From 7 to 10 July the 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture turned Elefsina into an open-air cinema, offering the public an unforgettable artistic experience.
In collaboration with the Athens International Film Festival
Mystery 23_Cine Eleusis: IN SITU realities was completed with great success. The event took place between the 7th and 11th of July, marking the first ever Documentary Festival in Elefsina and the wider region, a legacy action for 2023 ΕΛΕVΣΙΣ European Capital of Culture. Attempting a conversation with Elefsina and its landscapes, while simultaneously revisiting eight emblematic documentaries, the Festival will transform the train tracks at the Old Railway Station and the Old Olive Mill Parking, two locations of particular aesthetics and importance in terms of history and the every-changing environment of Elefsina, into open-air cinemas, giving the city’s residents and visitors an unforgettable artistic experience. In collaboration with the Athens International Film Festival.
With a rich schedule of movies that included a total of eight emblematic documentaries from a wide range of cinematographic currents, Mystery 23_Cinema-Eleusis: IN SITU realities delighted young and old alike. Specifically, the following films were screened : Smyrna: The destruction of a cosmopolitan City 1900-1922 by Maria Iliou, Raw Material by Christos Karakepelis, Baraka by Ron Fricke, Honeyland by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, WALL – E by Andrew Stanton, Paris is burning by Jennie Livingston, A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through amerinan movies by Martin Scorsese and Michael Henry Wilson, The beaches of Agnes by Agnès Varda, Meeting Gorbachev by Werner Herzog and André Singer.
The films were introduced by the President of the Board of Directors of 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture, Despina Geroulanou, the General Artistic Director of 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture, Michael Marmarinos, the General Artistic Director of the Athens International Film, Loukas Katsikas, the Cinematographer / Athens International Film Festival Partner, Tassos Alevras, the Doctoral Candidate at the Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR) B.S.R.C ‘Alexander Fleming’”, Solenn Patalano, the representative of the friends of the Cinema of Elefsina, Penelope Giakovaki and the Historian – Scientific Associate Panteiou University, Yannis Antonopoulos.
The speakers who honored the Festival with their presence enriched the experience of the audience with their introductory remarks. During the screening of “Honeyland,” researcher Solenn Patalano spoke passionately about the intelligence and vulnerability of precious bees and the need to protect them (find the full text of her introduction here). At the screening of “Meeting Gorbachev,” the General Artistic Director of 2023 ELEVSIS European Capital of Culture, Michail Marmarinos graced us with anecdotal material on the brilliant artistic career of the great Werner Herzog, talking about his emblematic “Of Walking in Ice,” a diary of Herzog’s pilgrimage from Munich to Paris in order to exorcise the death of Lotte Eisner, the woman who was once his mentor, while historian and Scientific Associate of Panteion University, Yannis Antonopoulos highlighted the sad historical development of the Russian leader’s pro-European stance when he ended up advertising Pizza Hut (find the full text of their speeches here).
Drawing its themes from the entire spectrum of realistic documentation, archaeology, history, ethnography to the environment and ecology, the summer edition of the Documentary Festival is a precursor to the action Cine Eleusis: IN SITU realities, which will be hosted, starting in the fall of 2023, in the historic Eleusis cinema, the first—in view of the 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture—indoor hall hosting performing and cinematic artistic events.
See a video of the Documentary Festival
