48th DISDFF Closing Award Ceremony
In a warm closing ceremony for the 48th Drama Festival, where young artists, in the presence of Deputy Minister of Culture Iasonas Fotilas, loudly voiced their concerns about issues affecting their field and the suffering of Palestine, Neritan Zinxhiria was declared the big winner. His short film Noi won the Golden Dionysus, automatically securing the coveted “ticket” to participate in the Oscar® nomination process. The film, set in a mountain village in Metsovo, stars a horse and a boy. When the older brother is killed by his beloved horse, the younger brother must decide—through nightmares and visions—whether to kill the animal or forgive it.
Neritan Zinxhiria, 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 of Light, once again penetrating the essence of the Balkan soul with his lens.
The “Tonia Marketaki” award for best director went to Kostis Theodosopoulos for his film He Who Once Was. Aris Balis was honoured with the award for best male performance 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 Papaggelidi, who starred in Mitsi by Gevi Dimitrakopoulou, playing a tomboy who experiences her first period in an unorthodox way, while the award for best script was shared by Yannis Symvonis and the lead actor Yorgos Aggelkos for Mikro Soma, a powerful story about the bond between a man and a young boy.
The documentary award went to Requiem in Salt, by Sylvia Nicolaides and Nikolas Iordanou from Cyprus, while the Special Jury Award was given Dust to Dust by Dimitris Papathanasis.
The Grand Prix of the International Competition Program went to Hao Zhou’s Correct Me If I’m Wrong (Germany, USA), which also automatically receives the Oscar candidacy. It is worth mentioning that a Greek woman, Thelgia Petrakis, who has also won a Golden Dionysus in the past, shone in the International Competition: her film 400 Cassettes won the award for Best Film from Southeast Europe.
The complete list of awards for all competition sections has been posted on the DISFF website.
* The awards ceremony for the 48th Drama International Short Film Festival was held at the Antonis Papadopoulos Amphitheatre of the Municipal Conservatory, hosted by Vasilis Terzopoulos.
Before the speeches began, in an unexpected move, all the young filmmakers climbed onto the stage and raised the Palestinian flag, with actor Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos reading a text about the Greek ship Oxygen “leaving the port of Ermoupolis to join the international fleet heading for 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, Georgios Papadopoulos, who emphasized that “this year’s participation in the festival exceeded all previous records with 3,800 films. Despite the limited time available, the new artistic director, Yorgos 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 space where we are standing, demolition will begin tomorrow, as both this hall at the Municipal Conservatory and the ‘Olympia’ Cinema will be wholly renovated. The Ministry of Culture and Sports has secured €1,400,000 for this renovation.”
At the same time, he referred to another major project that is starting at the Andrikaki military camp, within the framework of a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, EKKOMED, and the Municipality: “Work will begin on the first four buildings, at a cost of 10 million euros.”
*The Vice-President of the Drama Short Film Festival Cultural Organization, Petros Paraskevaidis, 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 collaborators, and of course the volunteers, said that “we have experienced one of the best festivals to date. The Drama Festival is now an internationally recognized institution and a benchmark for short films, leaving a strong social mark on the city, the country, and beyond borders.” Addressing the young creators, he said, “Drama is you!”
It was a particularly moving moment when, amid warm applause, the director of the Drama Festival, Eleftheria Kavaka, took to the stage and bid farewell to the Festival, as she retires after 40 years of service to the institution. Ritsa Kavaka, who has worked with six municipal authorities and four artistic directors, thanked the original team of artistic director Antonis Papadopoulos, Sofia Georgiadou, and Manolis Melissourgos, and expressed her satisfaction with the festival’s development and the much larger and stronger new team.
Taking to the stage, Deputy Minister of Culture Iasonas Fotilas emphasized that “the Ministry of Culture has consistently embraced Drama Festival. We believe in its growth potential. Never before has so much money been spent on the audiovisual sector as in the period 2019-2025. According to official data, during that time, more than 1,000 projects were funded with almost €230 million, while private investors contributed another €555 million. Of this, over €2 million was allocated to short films and around €8 million to documentaries. More and more countries are choosing Greece for their productions. The Greek audiovisual sector is a huge lever for growth. The contribution of the Drama Festival is invaluable.”
However, the detailed list of amounts allocated to cinema since 2019 sparked a reaction from many filmmakers and members of jury commitees, such as Panagiotis Evangelidis and Angelos Frantzis, who commented on it as they took to the stage to present or receive their awards.
Mr. Fotilas’ response, as he took to the stage to present the Golden Dionysus award, regarding the demands of the “Zero Visibility” movement and the end of pay TV (which, as he said “Greek citizens will no longer pay for it, but Greek cinema will not lose a single euro”), prolonged the commotion, which subsided when the presenter announced the end of the 48th DISFF: a festival that will remain unforgettable to everyone, albeit for different reasons.
George Angelopoulos, by all accounts, won a big bet in his first event, which he pulled off in just a few months after taking office. Visibly moved, he once again, as he did at the opening ceremony, managed to draw attention to the real stars of the Drama Festival: the young filmmakers, both award-winning and non-award-winning:
“I believed that this year I would participate in the Festival as a contestant, and in part my wish came true, as I shared with all the candidates the stress and anxiety that a “premiere” brings (…) And my thoughts inevitably return to the child sitting in that seat at the very back and the feeling of disappointment he will feel by the end of the evening. Unfortunately, the odds of winning an award are against him. So many years, so much effort, so much fatigue and money, and in the end? Is none of it recognized? Maybe I’m not cut out for this, the child thinks. Maybe I don’t have the talent or the right connections. And the “maybes” circle the child’s mind, and while he really wants to share in the joy of others, at the same time he begins to rethink everything. I have to give up, he thinks. It’s silly to believe that I’ll succeed. So many people tried and failed—and they were better than me. What was I thinking when I used that font for the titles of my film? It’s makes sense that I didn’t get any awards. Tomorrow I’ll ask about that office job they offered me. There’s potential for advancement there. I’ll finally have a steady salary so I can move out of my parents’ house and rent my own place. It’s time to get serious, he thinks.
Leaving the ceremony, a young woman 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, that she had a similar experience to the hero of his story and that she was moved. She was even enthusiastic about the font choice for the film’s title! The boy thanks her and heads for the exit with a smile. 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, that story could make a great movie. Maybe next year we’ll host it here in Drama. Thank you for your films. Good luck with the next ones.’
