets. Thirty-five years after her death, her friends reminisce and converse with her mentally, as they reflect on the meaning of their own lives, emphasizing how the absence of one can have a greater special weight than the presence of many.
18:00 Turin Turin / Turin, Turin (46′)
(Italy-Austria, 2025) Director: Bernadette Weber
In the 1950s, Valentino and his friend Adriano made history as the first Italians to circumnavigate the world by bicycle. Two years after Valentino’s death, his son discovers dusty diaries and rare photographs in his family home, which bring an epic adventure full of humor, friendship and the irresistible charm of “slow” travel to life again. A moving journey through memory that begins and ends in rainy Turin.
19:00 Free Words: A Poet from Gaza/ Free Words: A Poet from Gaza (30′)
(Egypt-Turkey, 2024) Director: Abdullah Harun Ilhan
Director’s Presence – Q&A to follow
Short Film Award at the Stockholm Film Festival, International Short Documentary Award and Audience Award at the 11th IFNF, Audience Award
at the Paphos International Film Festival 2025, Unscripted Short Film Award at the Hobnobben Film Festival 2025.
A documentary about the Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha and his life in Gaza. The film documents his journey, his art as a form of resistance and hope, and his experiences of oppression, including his temporary detention and subsequent release and subsequent exile from Gaza.
20:15 Daniel by Pavlos Vissariou – Tripoli Music School Concert
The multi-award winning short documentary “Daniel” by Pavlos Vissariou focuses on the shocking experience of the disaster caused to the local community of Metamorfosi in the Municipality of Palamas by the extreme meteorological phenomenon “Daniel” at a point where five rivers converge. The Tripoli Music School, under the guidance of professor and composer George Panagiotopoulos, used this material as a canvas for the creation and performance of an original musical composition.
Composition – orchestration: George Panagiotopoulos. Musicians: Paraskevas Mourlas (violin), Georgia Mourla (violin), Davina Golegou (violin), Athanasios Manos (bouzouki), Paris Mourlas (bouzouki), Vassilis Debegiotis (electric guitar), Nina Giannika (electric bass), Spyros Manos (taouli) and Kallisti Pantazi (drums)
