Audio-Visual Pitching Lab
We are delighted to continue for the sixth consecutive year and expand the Visio-Pitching Lab as part of the Festival’s activities aimed at professionals in the film community.
The Head Moderator for the Lab this year, as well, is Claudia Schreiner, who is internationally renowned with vast experience in the film industry. She is ex-head of the Masterschool at the Documentary Campus based in Berlin and Munich. She studied History in Cologne, Germany, and New York City. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Cologne.
The Jury for the nominated projects was composed of students from the Festival’s partner network of film schools: Sofia Y. Silva (Venezuela), Spyros Betsis (Greece), Ana-Stefana Pop (Romania) and Haluk Laman (Turkey).
Each project presentation lasts 15 minutes: 7 minutes for idea presentation, 7 minutes for questions and discussion with the panel of experts, and 1 minute for Jury’s statement. The Lab will take place on Wednesday, August 27th, and Thursday, August 28th, 2025. The aim is to provide young European and non-European filmmakers with the opportunity to present their core ideas to a group of experienced professionals in the international television and film industry.
The Pitching Lab of the Beyond Borders | International Documentary Festival of Kastellorizo constitutes the only domestic audiovisual lab conducted remotely, thus enabling every interested candidate to overcome any transportation and cost obstacles, making access to knowledge and learning a borderless and unrestricted path.
All participants will receive professional feedback on how to transform an idea into a refined work. They will have the opportunity to incorporate their idea into a portfolio, able be presented to anyone, and everyone in the documentary community, including television stations.
The project selected by the Lab Jury as this year’s standout will receive a full professional color grading service for the completed film (following the final cut), offered by acclaimed colorist Dimitris Karteris (dimitriskarteris.com).
This in-kind award is valued at €3,000 and aims to support the final production phase of the winning project with high artistic and technical standards.
“The other side of Meteora” directed by Renata Kotti Domperts
In Meteora, Greece, a hidden struggle unfolds between the monastery-driven tourism industry and a local family of stonecutters and climbers. Through the Theodorou family’s eyes, the film reveals a little-known community resisting the Church’s hold on nature, raising the question: who truly has the right to this land?
“Farafina” directed by Koussé Yssouf
A heartfelt tribute to African musical heritage, this documentary retraces the journey of the legendary group Farafina from Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Honoring balafon master Mahama Konaté, it explores how his disciple Souleymane Sanou carries forward his vibrant legacy.
“Last Shift” by Ioannis Lazaridis
In post-crisis Greece, workers at the Kavala Fertilizer Industry fight a controversial owner and a broken system for dignity and labor rights. As legal battles divide their community, the film exposes the human cost of exploitation in modern Europe.
“Ona Dává, On Bere” by Carson Beale
Set within one of the world’s largest porn industries yet constrained by conservative gender norms, this film exposes Czech society’s contradictory image of women. It critically examines how tradition and commodification confine women, revealing their unique intersection in the Czech Republic.
“The Mouflon Project” by Lorenzo Faggi
Taking viewers into Cyprus’s Buffer Zone—an abandoned no-man’s land reclaimed by nature since 1974—this documentary explores how war and neglect created an unintended sanctuary. In the ruined village of Varishia, the elusive mouflon, Cyprus’s emblematic wild sheep once endangered, now thrives.
“Power in Differences” by Fridoon Joinda
Rooted in the director’s personal displacement story, this documentary explores how difference can build peaceful, just, and thriving societies. Through the European Union—a flawed yet vital model of coexistence—it challenges viewers to see inclusion as essential for collective resilience.
“Don Quixote of Masnou” by Linda Osusky
Rejecting high-tech solutions, Kris De Dekker advocates for a fossil-free society powered by human energy. Collaborating with anarchist artists, he creates low-tech, human-powered devices centered on a bicycle generator, transforming a neglected Rotterdam housing block into a beacon of sustainability.
“Fragments of Humanity” by Maros Pulscak (Award-Winning Project)
This film uncovers the extraordinary story of Vladimír Ballo, an 18-year-old Slovak waiter who risked everything to secretly pass Nazi intelligence to the resistance during WWII. Betrayed and tortured by the Gestapo, his story—told through his sister’s voice—stands as a testament to hope and resilience amid darkness.
“My Huta” by Hanna Trofimova
Centered on the filmmaker’s grandparents’ home, this film brings to life Kurchytska Huta, a small Ukrainian village frozen in time. It evokes fading traditions, the echoes of a vanished childhood, and enduring ties across generations.
“HYRCANIA” by Helmut Dosantos
Through the perspectives of a fourth-generation Iranian leech gatherer, a Dagestani activist risking repression to document mountain rituals, and a Turkmen shepherd torn between nomadic heritage and oil wealth, this documentary explores the Caspian region’s complex blend of tradition, modernity, political instability, environmental challenges, and oil dependency.
“Veiled village” by Komeil Soheili
In South Korea’s Soseong-ri village, two musicians protest against the US THAAD missile base. After one dies, his final wish is to be buried before the base. His grieving friend moves to the village, striving to keep the resistance alive while facing dwindling local support and personal doubts.