CineDoc – Α Film Festival inspiring change
Αward–winning documentaries traveling around Greece. Engaging dialogue between filmmakers and audiences. Art imitating life, with the most relevant issues at hand. This is CineDoc.
In 2015, CineDoc became a founding member of Moving Docs, an innovative European network that offers audiences the opportunity to see documentaries as well as engage with the documentarians across Europe. This month, POLITISMOS takes a look at “Village Potemkin”, created by Greek filmmaker Dominikos Ignatiadis, which will be screened in April 2017 at the Institut Français de Grèce and Danaos Cinema.
In this compelling documentary, we follow Dominikos, a former drug user, wandering in the collapsing city of Athens with only a bike and a GoPro camera. Dominikos meets friends doing the same as he is – staying clean from drugs – and asks them to share their experiences: joy, downfall, recovery, and journey towards self-knowledge while redefining the meaning of life.
“My goal is prevention. I want the documentary to be screened in every school in Greece and prison, to give prisoners with addiction the message that they can stay clean from drugs and live with dignity,” Dominikos says.
Inspired by his own feelings, he confesses that he had used drugs and alcohol as armor, “I had no contact with the truth. When I finally collapsed like a house of cards, because such stories never have a happy ending, the documentary came from my heart. After following a film seminar, that sparked this inner need, I made a short film, through which I gained more confidence. There I met people involved in cinema, and timidly enough, I started this effort.”
Dominikos shared how film affected him personally. “My transitions have a direct influence on my creativity. Therefore, the film took some time, almost three years. I always had a difficulty in communicating with others. The camera is helping me build a bridge between myself and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, I cannot communicate in a usual way”.
Why “Village Potemkin” as the title? Potemkin was the general who served Catherine II. Being in love with Catherine, he attempted after each raid to impress her. He would create facades on the buildings of the villages he conquered and would have his soldiers dress as peasants who stood happily about for Catherine to witness and be impressed. It is for this reason that something which is empty of substance and impressive only due to its ‘wrapping’ is referred to as “Village Potemkin”…
Coming soon as part of the 2016-17 CineDoc Festival:
FIRST POSITION
14/01/2017 at Achillion, Volos
THE BAD KIDS
Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe, 101΄ / 2015 / USA
18/01/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
18/01/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
22/01/2017 at Danaos Cinema
LES SAISONS
Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, 97΄ / 2015 / France, Germany
01/02/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
01/02/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
05/02/2017 at Danaos Cinema
MONSTER IN THE MIND
Jean Carper, 87΄ / 2015 / USA
11/02/2017 at Achillion, Volos
15/02/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
15/02/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
19/02/2017 at Danaos Cinema
LES INVISIBLES
Sébastien Lifshitz, 115΄/ 2011 / France
01/03/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
05/03/2017 at Danaos
22/03/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
BIKES VS CARS
04/03/2017 at Achillion, Volos
VILLAGE POTEMKIN
Dominikos Ignatiadis, 93΄ / 2016 / Greece
04/04/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
09/04/2017 at Danaos Cinema
A GOOD AMERICAN
Friedrich Moser, 100 ́ / 2015 / Austria
05/04/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
NEXT STOP: UTOPIA
08/04/2017 at Achillion, Volos
SNAKE CHARMER
Nina Maria Paschalidou, 65΄ / 2016 / Greece, Cyprus
26/04/2017 at the French Institute of Athens
30/04/2017 at Danaos
CITY OF DREAMS
26/04/2017 at the Port (Thessaloniki)
THE LONGEST RUN
06/05/2017 at Achillion, Volos
To learn more, visit:
www.CineDoc.gr
