About Us

Drama Short Film Festival was first held in 1978, on the initiative of the Drama Film Club. The response of filmmakers, as well as the public, was enthusiastic from the very beginning. A few years later, the Festival was adopted by the Municipality of Drama and then, in the mid-eighties, by the Greek State. In 1995 the Festival became International.

The Festival was established in 1978 and, since 1996, it is a Municipal Enterprise, whose purpose is: to promote and disseminate the art of cinema, and especially of the short film, in Greece and abroad, to develop a spirit of friendship and cooperation between filmmakers from all over the world, to organize screenings of Greek and foreign short films; film tributes; seminars, conferences, lectures and fora; art exhibitions; musical concerts; and theatrical performances, throughout the year, in the city of Drama, in Greece and abroad and to collaborate with similar institutions, both in Greece and abroad, towards the fostering and development of short film.

Drama International Short Film Festival (DISFF)

Drama Premises
9 Agias Varvaras st. Drama 66100, Greece
Tel: (+30) 25210 47575

Athens Premises
71 Emm. Benaki st. Athens 10681, Greece
Tel: (+30) 210 3300309

e-mail: info@dramafilmfestival.gr

Screening venues

Olympia Cinema

Municipal Conservatory

A message from the Mayor of Drama Mr. Christodoulos Mamsakos

The artistic and hospitable city of Drama raises the Big Screen curtain. For its 42nd year, the Short Film Festival in Drama, renewed and with an abundance of films, both in its Greek and International sections, welcomes and embraces actors, directors, producers, crew members and Cinema enthusiasts to a little cinematic miracle made of celluloid.

Cinema is an integral part of the culture of Drama. A peripheral city that conceived and developed the Short Film Festival, a city, the modern history of which is intertwined with the institution of the festival, while all its citizens embrace Cinema. During all those years, short film directors return to Drama on these days, thus creating an important incubator for film art creators in our land.

Our months-long preparations ensure the high quality of the Short Film Festival. The numerous film screenings, the interactive workshops and the parallel events of both an informative and an entertaining nature, ascertain the festival’s quality, adding prestige and a good reputation at a national and international level.

We are proud of keeping the spark of Cinema burning and of offering short film artists the possibility to discover new trends and views, in order to contribute to the improvement of the cinematic product and the technological advancement of film production.

Welcome to the city of Drama, the great festival of culture, the world of the Seventh Art, the great festival of Cinema. Welcome to the 42 nd National Short Film Festival and the 25 th International Short Film Festival in Drama, to an event that will undoubtedly be successful and do credit to the reputation of our hospitable city.

Christodoulos Mamsakos
Mayor of Drama

Greetings from the President of the Cultural Organization of Drama Short Film Festival Mr. Georgios Dermetzis

Georgios Dermetzis Beloved friends of the Municipal Conservatory and the Short Film Festival in Drama, I am rather excited to take over the duties of the President in the Legal Entity that has the responsibility, but also the heavy legacy of the Administration of these two historic and with brilliant course institutions. The Municipal Conservatory of Drama was founded in 1993 by a decision of the Ministry of Culture and since then it contributes decisively and actively to the cultural development of our city with its pedagogical offer. All the instruments of the symphonic orchestra, monody-vocal, advanced theory, Byzantine and traditional music, as well as music technology, are taught.

Its active role and the quality of its various events, highlights it as one of the most important centers for the promotion of classical, mainly, but also traditional and art music and makes it important in the cultural events of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace, but also of wider Greece.

The Short Film Festival in Drama began in 1978, at the initiative of the Drama Film Club. Since August 1996, the Ministry of Culture, recognizing the importance and prestige of the Drama Festival, has included it in the National Cultural Network of Cities. The high level of its choices in artwork and the excellent level of its organization, contributed to its recognition by the European Film Academy (EFA) as one of the most important European Festivals, as a result of which it was included in the network of collaborating Festivals with the European Film Academy. It is an indisputable fact that in recent years, the Film Festival has established itself in the consciousness of both the cinematic world and the film-loving public, as the venue for short films, as the venue for all that is or will complement a future key part of our culture.

As a historical event, it attracts thousands of people from all over the world every year, while promoting and highlighting the local culture of Drama, including the result of urban renewal and the formation of a positive, creative direction of social life.

Today it is going through its fifth decade with dynamics, while the prospects for its development are great. Having acquired a particularly remarkable dynamic over time, it always seeks its connection with the domestic and international cultural situation and the technological developments that affect cinema and cultural production in general. The Festival can be a tool for achieving significant social and economic benefits, both regionally and locally as well as in Europe, and to this end we will pursue strategic cooperation with private entities, with a properly formulated communication policy, which can help significantly in the financial support of the Festival and to contribute decisively to the whole promotion of our historical cultural institution. In addition, with the development of new ideas, the expansion of cooperation with the academic community, the design of innovative initiatives and the integration of digital technology, we are laying the foundations for new data and services by upgrading the overall picture and its contribution to seventh art and society, at large.

At this time, we need readiness, vision and cooperation with the political leadership, planning, organization, consistency and seriousness of the Board and the staff, so that the Short Film Festival in Drama can develop its dynamics without restrictions and in accordance with international developments.

Respecting the history, the trust of the Mayor of Drama, the basic principles and goals of the Cultural Policy of the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Drama which is the main supporter and helper of the Organization’s efforts and the entire artistic world which loves, supports and produces the culture of the 7th Art, I will make every effort to develop and strengthen this institution by always producing high quality artistic and theoretical work that will enhance and promote the production of modern Greek cultural creation.

Georgios Dermetzis
President of the Cultural Organization – Drama’s Short Film Festival

Artistic Director

Yannis Sakaridis

Yannis Sakaridis studied Photography and Art History at London College of Printing and film direction at the University of Westminster. He has been a member of London Film Makers Co-Op for many years, where he started to direct short films as BUSKERS (1995), SQUADDING IN HACKNEY (1995), DOGKILLERS (1996), MAUSOLEUM (1998), and also some experimental films, such as PARIS (1993), DECAY (1996). He kept on working as a professional film editor for feature films in Greece and Great Britain, such as SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS: I PUT A SPELL ON ME by Nikos Triantafyllidis (2001), THE KING by Nikos Grammatikos (2002), A WOMAN IN WINTER by Richard Jobson (2006), for film trailers for Warner Bros, such as MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD & EVIL by Clint Eastwood (1997), THE GENERAL by John Burman (1998), EYES WIDE SHUT by Stanley Kubrick (1999), and also for many British TV documentaries, such as VELVET GOLDMINE for Channel 4, CLASH OF THE TITANS: RANGERS/CELTICS for BBC2, CARNIVAL FACES for National Geographic.

After 18 years in London, he wrote and directed the short film TRUTH (2006), which was the first film he shot in Athens, where he lives since 2007. His first feature film as a director, WILD DUCK (2013), starring Themis Bazaka and Alexandros Logothetis, was premiered at Toronto Film Festival and traveled to festivals around the world.

His second feature as a screenwriter/producer/director, AMERIKA SQUARE (2016) starring Yannis Stankoglou, Makis Papadimitriou, Themis Bazaka and Vassilis Kukalani was produced by Greek National Television and the Greek Film Center. It was awarded in many international festivals and it was the official selection of Greece for the Academy Awards (2018). The film was distributed in the USA, China, Spain, Eastern Europe (HBO), England, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

Hollywood Reporter wrote for this film: “Amerika Square is overall one of the best European films to date on the subject of immigration in all its painful implications”. He has participated two times in Drama Film Festival with fiction shorts: MAUSOLEUM (1998), TRUTH (2006, Special Award for Fiction, Best Music Award) He has been a member of its national juries twice. He has also been a member of an Advisory Committee for Short Films at the Greek Film Center.

Filmography (as a director):

Amerika Square (2016) Scriptwriter-Director-Producer.
Audience Award at the 7 th Peking Film Festival. Erasmus Youth Jury Award, Trieste Film Festival. Best Film Award at Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. Best Editing Award by the Greek Film Academy, Best Film Award Open Frontiers Contest. FIPRESCI Award at the 57 th Thessaloniki IFF, Special Mention for Vassilis Kukalani at the 57 th Thessaloniki IFF, Youth Award at the 57 th Thessaloniki IFF, Audience Award at the 3 rd Burgas FF, New Directors Competition, 52nd Chicago Film Festival. Flash Forward Competition, 21st Busan International Film Festival.

Wild Duck (2013) Scriptwriter-Director-Producer.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 2013), Raindance Film Festival, Busan Film Festival (Flash Forwrd), Chicago Film Festival, New Directors Competition, Mostra – Sao Paulo, In Competition, Thessaloniki IFF, In Competition, International Film Festival of India, Goa.

Truth (2006, short film) Scriptwriter-Director.
47Th Thessaloniki IFF Θεσσαλονίκης (Special Mention in Quality Awards), Raindance Film Festival (Tiscali Best Shorts Selection), 29th Short Film Festival in Drama (Special Award, Best Music Award).

Mausoleum (1998, short film) Raindance Film Festival, Drama International Film Festival, Orange Best Shorts.
Dogkillers (1996, short film),
Decay (1996, short film),
Buskers (1995, short film),
A poem for 4 countries (1995, short film),
Squadding in Hackney (1995, short documentary),
La Valeta (1994, short film),
Paris (1993, short film).