THE 50TH TIFF OPENING CEREMONY
A kaleidoscopic journey into time seen through the eyes of the Seventh Art and centred on the 50th TIFF motto Why Cinema Now took place yesterday Friday November 13that the Olympion Cinema during the brilliant opening ceremony which marked the beginning of the annual event. The fifty posters that mark the Festival’s history since its beginnings until its present 50th anniversary followed one another on the screen ending with the central question: why cinema now.
Master of ceremonies was Christos Loulis who welcomed the public and official guests to the 50th TIFF in a ceremony directed by Angelos Frantzis. The ceremony opened with the projection on a stereoscopic screen of a short three-dimensional film that was made especially for the occasion. The audience was able to enjoy three-dimensional glimpses of old classics, a nice way of showing the public what the Seventh Art can do with new technologies.
Despina Mouzaki, director of the film festival, then talked about the importance of filmmaking in a time of crisis. She also mentioned the brilliant career of the festival which has now become a cornerstone in the cultural life of the city of Thessaloniki. ?Cinema”, she said “is a tool with which to discover the world and get to know the others. In times of crisis cinema is the answer. Cinema is part of our cultural identity, an identity which for the past fifty years blossoms during the Festival where directors and their audiences breathe new life into images, sounds, myths. On this occasion, a particularly special one in the story of our organisation, I feel the need to express my profound and sincere gratitude to all those –some better known, others less- who before us used the Festival to keep alive our cultural tradition in the world of cinema, thereby building a solid image of contemporary Greece. I want to thank those who are at the heart of this festive event, those who will keep the festival’s heart beating for the next ten days: talented artists and directors, dream weavers, all those whose thoughts evolve around cinema, skilled technicians who give shape to ideas and draw us into a world of images, all the city cinema lovers who form a faithful yet demanding audience and turn the work of filmmakers into something personal through the filters of their own sensibility and knowledge. The party begins when the lights go out and the white screen shimmers in the dark: a spot of light which will introduce us to the artist’s dreams. Let us open the eyes of our souls and be immersed in the poetry of images and its breath of immortality.”
The TIFF president, Georges Corraface, welcomed the public and made a point of saying: “This is the beginning of a festival which I hope will remain unforgettable as much for the films that will be screened as for those that wont. The Festival mirrors the current situation in the Greek world of cinema and many of our filmmakers, in a gesture of despair, have decided not to take part in the Festival and the national awards, thereby expressing their indignation at being neglected by the state. And yet, their absence is an enlightening experience for us, a sort of disaster film which warns us on what to expect if one morning we were to wake up and find cinema has suddenly come to an end.”
The Mayor of Thessaloniki, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos expressed hopes that all the problems Greek cinema is now facing will be solved and announced that the 10,000 euro award launched last year by the city of Thessaloniki Cinema and the City will grant an extra 5,000 euros this year.
The Alternate Minister of Interior, Decentralisation and Electronic Administration, Theodora Tzakri, addressed the public and with regard to the Festival motto Why Cinema Now said: “I think that you, the audience, will give the answer to this question, for you are the real protagonists of this event. I appreciate the fact that the Film Festival is entering a new and imposing phase in a world of magic, the world of cinema.”
The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Pavlos Geroulanos, took the floor and announced that 2009 will leave its mark in the world of Greek cinema and art in general. “The past fifty years have seen great transformations, the city of Thessaloniki has undergone significant changes and so has the world of cinema. It has been half a century of creation, intervention and struggle. Political struggles, wars. [But also] struggles that have ensured the high quality of the present Festival, struggles that have resulted in establishing Thessaloniki’s identity in an ever-changing world. We have every reason to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in the most brilliant manner.” He then added: “Celebrations and anniversaries are not only a way to close a circle, they must open new ones, and this brings us to the second reason why the year 2009 will remain in our memories: it marks the end of a period of silence in Greek art. Willingly muzzled by state funding, art in Greece had stopped biting, had stopped questioning authority and protested no longer.”
Commenting on the general landscape in the Greek world of cinema, Geroulanos said: “I fervently look forward to signing the first complete bill on cinema after the Melina Mercouri one, but I cannot sign a bill which leaves art totally dependent on state funds, a funding monopoly, lacking pluralism with regard to state awards. The words national, government, international must be used in a manner that makes us Greeks proud. Any national award must first and foremost represent its Greek creator. We will lose no time in preparing a bill that we will then put in circulation on the web so that everybody can sign in and give their opinion. We will put an end to negotiations behind closed doors.”
Following the speeches a surprise was in store not just for the audience attending the TIFF 50th anniversary opening ceremony, but for all the people of Thessaloniki: the facade of the Olympion Theatre, the historical seat of the festival, was turned into a screen projecting a video made by URBAN SCREEN a German group of artists who specialise in projections on large urban surfaces. The video will be projected throughout the festival.
The screening of Fatih Akin’s new film Soul Kitchen in the presence of the filmmaker and his collaborators marked the end of the TIFF 50th anniversary opening ceremony.
Among the many personalities attending the opening ceremony were the Minister of Defense, Evangelos Venizelos, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spyros Kouvelis, the Alternate Minister of Citizen Protection, Spyros Vougias, the MPs Thomas Robopoulos, Chrysa Arapoglou, Anna Dalara, Stavros Kalafatis, Giannis Ioannidis, Konstantinos Gkioulekas and Tasos Kourakis, the German Consul Walter Leuchs, the French Consul Christian Thimonier and the Consul of the United States of America, Catherine Kay.
