The Aegean Film Festival 2025 will take place from the 18th to the 26th of July on the island of Patmos.
The festival has the mission to explore, discover and promote films, ideas and stories that further our kindness, tolerance, understanding and sensitivity towards each other and towards the environments that surround us. For this reason we focus on presenting bold new voices from all over the globe, to educate and support the young filmmakers and to host a unique celebration of cinema. The Festival team is honoured to invite filmmakers to the islands of Patmos, Serifos and more in order to present their work.
2024 Jury:
MATHIAS CHELEBOURG - French Emmy-award-winning writer, director, and producer
NICO MARZANO - Film curator, lecturer, producer, programmer, and former head of the film department of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
VICTORIA MAROTTA - Film producer, co-founder of Un Puma
2023 Jury:
DIANE BECKER - Oscar winning producer of documentaries Navalny, Tina, Sid & Judy
LAUMA KAUZDITE - Managing director Short Film Conference, project
coordinator European Short Film Pitch
GEORGE GRIGORAKIS - Awarded Film director of fiction films Digger, 45 Degrees
2022 Jury:
CLAIRE DENIS - Filmmaker of Chocolat, Beau Travail, Stars at Noon
PETER VAN HOOF - Film Programmer at Cinema de Balie, Into The Great Wide Open
THANASIS NEOFOTISTOS - Film director, Writer, Head Programmer at DISFF
NIHAN SIVRIDAG - Selection Committee Member at Berlinale Shorts
Programming:
The selection of the AegeanFF programmes is carried out by three 3 independent teams.
A. The Pre-Selection team, consisting of a diverse group of 20 people from more than 10
countries including experienced and emerging filmmakers, artists, film critics, past festival team members as well as cinema students.
B. The advisory board, contributing with suggestions and ideas for invited shorts and
features:
Alexander Payne (Film Director, Producer, Script Writer)
Alin Tasciyan (Deputy General Secretary, FIPRESCI)
Elizabeth Woodward (Film Producer, Willa Productions )
Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director, Tribeca Film Festival, Les Arcs Film Festival)
Jesper Jack (Documentary Producer, House of Real)
Marco Frazier (Industry Executive)
Nicolas Brown (Documentary Director)
Nicole Guillemet (Festival Development, Programmer)
Poppy Mason-Watts (Chief Growth and Impact Officer Waterbear Network)
Robert Dick (Festival Development, Sundance Film Festival)
Thanassis Karathanos (Film Producer, Twenty Twenty Vision )
C. The Programming Team, curating the official programmes from the top rated submitted or invited films.
History:
In 2010 the Aegean Film Festival was founded on the island of Patmos as a way of bringing together filmmaking communities while introducing a meeting point and celebrating independent cinema in the heart of the Greek summer.
Since 2010, the festival has grown from 6 to 12 days, has taken place on three islands and hosted more than 1600 special guests. We screened our programmes to more than 80.000 spectators, in 14 custom built cinemas, presenting more than 1000 films, documentaries and shorts many of which in Greek or European premieres. Following the screenings, we organised numerous events including seminars, panel talks, art exhibitions, galas, Pop-Up screenings and parties.
Furthermore, we created 3 innovative storytelling workshops and introduced the environmental programme “Echoes”. Since 2016, “Echoes” has been fostering a dialogue about environmental protection, sustainability, and the role of cinema. It brings together filmmakers, experts, activists, policymakers, and audience members to amplify the voices of those working towards solutions on both global and local levels.
Following the success of this programme, we have established the “ReScript the Future Competition” with the goal of featuring the projects to come. We invite young storytellers to share their ideas for a short film documentary looking into a sustainable future. In partnership with WaterBear Network we have awarded 10 prizes to young filmmakers worth 85.000 euros.
Since 2017, we introduced juried competitions and of course the AegeanFF Seahorse awards.
AegeanFF Winter Editions have also been running since 2017, providing free access to schools and residents of the islands to watch documentaries and shorts focusing on pressing issues, diversity and human rights.
As the festival kept growing, we decided to join forces with international film festivals, introducing the “Festival Alliance for the Climate” in 2022, with the goal to make our industry more sustainable and amplify the impact of environmental films. In 2023, the Echoes programme returned to Patmos and introduced the conversation of Ecosystems Of Change, highlighting global and local initiatives by actively engaging with the islands’ communities and inviting the youth to the conversations and actions advocated through the festival’s activities. In 2024, Location Greece: Sustainability Standard took place in Patmos - a 2-day conference that, through discussions, panels and workshops that included environmentalists, producers and location managers, aimed to identify the practices, needs, challenges and opportunities, to create a roadmap for the establishment of a Greek standard towards sustainable filming.
We are looking forward to meeting you on the islands and celebrate together storytelling and cinema at its best.
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Awards:
1. Best Aegean Short Film (Greek Premiere status required):
-- Jury Award - € 3,000
2. Best Greek Short Film (Greek Premiere status required):
-- Jury Award - € 2,000
3. Jury Special Mention (Greek Premiere status required)
4. Short Film Sustainability Award
-- Distribution Option from WaterBear Network
5. Audience Award for Best Feature Fiction Film
6. Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary
Selected Filmmaker Perks:
All Selected filmmakers in the competition programmes also receive:
1. Accommodation for three nights (single occupancy).
2. Festival Guest Pass providing access to all screenings, seminars and events.
3. Access to dedicated industry seminars and the “Filmmaker’s Brunch” – a series of networking events presented by industry experts.
4. Promotion for the films and press focus covered by the Festival’s Media Sponsors.
5. The option for their films to travel and get screened as part of curated programmes with affiliated festivals.
6. Discounts up to 30% on ferry tickets, restaurants, bars, rentals.
7. 40% discounted Festival Passes for plus ones to accompany the filmmakers to the islands.