Echoes Programme 2022 "Unsung Heroes"

The Aegean Film Festival together with WaterBear Network  & HHMI Tangled Bank Studio have set the annual goal of bringing measurable environmental change and educate the next generations regarding the climate emergency.

For this reason, we introduced the programme “Echoes” – an international summit where filmmakers, scientists and environmentalists create and share compelling stories. It consists of documentary screenings, Q&A’s, panel-talks, presentations, workshops and the RTF Competition. 

The Rescript The Future Competition, for young storytellers 13-24 years old, runs for a second successful time!

By assembling the knowledge, resources and communicators in the same location, we aim to “fast-track” projects and amplify awareness about ways to make a positive impact. 

The festival is also “walking its talk” with the target of becoming environmentally sustainable by 2023.

Together with KiloShop team, we up-cycle our old T-shirts and turn them into a brand new sustainable collection, we up-cycle our banners and screens into beach bags, we use our old tote-bags to re-print the new ones, we ban plastic from all of our operations and introduce many more cool new practices.

In 2022, Echoes will take place in Spetses Island where we will also launch the Festival Alliance for the Climate – an international initiative with the mission to amplify the environmental voices.

In brief:
3 Feature Documentaries followed by Q&As
4 Panels & 3 Presentations by invited experts
Workshop "Fashion Sustainability & Up-Cycling"
6 curated short films (in collaboration with Tampere Film Festival)
Screening of the RTF winners 2022
A Round Table selecting and designing a feasible project to be developed.
If you want to support and participate to the programme please get in touch.
Sunday, 10 July
Presentation - Poseidonia | 18:30-19:00
Anastasia Haritou, Roxani Naasan Aga-Spyridopoulou (iSea)
Panel - Restoring Ocean Habitats | 19:00-19:30
Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda (Urchinomics), Giorgos Paximadis (FAQ)
THE TERRITORY
Documentary • 83’ • Brazil, Denmark, United States • 2022

Director: Alex Pritz
Language : Portuguese, Tupi
Subtitles: English, Greek
Rating: Not Rated

An immersive on-the-ground look at the tireless fight of the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by illegal settlers and an association of nonnative farmers in the Brazilian Amazon.
SPETSES • SUNDAY, 10 JULY • 21.00 • PITYOUSA OPEN AIR CINEMA
Monday, 11 July
Workshop - Fashion Sustainability & Up-Cycling | 12:00-14:00
Presentation - Vintage Fashion | 18:30-19:00
Sophia Danaka (KiloShop)
Panel - Sustainable Fashion | 19:00-19:30
Sophia Danaka (KiloShop), Romina Karamanea (Fashion designer, Romina Karamanea Fashion School), Emma Efmorfidi (Fashion & Shoe Designer)
THE VELVET QUEEN
Documentary • 92’ • France • 2021

Director: Marie Amiguet, Vincent Munier
Language : French
Subtitles: English, Greek
Rating: Not Rated

Two men explore the high-altitude wilderness of Tibet with many cameras, filming wildlife from a respectful distance and searching for the rare snow leopard.

SPETSES • MONDAY, 11 JULY • 21.00 • PITYOUSA OPEN AIR CINEMA
Tuesday, 12 July
Panel - Storytelling For Change | 12:00-14:00
Sam Sutaria (Waterbear), Anna Irwin, (HHMI Tangled Bank Studios), Barney Weston (RTF Winner 2021, dir. 'Football for the Future')
Shaba
Short Film • 11' 30''

Director: Ami Vitale

Language: English

Subtitles: English 

This is a personal story about a group of women and an elephant named Shaba who changed each other’s lives. This film is a powerful reminder that we are a part of a complex world created over millions of years, and the survival of all species is intertwined with our own.

S.O.S
Short Film • 11' 24''

Director: Sarah Hafner 

Language: French

Subtitles: English 

Pollution, global warming, overpopulation, for Jean-Claude and Maddy, there is only one solution: to leave the earth and ask for help from extraterrestrials. But when a little green man comes along to save them, things don’t quite go as planned.

MY GARDEN OF A THOUSAND BEES
Documentary • 53’ • UK • 2021

Director: David Allen
Language : English
Subtitles: English, Greek
Rating: Not Rated

A wildlife cameraman spends his time during the
coronavirus pandemic lockdown filming the bees
in his urban garden and discovers the many diverse
species and personalities that exist in this insect
family

SPETSES • TUESDAY, 12 JULY • 21.00 • ANARGYRIOS & KORGIALENIOS SCHOOL
Wednesday, 13 July
Panel - Wild Bees | 12:00-14:00
Martin Dohrn (Wildlife Filmmaker & Cinematographer), Anna Irwin, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Argyris Mathios Tzimanis (Beekeeper)
Sym-bee-o-sis
Short Film • 17' 28''

Director: Neil Losin

Language: English

Subtitles: English 

Pollination. The ancient partnership between bees and plants is so fundamental to life on land that we often take it for granted. But a team of scientists is discovering that an unexpected third partner makes the bee-plant mutualism possible. Developing bees rely on microbes – bacteria and fungi – to consume nectar and pollen and become a protein-rich food source for the bees. Without the microbes, the bee-plant partnership falls apart. This discovery presents an urgent question: how are microbe-killing chemicals like fungicides affecting bees? And how can we adapt food systems that depend on these chemicals to protect wild pollinators?

Presentation - Festival Alliance for the Climate | 18:30-19:30
Poppy Mason-Watts (Waterbear), Jukka-Pekka Laakso (Tampere SFF), Babis Tsoutsas (Aegean FF), Anna Irwin, HHMI Tangled Bank Studio
ECHOES Closing Ceremony
Wednesday, 13 July | 21:00-23:00
RTF Winning Shorts | 21:00
Football For The Future, Tide To Nature
Play on: Football’s Climate Story
Documentary • 6’ • 2022

Director: Barney Weston
Language: English
Subtitles: English

The world’s most popular sport is under threat. Climate change is threatening to disrupt footballat all levels – from grassroots right to the top tier. In Play On we see how climate change is affecting the beautiful game through two key stories from two British towns and their clubs.
From the plight of a club at threat to the actions of another taking a stand, we learn that the only way football can carry on, is to come together.

Tide To Nature
Documentary • 9’ • 2022

Director: Oliver Riley
Language: English
Subtitles: English

After struggling to fit in the standard educational system, 15-years old Oliver Riley decides to leave school to be homeschooled. With more time to develop his interests outside of studying,
such as photography and surfing, Oli starts growing his confidence and developing a strong sense of self. As he grows older he nurtures a deeper connection with the nature surrounding his home, in the stunning coastal town of St. Ives, situated at the edge of the UK on the Atlantic Ocean. This bond empowers him to start shaping his life for the better and making positive changes to try and protect our shared home: Earth.

ECHOES Shorts | 21:30
Our Ark, Haulout, The Secret of Mr. Nostoc, Tomorrow is A Water Palace, Mame Coumba Bang
The Secret of Mr. Nostoc
Animation • 11’ France • 2021

Director: Patrice Seiler, Maxime Marion
Language: French
Subtitles: English

Mr. Nostoc lives in an hectic city. Not stressed or pressed by time, he goes to work, and always has a new surprise under his hat. When night comes, he goes into his attic and stays there for hours. Working on his secret. 

Our Ark
Documentary • 12’ Netherlands, USA • 2021

Director: Kathryn Hamilton, Deniz Tortum
Language: English
Subtitles: English

An essay film on our efforts to create a visual replica of the real world.

Mame Coumba Bang
Documentary • 8’ Netherlands • 2022

Director: Nicolas Brown  
Language: English, French
Subtitles: English

Where the mouth of the Senegal river, meets the Atlantic sea, there dwells a volatile, shapeshifting spirit. In a city that could be described as “ground zero” for climate change, it is the belief of many that the constant flooding lack of fish stocks and the rapidly eroding coastline are all directly linked to Mame Coumba’s wrath… There are few left among the Saint-Louisians who remember a deal that was struck moons ago, and continue to uphold their end of the bargain.

 

 

Haulout
Documentary • 12’ Netherlands, USA • 2021

Director: Kathryn Hamilton, Deniz Tortum
Language: English
Subtitles: English

An essay film on our efforts to create a visual replica of the real world.

Tomorrow Is A Water Palace
Experimental • 15’ • Colombia 2022

Director: Juanita Onzaga  
Language: Italian, Spanish
Subtitles: English

Sybille is the last person alive on a planet with no history or water. She roams through arid lands, traveling through strange visions. Entities with more memory than humans communicate with her. How to persuade the spirit of the waters to come back to earth?

 

 

Round Table - Echoes 22
Thursday, 14 July | 12:00-14:00 & 17:00-19:00