Closing the call for film submissions for the 8th edition of Beyond Borders | Castellorizo ​​International Documentary Festival, the organization of the Festival announces with great joy and pride the submission of a total of 835 films from 93 different countries, marking a new record in the history of the institution!

Now in its 8th year, Beyond Borders has managed to establish itself as an international meeting point for filmmakers and documentary professionals, always aiming to highlight socio-political key issues through the beauty of cinematic storytelling and art. The organization owes a debt of gratitude to all of the creators for their trust and support, thus including a number of world, international and Greek premieres in this year's upcoming Beyond Borders's screenings program.

The Festival was primarily supported and loved by the residents of Castellorizo. With persistence, reliability and passion, the organizing team managed to create a model institution of its kind. Hundreds of directors, producers, directos of other international film festivals, film critics and professionals of the film industry trusted the organization in all previous years and of course the audiences, who attend the Festival, actively participate in its actions and have an additional reason to visit the island during the days of its conduct.

24 medium and feature length films and 24 short films will be shown this year in the two competition stages of the Festival. The finalists will be notified of their selection within the next month, while the detailed program with the screenings and activities of the Festival will be announced at the official press conference of the organization in June. More details on the time and venue of the press conference will be announced soon.

The Festival is under the patronage of the H.E. of the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The organization belongs to the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME) in collaboration with the French Ecrans des Mondes.

Co-organization with the South Aegean Region. PPC - the leading Greek electric utility, with activities in electricity generation, distribution network operation and supply of electricity to end consumers - is the platinum sponsor of the Festival, while it has the support of the Hellenic Film Center, the National Audiovisual Media and Communication Center (EKOME), the Hellenic Parliment, the General Secretariat of Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Greek National Tourism Organization, the Municipality of Megisti Island, the Embassy of Germany in Athens, the Embassy of Australia in Athens, the Embassy of Spain in Athens and the Czech Center of Athens.

With great joy and enthusiasm "Beyond Borders" | Castellorizo International Documentary Festival announces the signing of a cooperation memorandum with Lykourgos Stavrakos Film & Television School. Having as its programmatic goal, since 2016, the cultural extroversion and the permanent conclusion of film collaborations with institutions in Greece and abroad, "Beyond Borders" and Stavrakos Film School join forces with the aim of developing and promoting the film industry and the artistic form of documentary in our country.

As one of Europe's most upcoming documentary festivals, "Beyond Borders" systematically aims to highlight contemporary cinematography, giving a platform and a voice to young documentary filmmakers around the world.

Through the educational courses-seminars it hosts every year, through the two-day Pitching Lab/Forum in which professionals from the global film industry participate, and through its new competition stage, μicro, the Festival practically stands alongside young and new creators, giving them the opportunity to realize their cinematic visions with the help of leading professionals and partners of "Beyond Borders".

In the framework of cooperation with a network of film schools from the wider Mediterranean region, South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the Festival is particularly proud to cooperate with the greatest and oldest film school in Greece, the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film & Television School, through which leading representatives of contemporary Greek cinema have emerged, distinguished themselves and excelled.

"Beyond Borders" and the Stavrakos Film School, on the occasion of the 8th edition of the Festival that will take place from August 20-27 in "Edge of Aegean" (Castellorizo), decide on the direct cooperation of the students of Stavrakos Film School with the organization of the Festival.

Indicatively, this partnership includes the participation of completed films in the μicro competition scene - through which the winning films will be shown on Phoenix, one of the largest European documentary television networks -, participation in the Pitching Lab/Forum, participation in the international group of film students with the aim of learning the stages of production (documentary studio), participation in the programming teams of the Festival, etc.

Through this joint effort, the two institutions look forward to the development and promotion of the artistic genre of documentary, aspiring for the domestic new generation of documentarians to star in the European and global cinema scene, in the years to come.

The Festival is under the auspices of H.E. of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The organization belongs to the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME) with the co-organization of Ecrans des Mondes (Paris) and the Region of South Aegean.

The programming teams of the 8th "Beyond Borders" | ​​International Documentary Film Festival of Castellorizo

20 – 27 August 2023

"Where Documentary meets History and Culture"

Radically upgraded shall be this year the 8th edition of "Beyond Borders" | ​​International Documentary Film Festival of Castellorizo!

After the highly successful 7th edition in 2022, in which 790 films from 100 different countries were submitted and 26 nationwide and world/international premieres were shown, "Beyond Borders" is preparing its 8th and biggest edition, with many surprises for both the cinephile public as well as film industry professionals.

Having started on January 3rd, the organization had opened again this year the call for film submissions to all documentary filmmakers dealing with historical events and personalities, with socio-political issues, contemporary or not, with the promotion of human rights and in general with any cross-border core of reflection that reflects the concerns of contemporary cinematographic art, with a final submission deadline of 30 April.

The difficult task of selection will be entrusted to the Festival's programming teams, which are made up of renowned directors, film critics and theorists, producers, distributors, executives of film festivals and audiovisual production organizations, film programmers, etc.

More specifically, for the Official Competition Section, the organization of the Festival dedicates special mention to: Marianna Oikonomou (director/producer), Panos Dendramis (cinema professor), Aphrodite Kairaki (academic), Onur Kocatürk (director), Makis Kouzelis (academic ), Veronika Dvorakova (film festival executive), Emilia Bouriti (director/performer), Markus Nikel (RAI TV), Tasos Giapoutzis (director), Ruggero Calich (programmer/critic), Dimitris Papacharalambous (EKOME), Shany Littman (journalist) , Ifigenia Tzouganatou (sociologist), Tereza Stastna (producer), Rebecca Zani (screenwriter), Amir Tajik (director/producer), Angélique Bantikos (marketing development manager), Christian Fienga (director/producer), Alireza Zarei (distributor/researcher) and Nourna Batani (cinephile)

Finally, the organization would like to express public thanks to the programming team of the new competition stage, μicro, and to Jean Christoph Caron (Phoenix documentary department head), Alice Tasciyan (film critic), Tassos Alevras (director/producer), Giorgos Papakonstantinou ( director / academic), Alessandra Voss (television network executive) and Stefanos Velmachos Bonos (historian/Festival’s executive).

The Festival is under the auspices of H.E. President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The organization belongs to the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME) with the co-organization of Ecrans des Mondes (Paris) and the Region of South Aegean.

Carrying on its 7th edition, "Beyond Borders" came for the first time to be introduced to the audience of Athens with 26 Greek and world/international premieres, 10 awards, three juries and three screening stages and with the aim of promoting the cinematographic art and a culture beyond every border, from January 27 to 29, 2023 at the War Museum of Athens. Thank you all so much for your great support and love! Next stop: Castellorizo, 20 - 27 August!

Call for film submission to  the 8th "Beyond Borders"

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

8th ​​International Documentary Film Festival of Castellorizo 2023 "Beyond Borders"

August 20-27, 2023

"Where Documentary Meets History and Culture"

Film Submission Period: 3/1/2023 – 30/4/2023

The 8th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival of Castellorizo "Beyond Borders" will take place for one more year in the last week of August, on 20-27 /08 2023, at the "Edge of the Aegean", in the beautiful and borderland Castellorizo, turning the island for the 8th consecutive year in a film and cultural center of international scope. After the extremely successful last edition of the Festival, where 790 films from 100 different countries were submitted, 26 nationwide and world/international premieres of documentary films were screened and the inauguration of the second competition stage of the Festival (μicro) took place, the 8th edition of "Beyond Borders" invites Greek and foreign documentary filmmakers to submit their films from January 3, 2023 until April 30, 2023. "Beyond Borders" offers Mediterranean, European and international audiences in general an annual, exciting experience consisting of films with historical and multicultural content, events and personalities that shaped and forged our countries, people and cultures. The aim of this 'boutique' Festival is to celebrate and highlight the beauty and contribution of cinematic storytelling through History and society. To "bridge" people, ideas and visions from every side of the world through diverse documentaries. To inspire, problematize and stroke with creative concern for the past, present and future. "Beyond Borders" is, in conclusion, about the human imprint on now and then, here and everywhere.

The call for submission concerns films that have been completed within the last 4 years (2020-2023). The Festival's programming focuses on documentary films that deal with historical events and personalities, with socio-political issues, contemporary or not, with the promotion of human rights and in general with any cross-border core of reflection that underlines the concerns of contemporary cinematography. Films submitted to the Official Competition Section need to be either medium (30 – 60 minutes) or feature (60 + minutes) length. All short films should be submitted to the new competition section of the Festival, μicro. Additionaly, the call for submission concerns films that have been completed within the last 4 years (2020-2023) for the μicro section of "Beyond Borders", which is held with the exclusive sponsorship of the German TV channel Phoenix, aims to highlight the film talents of tomorrow and to support New Comers in the fields of cinematography. Through the μicro, we seek to curate "rough diamonds" from film students with promising potential, but also to showcase the juvenilia work of professional filmmakers. The themes of the candidate films to be submitted should be in line with the programming philosophy of "Beyond Borders", i.e. documentaries dealing with historical events and personalities, with socio-political issues, contemporary or not, with the promotion of human rights and in general with every cross-border core of reflection that underlines the concerns of contemporary cinematographic art. The μicro will be accepted as many films that are the first, second or even third film of the interested director who submits. Finally, it is emphasized that all the above conditions apply to short documentary films, up to 30 minutes. Nominations will be submitted either by filling out the relevant application form available on the Festival's website (www.beyondborders.gr), or through the FilmFreeway platform and the Festival's official profile on the platform.

The Festival is under the auspices of H.E. of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The organization belongs to the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME), in collaboration with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris).

For more information visit the address www.beyondborders.gr  or

the official Festival account on FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/BeyondBordersInetrnationalDocumentaryFilmFestivalofCastellorizo

Find the teaser videos to our official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HYpahAzhOs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnvozvEzx_0

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

"Beyond  Borders" travels to Athens

January 27-29, 2023

"Where Documentary meets History and Culture"

Carrying on its 7th edition, "Beyond Borders" comes to be introduced to the public of Athens with 26 Greek and world/international premieres, 10 awards, three juries and three screening stages and with the aim of promoting the cinematographic art and a culture beyond every border, from January 27 to 29, 2023 at the War Museum of Athens. The three days of screenings and activities of "Beyond Borders" will include in detail:

On Friday, January 27:

• "Railway Memories" by Emilia Buritis (Bronze Phoenix μicro)
• "Letters Never Received" by Ilias Dimitriou (IDISME production)
• "The Heroic Vourla of Asia Minor" by Irini Sarioglou (IDISME production)
• The ERT Symphonic Orchestra will perform the music of the film "The Heroic Vourla of Asia Minor", an original work by the composer George Papachristoudis

On Saturday, January 28:

• "The Other Half" by George Moutafis (Best Greek Documentary Award)
• "February 1st" by Mo Mo & Leila Macaire (Greek premiere, Golden Phoenix μicro)
• “I Was There Too and I Was Treated With a Plate of Lentil Soup…” by Freddy Vianellis (Mediterranean Friendship Award)
• "iRony" by Radheya Jegatheva (Silver Phoenix μicro)
• "Reconstruction of the Occupation" by Jan Sikl (Greek premiere, Best History Documentary Award).

Sunday, January 29:

• "The Poet's Wife" by Helke Misselwitz (Best Socio-Political Documentary Award)
• "Indigenius Loci" by Vickys Markolefas ("Odysseus" Special Award)
• "Village of Women" by Tamara Stepanyan (Greek premiere, FIPRECI Award)
• "May 1st" by Luis Cuenca Castro (world premiere, Best Short Documentary Award) .

For the detailed program of screenings and summaries of the films you can refer to the official website of the Festivalwww.beyondborders.gr. Admission to the screenings is free. The screenings will take place in the "Ioannis Kapodistrias" amphitheater of the War Museum of Athens (Vas. Sofias & Rizari 2, Athens) on Friday January 27 from 19:00 and on Saturday and Sunday from 18:00. To reserve seats, contact 2106669131 or 2106669140 or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Festival is under the auspices of H.E. of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The organization belongs to the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME), in collaboration with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris).

Find the post of FilmFestivals.com about the poster of the 8th "Beyond Borders" Festival here: https://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/beyond_borders/beyond_borders_reveals_the_poster_for_the_8th_edition