Greek Documentary Takes Center Stage at the 10th Beyond Borders
The Beyond Borders / Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival (24–31 August 2025) dedicates its 10th anniversary edition to Greek documentary, with a special focus on contemporary creation and production. This year, the festival highlights the trajectory of Greek documentary – a cinematic genre that confronts reality, documents it, comments on it and reimagines it. It functions as a kind of cinematic loom, where past and present are woven together to create a narrative tapestry that extends into the future.
Strategic Partner of Beyond Borders is PPC Group (Public Power Corporation), the leading energy company in Southeastern Europe, which actively supports the arts and culture. As an integral part of the country’s social and economic fabric, PPC strengthens its dialogue with culture and creativity, supporting all those who lead us into the future — a future where culture takes the lead in shaping a better world for all.
Four Greek productions are competing in the Main Competition Section, while three Greek films are featured in the μicro Competition Section. Major works by Greek filmmakers that have shed light on hidden aspects of society and history will also be screened in the festival’s non-competitive section, Panorama. Additionally, a Masterclass on Greek documentary will be delivered by Angelos Kovotsos, President of the Greek Documentary Association, alongside an information session organized in collaboration with the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Centre – Creative Greece, focusing on the Greek Audiovisual Extroversion Program. The event addresses both the general public and industry professionals, aiming to strengthen the presence of Greek audiovisual creation both in Greece and internationally.
Find detailed information below on the Greek films featured in the competitive and non-competitive sections:
Main Competition Section
Death Plan for a Dog and a Man, Christos Karakepelis, Greece, 2024, 66′
In the lethargy of the lockdowns, a social outcast – like an invincible superhero – plans an epic escape for himself and his dog from the deadliest virus: life itself. A perilous death journey that magically leads them from their hovel to the wild mountains and all the way to New York – from suffocating reality to ultimate freedom.
Christos Karakepelis was born in 1962. He focuses on people marginalized by societal norms, tightrope walkers of precariousness. He collaborates with them for years, in a search that transcends their personal stories, turning them into archetypal figures. He is currently filming Future Tenses, a documentary exploring the survival struggle of three working-class communities (Greece, Tanzania, China).
Lo, Thanasis Vassiliou, Greece, 2025, 70’
A year after his mother’s death, the director returns to his childhood apartment in Athens to confront a problematic inheritance. From the now bare surfaces of the home, fragments of family memories emerge, and his personal story intertwines with the collective trauma of the Greek military dictatorship.
Thanasis Vassiliou was born on December 12, 1975, in Athens. He is a Greek director and screenwriter currently living in Poitiers, France. Since 2022, he has been working on his autobiographical documentary Lo. His short films Traces (2017) and Our Last Week (2016) have been showcased at numerous international film festivals, earning awards and nominations. He is also an Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Poitiers, where he teaches film theory and practice.
Night Recedes, Timon Koulmasis, Greece–France, 2024, 70’
This film chronicles the fascinating life journeys of two major artistic figures: renowned Greek sculptor Memos Makris (1913–1993) and the multifaceted personality of Zizi Makri (1924–2014). Their lives – from Nazi-occupied Athens, to the culturally vibrant postwar Paris, and Cold War Budapest – merge art and 20th-century history, hopes and disillusionments from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Through their works and memories, the film revisits themes that still resonate deeply today: utopia and ideology, totalitarianism, exile, and freedom.
Timon Koulmasis lives and works as a director, writer, and producer in Paris and Athens. His fiction and documentary films have been screened at major international festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, and Montreal. In 2023, he was honored by the French Ministry of Culture with the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters).
Sculpted Souls, Stavros Psillakis, Greece, 2025, 90’
Julien Grivel (b. 1943), a Swiss dentist, came to Athens twice a year between 1972 and 1998 to treat, free of charge, the teeth of patients with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) at the “Agia Varvara” Infectious Diseases Hospital. In his book GREECE, My Own Ithaca, he writes: “In adopting the Greek language, I unconsciously adopted their way of thinking… It was an inner journey that helped me see the world and life differently.” His friendship with former patient Manolis Foundoulakis was transformative. “You know, my friend,” he once told him, “through these trials, the soul of a person becomes beautifully carved.”
Stavros Psillakis, born in Chania in 1954, is a documentary filmmaker and producer focusing on the human condition. He studied Mechanical Engineering (NTUA), Film Direction in Athens, and Anthropological Documentary at Ateliers VARAN in Paris. He has received numerous awards, including the Hellenic Film Academy’s 1st Prize, the Golden Alexander (2023), and the FIPRESCI Award (2025). A founding member of both the Hellenic Film Academy and the Greek Documentary Association, he has directed over 40 documentaries, including There Was No Other Way, METAXA, and Sculpted Souls.
μicro Competition Section
Albgreko, Ilir Tsouko, Greece, 2024, 27’
The children and grandchildren of Albanian migrants who arrived in Greece in the 1990s were born and raised here. Denisa, Dimitris, Stefania, and Orestis share their lived experiences—not of migration per se, but of their own stories. Stories that are neither purely Albanian nor solely Greek. They are both. Something new, pure, and hopeful emerges from this generation. At a time when identity wars rage across the globe—including Europe and the Balkans—the director’s camera sheds light on these layered identities not as burdens of history, but as compasses for a better future.
Ilir Tsouko is a visual storyteller, photographer, and filmmaker. Born in Albania and raised in Athens, he currently lives between Berlin and Tirana. He focuses on long-term projects that explore identity formation and perception through its constantly shifting forms. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, DIE ZEIT MAGAZIN, The Washington Post, ARTE, ZDF, Der Spiegel, Vogue, Polaroid, and others. Albgreko is his first solo documentary.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Thanos Liberopoulos, Greece, 2024, World Premiere, 17’
A small group of Afghan children, attending an improvised refugee school in Athens, are preparing to speak out against the Taliban’s increasing control of their homeland. Will their voices be loud enough to draw global attention, or will their families and friends continue to face the dangers of this oppressive regime?
Thanos Liberopoulos is a filmmaker with a background in music, having released multiple albums with various bands. He later turned to visual storytelling, directing and shooting numerous music videos for a wide range of artists. He has also worked as Director of Photography (DoP) on commercial spots, web series, and both short and feature films. His short documentary Dunaym, about a Kurdish political refugee, screened at festivals across Greece, while his fiction short Beauty premiered at the 2021 Drama International Short Film Festival and continued its journey at numerous others.
Fatbardha, Kitty Kentezi, Greece, 2024, 24’
Fatbardha and Niko, an elderly married couple, live in a small home. Niko is bedridden, and despite her own mobility difficulties, Fatbardha takes care of them both. As age and illness prevent them from moving about, the couple grows closer through the routines of daily life—just before they are separated forever.
Kitty Kentezi was born in 1994 in the Balkans and currently lives in Europe. She studied Public Administration at Panteion University, with a focus on Law and Political Science, and Film & Television at the Stavrakos Film School, following her true passion. She has since worked as an assistant director on both Greek and international films, series, and commercials including Sacrifice (by Romain Gavras), House of David (Amazon, dir. Jon Erwin), and Guest Star (by Vasilis Christofilakis). She also worked in casting for So Long Marianne (about Leonard Cohen), Daisy Jones and the Six, and Smyrna, My Beloved (by Grigoris Karantinakis). She is currently working on her new film Angelina, My Love.
Also competing in the μicro section are one film from Cyprus and two by Greek directors exploring Greek themes but produced in the UK:
Death of a Format, Marios Lizides, Cyprus, 2023, Greek Premiere, 11’
While the owner of the last video rental store in Cyprus waits for customers, the gift shop next door, run by his sister, keeps expanding its territory.
Marios Lizides is a multi-award-winning interdisciplinary Cypriot director, cinematographer, editor, sound designer, and software developer. His films have screened at numerous festivals including the 22nd and 25th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and the 73rd Edinburgh International Film Festival. A graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art in Creative Documentary/Hybrid Cinema, he has taught theory and practice of documentary filmmaking, served as Artistic Director of Cyprus Film Days (2022–2025), and was a board member of the Directors Guild of Cyprus (2019–2023). He is a member of the European Film Academy.
We Will Grow, Areti Pagoulatou, United Kingdom, 2025, 25’
In the summer of 2023, the island of Rhodes was struck by the most devastating wildfires in its history, burning over 180,000 hectares. During the eleven-day ordeal, local residents put their lives on hold to volunteer, organizing alternative support networks and exposing the lack of personnel and resources in Greece’s disaster management system. The film follows activists who emerged during the crisis as they reflect on their experience and loss.
Areti Pagoulatou grew up in Rhodes and studied Film at the University of Westminster in London. After graduating in 2024, she began working as a researcher in unscripted film and television for UK production companies while pursuing personal independent projects. Her work focuses on alternative models of social organization with an environmental lens, as well as themes of migration and gentrification.
Work / Memories of Work, Ektoras Arkomanis, United Kingdom, World Premiere, 21’
In the Elaionas district of Athens, the last days of a leather tannery unfold against the backdrop of labor in surrounding neighborhoods—ragpickers’ flea markets, old farmhouses, abandoned bakeries, people toiling among the ruins of factories and construction sites. The narration, written on postcards never sent, forms a polyphonic poem composed of literary fragments, testimonies, and collective memories that span centuries. In antiquity, Elaionas was a vast olive grove; in the 19th century, a hub of infrastructure; in more recent times, an industrial zone—but always on the margins of the city’s consciousness.
Ektoras Arkomanis is a writer and artist. He uses film for its power to preserve and investigate, yet is particularly drawn to its limitations—its inability to describe what no longer exists, and the narratives invented to fill these gaps. He is currently working on A Season in the Olive Grove, a long-term cinematic and research project about Elaionas in Athens. He is the author/editor of Migrations in New Cinema (Cours de Poétique, 2020) and recently completed the collaborative installation Protea/Extraction, commissioned by the Anti-Apartheid Centre of Memory and Learning. He teaches architectural history and theory at London Metropolitan University.
Non-Competitive Section of the Festival – Panorama
Femicidio, Nina Maria Paschalidou, Greece, 2022
Laura Roveri, a 28-year-old yoga teacher, was stabbed fifteen times by her ex-boyfriend. She survived the attack and became a symbol of female empowerment in Italy, a country where, according to statistics, a femicide is committed every three days. The documentary presents shocking cases of gender-based violence that occurred across Italy, from north to south—stories that could just as easily have happened anywhere in the world. Nunzia Maiorano, Alba Chiara Baroni, and Lorena Quaranta, who was murdered during the pandemic, were all killed by their partners. Through Laura’s perspective, the film also follows the families and friends of the murdered women. Together, they strive to raise awareness about a devastating phenomenon that continues to grow and knows no borders.
Nina Maria Paschalidou is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. She studied Media at Boston University, earned an MBA in Finance at Bentley University, and studied filmmaking at NYU, completing a fellowship in International Relations at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. In 2010, she documented the Greek crisis through the multimedia project The Prism GR2011, which received both a Pictures of the Year Award and a Webby Award. Her documentary Kismet was a finalist at IDFA, and The Snake Charmer won the Youth Jury Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (2017) and was also a finalist at the European Documentary Awards. Her 2023 film Femicidio won First Prize at the Greek Film Festival in Berlin. That same year, she co-directed and co-wrote the ARTE series Europe Revealed, earning a nomination for the Franco-German Journalism Prize. Since December 2023, she has been part of the editorial team at Kathimerini’s online edition.
A Big Family, Vassilis Loules, Greece, 2023
Since 1926, family and friendship, childhood joys and neighborhood bonds, innovation and solidarity have formed the “secret recipe” behind the remarkable journey of the Kliafas Soft Drinks Company. A small universe of creativity and humanity built in Trikala around one man’s vision: “…to refresh and sweeten the world!”
The documentary chronicles the company’s nearly century-long history through rare documents, photographs, recordings, archival footage, testimonies from past factory workers, and contemporary shots of buildings and machinery. It sheds light on the values and entrepreneurial spirit of an entire era, highlighting the untold personal stories of those who made the factory run.
Vassilis Loules is a director and screenwriter of documentaries and fiction films. He lives in Athens. His work has been awarded at festivals, broadcast on TV in Greece and abroad, and used as educational material in universities. His films explore themes of History, Social Anthropology, Ethnography, and Industrial Archaeology through deeply personal narratives. He frequently travels to the U.S., Canada, and Europe, presenting his work and leading post-screening discussions.
Tack, Vania Turner, Greece, 2024
When Olympic medalist Sofia Bekatorou publicly reveals that she was raped by a senior official in the Sailing Federation, she ignites the Greek #MeToo movement. Inspired by her, young sailor Amalia accuses her former coach of child abuse. Her case becomes the first #MeToo trial in Greece. TACK follows both women over two years, using animated sketches to bring the courtroom experience to life. Amalia faces victim blaming, while Sofia relives her trauma and fights for institutional change. Both come to realize their struggle has only just begun. Like sailors navigating against the wind, they must “tack” to keep moving forward.
Vania Turner is a Greek-British documentary filmmaker whose recent work focuses on trauma, loss, violence, and survival. Before turning to observational documentaries, she worked as a video journalist covering humanitarian crises in the Middle East, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. She studied English Literature and Political Theory. Her co-directed short documentary Girlhood received several accolades and screened at leading youth film festivals. TACK is her first feature-length film.
The Red Teacher, Stelios Charalampopoulos, Greece, 2024
Two political trials and executions have left an indelible mark on post-Civil War Greece: the trials of Nikos Beloyannis and Nikos Ploumpidis. Yet Ploumpidis “left” alone—slandered, disgraced. His personal tragedy and collective destiny together shape this Promethean figure, as if drawn straight from ancient Greek tragedy.
Born in Athens in 1956, Stelios Charalampopoulos studied economics and film in Greece, and pursued further studies in economics in Paris. He co-founded the production company PERIPLOUS and was editor of the magazine Graphe. His writings on cinema have appeared in major publications. In 2009–2010, he curated the “Poets on Screen” series, and since 2010 he has served on the board of the Takis Sinopoulos Foundation. He has published a poetry collection, Century Shift. His films have been awarded and screened both in Greece and internationally.
This Is How We Came from Karsi (ep. 3), Taina Grigoriadou, Greece, 2022
This episode explores issues such as property exchanges, disputes, refugee housing in urban centers, social integration, and daily life in shared courtyards. Historians, architects, archivists, museum directors, and refugees who lived through the experience provide insight into the resettlement of Greeks who “came from Karsi.”
Taina Grigoriadou was born and raised in Thessaloniki. With a background in set and costume design, she grew to love directing and has worked in Greek television for over 30 years (Ant1, Alpha, Mega, ERT). For the past 19 years, she has directed programs for the Hellenic Parliament’s TV channel, focusing for the last 9 years on history and non-parliamentary topics, having directed over 60 episodes on subjects like refugee resettlement, housing, and daily life in interwar urban neighborhoods.
Uberto Primo, Alessandra Maioletti, Greece, 2021
Under Nazi occupation, 96% of Thessaloniki’s Jewish population was deported to Auschwitz. This film recreates the stories of nine Jewish students from the Italian school Uberto Primo, who were forced to set aside their dreams and focus solely on survival. The documentary is based on archival material discovered in 2003 by Italian professor Antonio Crescenzi.
Alessandra Maioletti is a dancer, choreographer, assistant director, and production manager for Greek, French, Italian, and American productions. In 1996, she founded the Oneiro Company in Athens. Her work centers on themes of spiritual freedom, contemporary illness, women’s identity, and historical memory. The Students of Uberto Primo is her first feature film, following a long career in stage and dance productions presented across Europe.
Yannis Spanos: Behind the Marquee, Aris Dorizas, Greece, 2024
An exploration of the incredible musical journey of the renowned Greek composer Yannis Spanos, from the small town of Kiato to major collaborations in Paris and eventual stardom in Greece. Through rare archival footage, interviews, and the eyes of a devoted fan, the film reveals why Spanos chose to remain behind the scenes, letting his music take center stage.
Aris Dorizas was born in Athens in 1980. He studied sound engineering and has worked in the music industry and television. Since 2011, he has been the founder and producer of Whatever Productions. A record collector constantly searching for more shelf space, this is his directorial debut.
The Unclaimed, Marianna Economou, Greece, 2024
A chance discovery at Athens’ Sotiria Hospital reveals a hidden trauma, both personal and collective. Between 1945 and 1975, hundreds of tuberculosis patients died there, unclaimed and buried anonymously in mass graves on hospital grounds. Eighty years later, their forgotten stories resurface through their belongings and the testimonies of their descendants.
Marianna Economou is a documentary director and producer. She studied Anthropology, Photojournalism, and Video Production in London. Since 2000, she has directed numerous Greek and European co-productions for networks like the BBC, ARTE, and YLE. Her films have screened and won awards at major international festivals. The Longest Run was nominated for the 2016 European Film Awards and won the VER.DI Award at DOK Leipzig, while When Tomatoes Met Wagner was Greece’s official submission for the 2020 Oscars and won Best Documentary at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards. Her 2024 film Dark Waters won the Onassis Award at Agora Docs in Progress during the 26th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The Unclaimed won the Audience Award at the same festival.
Kastellorizo: An Island in the Heart of the World, Ivan Butel, France, 2025World Premiere
The looming Greek-Turkish tensions hang over Kastellorizo, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, far from Athens but only a stone’s throw from Asia Minor. Militarized and strategically vital, the island guards Europe’s border, as Turkey continues to lay claim to this geopolitical zone.
The documentary captures the daily life of Kastellorizo’s residents, from Epiphany celebrations to Easter festivities, set against a backdrop of constant tension and military presence.
After postgraduate studies in Philosophy, Documentary Filmmaking, and Linguistics, Ivan Butel began creating documentaries in the early 2000s focusing on illiteracy and migration. In 2014, he began collaborating with producer Paul Saadoun and Seconde Vague Production, creating several 52-minute documentaries aired on ARTE (Writers of Europe series), France 3 (the Tarnac far-left case), and France 5 (Fighting Fear, in collaboration with historian Patrick Boucheron).
His films explore the themes of political memory, historical traces, and the contradictions and silences haunting European societies.
In early 2025, he published his first book, Of Silence and Gold (Globe Editions), based on a true story of Spain’s transition to democracy after Franco. He is currently working on his next documentary—produced by Frédérika Sonza (Les Productions du Triton, Corsica)—which follows the philosophical footsteps of Nietzsche along the Mediterranean coast, from Nice to Genoa.
Photos from the festival can be found HERE and film stills HERE.
Watch the detailed programme of 2025 HERE.
Watch the trailer of the 10th edition HERE.
Selected photos from the Press Conference you can find HERE.
For more information, visit: www.beyondborders.gr or email info@beyondborders.gr
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Organized by the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME), in collaboration with France’s Ecrans des Mondes.
Co-organized by the South Aegean Region with the support of the Hellenic Parliament, Ministry of National Defense, General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad & Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Secretariat for the Aegean & Island Policy of the Ministry of Shipping, EKKOMED – Creative Greece (National Centre for Audiovisual Media & Communication), Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), Greek National Tourism Organization and the embassies of Australia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and Italy in Athens.
