The Athens Film Lab Winners: The Magnificent Seven!

The Athens Film Lab, the festival’s latest sidebar, a pilot training program focusing on production, networking and developing script ideas, has been successfully concluded. The jury, consiting of Yorgos Tsourgiannis (producer), Giorgos Gikapeppas (director), Iliana Zakopoulou (head of "Hellas Film", the Greek Film Center’s Distribution and Promotion Department), Youla Boudali (actress), Giannis Daskalothanasis (cinematographer), together with programme coordinator Alexandra Boussiou (producer) and the festival’s artistic director Orestis Andreadakis, announced the seven winners. Each one will receive the sum of 7.000€ in order to complete the short film they participated in the program with.

Winning films:

- “Acrylic” by Nikos Pastras, Producer: Phaedra Vokali
- “Αll the Splendid Nightclubs” of the West by Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis, Producer: Despina Sifniadou
- “1” by Natassa Xydi, Producer: Fenia Kossovitsa (Blonde Films)
- “Truck” by Aristotelis Marangos, Producer: Chrysoula Korovesi
- “The Life of a Dead Man”, Orfeas Peretzis, Producer: Konstantinos Vasilaros
- “Filippino Dream” by Jacqueline Lentzou, Producer: Vicky Micha
- “National Garden” by Synni Pappa, Producer: Maria Repousi

The seven winners were chosen out of 21 teams that participated in a workshop series on production, scriptwriting and direction, as well as audiovisual translation for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) and accessible cinema.

Producer and member of the Hellenic Film Academy Board of Directors Amanda Livanou headed the production workshops, award-winning director Angelos Frantzis (“Pollaroid”, “A Dog’s Dream”) focused his attentions on directing, while acclaimed screenwriter Nikos Panagiotopoulos (“The King”, “Sleepless”) was in charge of scriptwriting. Last but not least, specialized translator and Assistive Technology professor Emmanuela Patiniotaki, delivered a masterclass on subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH).