Meet the films of the competitive programme of Beyond Borders 2026

At this year’s 11th Beyond Borders (23-30 August 2026) 42 films from all over the world are in competition, 35 of which are screened as Greek, international, and world premieres. Many of these have traveled to the world’s largest film festivals and many have also found their way to Kastellorizo for the first time. The Main Competition Section includes 18 mid-length and feature-length documentary films (among them 3 Greek productions) and the μicro Competition Section includes 23 short documentary films (among them 5 Greek productions and co-productions). In total, 53 different countries will be represented in this year’s competitive program, with their productions or co-productions, while over 40% of the program will feature women in direction.

This year’s cinematic harvest unfolds through three major thematic axes, which converse directly with the central question of the event: “what remains if you remove the obvious?”. In the foreground are, initially, the sweeping socio-political upheavals and contemporary conflicts at a global level, capturing an era of intense precarity, where human dignity and collective consciousness seem to be tested more and more, and more and more frequently. Alongside them, ecology (or the denial thereof) and the climate crisis urgently raise the question of our environmental responsibility toward tomorrow. Finally, reaching from the collective to the personal, the Festival turns its gaze also to a series of deeply unique, human stories; where the heroes, redefining their own internal priorities, manage to discover and shed light and lyricism on raw daily life.

Below you will find the synopses of the films that will compete in the Main & μicro Competition sections, as well as information about their creators. All film trailers and information about the 2026 program are also posted on the website www.beyondborders.gr

Main Competition Section

Bajau Laut – the Sea is our Home, Joo Peter, Malaysia, 62’ 2025, Greek Premiere: Their houses are torched and their boats are destroyed: the “sea gypsies” in Malaysia, a stateless population with a rich tradition, wage an uneven battle for survival against violent evictions and the erasure of their culture. Joo Peter is a writer, director, and producer, born in Germany, with a second base in Indonesia. He studied at the Film University Potsdam-Babelsberg and for two decades has been active in artistic and audiovisual projects in Southeast Asia. In 2015, he founded Cinemate Film Productions, collaborating with indigenous organizations to produce award-winning documentaries around the cultures of island archipelagos, from Sumatra to the Pacific Ocean.

Bugboy, Loukas Paleokrassas, 86’ Greece, 2026: Giorgos, a shy teenager struggling with strabismus and the traumatic divorce of his parents, finds refuge in the world of insects. His unexpected connection with a cricket will become the reason for a moving journey of self-discovery and coming of age.

Loukas Paleokrassas is a documentary director based in Athens. His work focuses on the way young people manage change, identity, and the sense of “belonging”. His film “Final Year” (2022) premiered at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and won the Best Feature Film Award at Olympia and the Best Greek Documentary Award at AegeanDocs. He is a fellow of the ARTWORKS programs and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

EXILE(S), stories of an island, Giorgos Iliopoulos, Greece, 2026, 130’: One hundred years after the Treaty of Lausanne, the inhabitants of Imbros search for a new present among ruined villages and shifted borders. A living cultural palimpsest, where memory and difficult coexistence redefine the daily life of the island.

Giorgos Iliopoulos (b. 1986, Ioannina) is a documentary director, screenwriter, and producer based in Athens. He studied Film at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed postgraduate studies (MFA) at Edinburgh Napier University with a scholarship from the British Film Institute, receiving the Medal of Excellence. Since 2015, he has been directing and producing television and independent documentaries, including the VICE Specials series (2017-2019).

Faces of War, Didier Cros, France, 66’ 2026, International Premiere: At the medical center of Lviv in Ukraine, a team of French and Ukrainian surgeons fights a battle for the restoration of disfigured and amputated victims of war. A shattering chronicle of physical and psychological reconstruction, which captures the deep marks of the Russian attacks but also the power of human resilience.

Didier Cros has been creating for years a cinematic body of work distinguished for its cohesive aesthetic and deeply anthropocentric character. Through films such as “Speak with Me” (2004), “Ado d’ailleurs” (2006), “La Gueule de l’Emploi” (2011), “Scars” (2018), and “No Sex” (2022), he gives voice to people who often remain invisible or marginalized: the homeless, prisoners, teenagers with disabilities, refugees, and individuals with disfigurements. His award-winning films invite the audience to confront their prejudices and indifference.

Fantastique, Marjolijn Prins, Belgium-France-Netherlands, 71’ 2025, Greek Premiere: 14-year-old Fanta, one of the few girl acrobats in Guinea, struggles between school, caring for her sick mother, and the dream of an international tour, ultimately searching for her own voice.

Marjolijn Prins (b. 1987, Netherlands) is a documentary director with a background in Fine Arts. Her engagement with documentary filmmaking began through artistic experimentation, when her attempt to travel from France to the Netherlands on a camel was overturned, leading her to highlight the unexpected as a cinematic form. In 2016, she graduated with honors (Master) from RITCS in Brussels. Her graduation film, “Mum, Me and the House” (2016), won many awards, including the Jury Award at the London International Documentary Festival, which is an Oscar-qualifying festival. She co-directed two seasons of the web series “Hairy Heroes” (2020/2021) and the short documentary “Paper Borders” (2022) along with a group of young refugees in Brussels.

Materia Prima, Jens Schanze, Germany, 2026, 89’ Greek Premiere: The vast lithium deposits in the Bolivian Andes trigger global interest. As Europeans and South Americans negotiate the extraction of raw materials, a historical document from the 16th century comes to light to connect the colonial past with today.

Jens Schanze, born in 1971 in Bonn, Germany, is an acclaimed documentary creator, screenwriter, and director of photography, known for his work, which is based on deep research and long-term observation, touching upon complex ethical and social issues. In 2002, he co-founded the production company Mascha Film along with Judith Malek-Mahdavi, which has since been the creative core of his most important works.

My Father and Qaddafi, Jihan, Libya-USA, 2025, 88’ Greek Premiere: A daughter searches for the traces of her father, leader of the peaceful opposition against Qaddafi, who disappeared mysteriously. Through the multi-year struggle of her mother, she attempts to connect with a man she does not remember and to reconcile with her roots.

Jihan was born in exile and grew up in Paris. Her father was a Libyan human rights lawyer and a leading figure of the peaceful opposition to Qaddafi’s regime. After his disappearance in Cairo, the family shared its life between the United States and France, while her mother, a Syrian artist, struggled internationally for the administration of justice. Jihan studied International and Comparative Political Sciences with a specialization in Human Rights, Philosophy, and International Law, while she also holds a master’s degree in Arts Education and Storytelling.

Past Future Continuous, Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran-Italy-Norway, 2025, 76’ Greek Premiere: Maryam fled to America after the Iranian revolution and never returned. Today, via security cameras, she monitors her parental house in Iran: a fragile digital connection with the past that freezes every time the internet cuts out, in a poetic documentary about exile, memory, and nostalgia.

Morteza Ahmadvand is a multimedia artist and filmmaker based in Tehran. He was born in Khorramabad, Iran and holds a master’s degree in Painting from the University of Tehran. Having studied painting and sculpture, he expanded his artistic practice toward video and installations, keeping visible the traces of his painterly origins.

Born in Tehran, Firouzeh Khosrovani graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan in 2002. Returning to Iran, she obtained a master’s degree in Journalism and worked for various daily Italian newspapers and magazines. She started her cinematic path in 2004 with “Life Train”. In 2007, she directed “Rough Cut”, a documentary about the disfigured mannequins in the shop windows of Tehran, which won thirteen international awards. In 2010, she created “1001 Irans”, a documentary that explores the way Iran is perceived abroad.

Slow Death, İlkay Nişancı, Turkey, 2026, 85’ Greek Premiere: The diary of an activist-researcher on the destruction of the Elbistan plain, which was sacrificed on the altar of development and “swallowed” by power production factories and coal mines.

İlkay Nişancı is an associate professor in the Department of Cinema of the Faculty of Communication of Istanbul University. He has directed and edited numerous documentaries, feature films, music videos, and television programs. He is also a musician and has been a composer and guitarist of the heavy metal band ELA. He is the creator and director of the HBO Max documentary series “Eko Eko Eko”, while his latest film, “The Exam at the Edge of Time”, has won numerous awards in important film festivals of Turkey.

The Illusion of a Quiet Night, Olga Chernykh, Ukraine, 2026, 70’ Greek Premiere: On the night of July 27, 2025, forty filmmakers recorded simultaneously life in every corner of Ukraine, from the fronts of the war to the occupied territories. A shattering, collective portrait of a country under constant alert.

Olga Chernykh is a Ukrainian director and director of photography. She holds a master’s degree in cinematography and documentary creation. Her film “A Picture to Remember” constituted the opening film of IDFA 2023 and won, among other distinctions, the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary. A graduate of the Berlinale Talents program, she has participated in international workshops such as IDFA Academy, IDFA Project Space, the “Aristoteles Workshop”, and B2B Docs. She is a member of the European Film Academy and has received a fellowship from the Akademie der Künste of Germany.

The Travelers, David Bingong, Cameroon-Spain, 60’ 2025, Greek Premiere: At the borders of Morocco and Spain, a group of migrants experiences one failed crossing attempt after another. Having as their only weapons of resistance a camera and a few songs, the documentary captures the endless waiting, the frustrations, but also their unwavering faith for a future in Europe.

David Bingong was born in Douala, Cameroon in 1988. With a passion for the performing arts, he has worked as a theater director and actor. Today he lives in Madrid, where he completed the film “Les Voyageurs”, shot between 2013 and 2015 during his journey from Africa to Europe. “Les Voyageurs” is his first feature-length film and was honored with the Special Jury Award at the Visions du Réel festival.

There is Another Way, Stephen Apkon, Switzerland-USA, 67’ 2025, Greek Premiere: The organization “Combatants for Peace” consists of former enemies, Israelis and Palestinians, who refuse to succumb to violence. After the start of the war and the attacks in Gaza, the movement comes face to face with the biggest challenge: to keep alive its faith that another path is possible.

Stephen Apkon is an award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur. He founded the Jacob Burns Film Center, a non-profit film and education organization in Pleasantville, New York, and served as its executive director until 2013. He directed and produced the films “There is Another Way” and “Disturbing the Peace”. He is also the executive producer of the films “Fantastic Fungi” and “Planetary”, producer of “I’m Carolyn Parker” and “Enlistment Days” and co-producer of the film “Presenting Princess Shaw”. He is the author of the book “The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens”, which was released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux publications, with a foreword by Martin Scorsese. He lives in the Hudson Valley together with his partner Marcina, their dog Osa and the flora, fauna, and fungi with whom they share this corner of the planet.

True to our inner deamons, Tasos Goletsos, Greece, 90’ 2025: Somewhere between reality and magic, everyday people submerge themselves in ecstatic rituals, seeking redemption and absolute freedom. An evocative journey of bodily transformation and faith, where the heroes surrender to whatever calls them from the depths of their self.

Tasos Goletsos was born in Athens and grew up in Volos. He studied Economics at the University of Piraeus and New Media in Brussels. He started as a video artist and VJ in 2008, presenting his art in underground clubs and the streets of Athens. Since 2015, he has created over 50 music videos and commercials. “True to our inner deamons” is his first film as director, producer, and director of photography.

What Remains of our Mothers’ Loves, Cathy Dubois, 66’ France, 2025, World Premiere: The director searches for her identity through the story of her French mother and her Senegalese father, who disappeared before she was born. A poetic, autobiographical journey that explores Africanness, social prejudices, and the memories that shaped her inner world.

“What Remains of Our Mothers’ Loves” is the first feature-length documentary by Cathy Dubois, although already since 1981 she had directed “Sans frontière ou le regard de l’autre”, a 26-minute film about the namesake newspaper published by and for immigrants. Having studied sociolinguistics and cinema, Dubois has been active for many years in organizations dealing with labor issues.

Yrupe, Candela Sotos, Spain, 2025, 79’ Greek Premiere: The search for a lost film by the pioneer of Spanish scientific cinema, Guillermo Fernández-Zúñiga, evolves into a journey into family memories and national archives. There, the slow growth of the aquatic plant yrupẽ reveals layers of images and silence.

Candela Sotos (born in Madrid in 1986) obtained a master’s degree in Photography and Contemporary Art from the University of Paris 8 and then joined the Artists Program of the Torcuato di Tella University in Buenos Aires. Her work explores official historical discourse and memory through various media, such as botanical practice, archives, and moving images. Her work has been presented in exhibitions and festivals, such as CRA Matadero Madrid, Cineteca, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti (Buenos Aires), Fundación Cerezales FCAYC, Centro Pompidou Málaga, and Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. She has also participated in projects such as the First Latin American School for the Urban Anthropocene (ENS Lyon/UNSAM-IDAES).

All About the Money, Sinéad O’Shea, Ireland, 2026, 94’: The son of one of the richest families in America creates a communist revolutionary base in rural Massachusetts to overturn the capitalist system, starting an unbelievable journey of radical ideas, betrayal, and exile.

Sinéad O’Shea is an award-winning director and journalist. Her most recent film, “Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story”, premiered at TIFF in 2024 and opened the Doc NYC festival. Sinéad has experience in journalism and in the creation of films with current affairs topics. She started her career in Ireland, filming and editing the IFTA-winning series “Sampler”. She has also collaborated with the BBC, Channel 4, and the newspaper “Irish Times”, for which she was honored with the Media Justice Award for her work around issues concerning asylum seekers.

Lost for words, Hannah Papacek-Harper, France / United Kingdom, 2025, Greek Premiere, 90’: With the motivation of the erasure of words that describe nature (such as acorn or wildflower) from a children’s dictionary, the documentary travels to the United Kingdom, inviting us through the voices of scientists, artists, and children to reconnect with our environment.

Hannah Papacek-Harper is a director and graduate of the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Universidad de Lima, where she studied Aesthetics and Cinematic Practice. She has been working as a director since 2019. She started her professional path as a Steadicam operator and through this experience she began to narrate stories through the moving image. Today she is active as a screenwriter and director, developing projects with a focus on ecology, which combine science with art. Her work and research also focus on displacement, identity, and intergenerational memory.

Truth or Dare, Tonislav Hristov, Bulgaria, 2025, Greek Premiere, 85’: In a Europe experiencing unprecedented polarization, an experienced investigative journalist who has received threats against her life comes face to face with an engineer who constructs and disseminates false news, revealing how fake news is used for the destabilization of the continent.

Tonislav Hristov was born in Vratsa, Bulgaria in 1978. In 2003, he moved to Finland, where he started film studies. He is known for his documentaries that focus on characters and their personal journeys. The film “Love & Engineering” (2014) was screened at the Tribeca, Hot Docs, and Visions du Réel festivals, while “Soul Food Stories” (2013) was selected at IDFA. “The Good Postman” (IDFA 2016, Sundance 2017) was nominated for the European Film Awards, while “The Magic Life of V” (2019) premiered at the Sundance and Berlinale festivals

μicro Competition Section

A Reconnaissance, Stefan Kruse, Denmark-Germany, 2025, Greek Premiere, 28’: An experimental cinematic essay sparked by the first flight of a Frontex military drone over the Mediterranean. The film explores the invisible militarization of borders and wonders if we can ultimately resist the panoptic power of technological surveillance.

Stefan Kruse is a Danish filmmaker and visual artist whose research-based practice focuses on ethical and philosophical questions related to the production of technical images. Often drawing inspiration from personal experiences, his work explores human perception, the circulation of images in mass media, surveillance technologies, and their connection to the military-industrial complex. By focusing on seemingly invisible industrial and political structures, he creates a space for critical reflection around the mechanisms of power and representation.

Anatomy of a Lost Sound, Zuko Garagić, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, Greek Premiere, 19’: An experimental, hybrid film that follows the life cycle of a radical audio recording inside a paramilitary youth camp in Central Europe, unraveling the historical guilt of an entire continent.

Zuko Garagić is a director whose cinematic work moves between archival evidence and expressionistic reconstructions. The son of a diaspora Jewish mother and a Bosnian Muslim father who fled his disintegrating homeland at the age of seventeen, and raised by a Vietnam War veteran, he approaches History as a mechanism that often conceals its own crimes. Recently, he directed and produced a short film in Argentina under the guidance of Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino, and participated in the Spring Academy of the Locarno Film Festival.

And the Storm Dreamed of Horses, Coralie Hina Gourdon, French Polynesia-Cuba-France, 2025, Greek Premiere, 22’: A cowboy and his horse face a catastrophic hurricane. Amidst the absolute collapse of the world around them, the two share a silent, mutual mourning.

Coralie H. Gourdon is a director and editor from French Polynesia living in Athens. Moving between documentary and fiction, her work explores subjective realities, the concept of performance, and the ways in which people shape and inhabit their images. Her films have been developed through international workshops with Werner Herzog, Béla Tarr, and Gianfranco Rosi. Her previous film “Time Sensitive Characters” premiered at Visions du Réel in 2024. She is currently developing her first feature-length documentary in collaboration with Arte France.

Averno, Filippo Maria Pontiggia, Italy, 2025, International Premiere, 23’: In Pozzuoli, right at the center of the Phlegraean Fields crater, the earth breathes in a continuous, otherworldly cycle of uplifting and subsiding, keeping alive a latent, mystical energy of centuries.

Filippo Maria Pontiggia is a graduate of the ZeLIG Documentary School and has curated the experimental section Spazio X of the FrontDOC International Documentary Festival. At the same time, he collaborates with the Cervino Cinemountain Film Festival. He has worked on numerous film productions and has created short films as well as artistic projects that combine lighting installations and electronic sensors. His most recent film “Rabbits in the Cemetery” (2024) was honored with the Student Award at the Trento Film Festival and received a distinction in the Orizzonti Vicini section.

Behind the Shadows, Konstantinos Potamianos, Greece-China, 2025, 13’: A cultural dialogue between a Greek Karagiozis puppeteer and a Chinese master of shadow theater. The film is born out of the director’s need to return to his childhood memories, searching for the ancient roots of an art made of light and darkness.

Konstantinos Potamianos was born in Patras in 2005 and has been involved in cinema from an early age. His first short documentary “The Call of the Lighthouses” premiered in 2022. Since then, he has been active in documentary directing and cinematography, creating short films such as “Behind the Shadows” (China, 2025) and “The Abandonment of Hearths” (Greece, 2025). At the same time, he is involved in music as a drummer, and in 2024 he collaborated with the Athens State Orchestra on an arrangement of George Gershwin’s work for Jazz Piano Trio and symphonic orchestra. Today he is studying at the Department of Digital Arts and Cinema of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, exploring ways to meet and synthesize different art forms through cinema.

Body, Saad Zuberi & Husain Qaizar, Pakistan, 2025, Greek Premiere, 12’: The collaboration of a local photographer in Pakistan with male models and bodybuilders turns into a daring documentation around the boundaries of physical build, the obsession with success, and the shifting definitions of masculinity in a conservative society.

Saad Zuberi is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker specializing in the coverage of human rights, trauma, and conflict. His work has been broadcast by the BBC, Al Jazeera, Vice News, Sky, Channel 4, and MTV Docs. He has also been nominated for an Emmy Award, an International Documentary Association (IDA) Award, and an Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) Award. He is a journalism fellow at the University of Cambridge and a PhD candidate in the US, where his research examines identity, framing, and representation in international journalism and cross-cultural communication.

Husain Qaizar is an Emmy-nominated editor and documentary director. Driven by a passion to bring to light unknown stories that shape the world, he has dedicated his career to creating documentaries that touch audiences emotionally, bridge cultures, inspire empathy, and provoke meaningful dialogue. He has contributed to over 100 projects, including Oscar-winning and Emmy-nominated films. His work has been featured on HBO, Channel 4, Netflix, VICE, Al Jazeera, YouTube Originals, Refinery29, TED, and The Atlantic.

Emery, Marble and Vine, Orestis Rouskas, Greece, 2025, 21’: Faced with the suffocating pressure of overtourism, certain residents of Naxos put forward a different way of living and creating. A film about the daily resistance required to rescue the authentic soul of the island.

Orestis Rouskas is a director based in Athens. He is a graduate of the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University and holds a master’s degree in Cultural Management. He has worked on film productions as an assistant director and script supervisor, while he is also active as a film programmer at the Micro μ Festival in Chania. He served as production manager of the Animasyros International Animation Festival for the years 2024 and 2025, and undertook the production organization for the first conference of the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People (CIFEJ), held in Athens in May 2025. His latest short film, “Emery, Marble and Vine” (2025), premiered at the Drama Film Festival, where it won a documentary award. He is currently working in Karlsruhe as a Guest Artist at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media, creating video documentation projects for the organization.

Every Time You Leave, You Are Born Again, Mladen Bundalo, Belgium-Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, Greek Premiere, 24’: A director’s journey back to his hometown turns into a gripping internal monologue. As the bus jolts along the road, the concept of departure and refuge acquires a new, deeper existential weight.

Mladen Bundalo (b. 1986, Prijedor) is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and writer of Bosnian origin based in Brussels. His essay-films explore themes such as the sense of “belonging” and the human condition within the context of migration, diaspora, and periods of uncertainty and crisis. His work has been screened at over 50 international film and video festivals, including IDFA (Amsterdam), Ji.hlava IDFF (Jihlava), Go Short (Nijmegen), Vidéographies (Liège), the Sarajevo Film Festival, and Punto de Vista IDFF (Pamplona).

Heidi’s House, Johanna Sofia Heusser, Switzerland, 2026, Greek Premiere, 11’: The poetic story of a woman who migrated to Tinos in the ’80s and dedicated herself as a self-taught practitioner to the architecture of the island. A film full of tenderness, seen through the gaze of her granddaughter.

Johanna Sofia Heusser completed her studies in Contemporary and Urban Dance at the Zurich University of the Arts (HF) in 2016, and in 2022 she obtained a master’s degree in “Expanded Theater” from the Bern University of the Arts (HKB) and a diploma in Arts and International Cooperation from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Since 2016, she has developed and presented her own work in festivals and theaters throughout Switzerland, Europe, India, Greece, Turkey, and Uganda, including the Zürcher Theater Spektakel, the FIT Festival Lugano, Dschungel Wien, the National Theatre of Kampala, and the Istanbul Fringe Festival. She has received various prizes, including the Atelier Mondial award (2018) and the Double Tanz from Migros Kulturprozent (2020).

How to Listen to Fountains, Eva Sajanová, Slovakia, 2025, Greek Premiere, 10’: An ingenious film about public space, where city fountains suddenly come to life, acquire their own voice, and start a subversive rebellion to grab the attention of passers-by.

Eva Sajanová (b. 2002) is a Slovak composer and documentary director. She composes music for film and dance, participates in musical ensembles, and listens to fountains. She studies documentary directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she explores the creative possibilities of sound as a medium for recording and interpreting reality.

In Between Dreams, Aritra Biswas, France, 2026, World Premiere, 14’: A filmmaker from Kolkata wanders through Paris, searching in vain for something that recalls his homeland. An encounter with strangers, however, will birth an unexpected sense of familiarity through shared stories of migration.

Aritra Biswas is a filmmaker based in Mumbai, frequently active in international productions. He holds a master’s degree in Cinematography from Whistling Woods International. Storytelling fascinated him from very early on, and he uses the camera as a means to explore people, places, and the emotional bonds that unite them. In his work, he highlights the discrete poetry of daily life, turning his gaze to what often passes unnoticed.

It’s Always Ever About the Conservation of the Species, Eva Louisa Gemmer, Germany, 2025, World Premiere, 30’: A final sex education lesson in a third-grade middle school classroom leaves aside dry theory about contraception. The documentary gives the floor to the teenagers themselves, who speak disarmingly about sex, desires, and, above all, their insecurities.

Eva Louisa Gemmer is a director, director of photography, and film instructor based in Munich. Since 2019, she has been studying documentary directing at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München). Her work has been presented at international festivals, including DOK.fest Munich and the Berlinale. In 2026, she published her first collective publishing venture titled “Was geschehen und nie geschehen ist”. She is currently finishing her graduation film “So schlimm hab ich’s mir nicht vorgestellt”, which is produced in collaboration with the Das kleine Fernsehspiel program of ZDF and is expected to be released in 2027.

Just Come, Konstantina Liontou, Greece-South Africa, 2026, World Premiere, 21’: Langa, Cape Town’s oldest shantytown, is gradually transformed from a bleak remnant of Apartheid into a tourist attraction. The residents themselves speak about their right to narrate their story, redefining the terms of tourism within their community.

Konstantina Liontou is a Greek director who recently completed postgraduate studies in Film and Media Studies in Cape Town. Her work explores the intersection of travel and tourism with contemporary social issues. “Just Come” marks her directorial debut in documentary.

Koki, Ciao, Quenton Miller, Netherlands, 2025, Greek Premiere, 11’: An intelligent political film starring Koki: the 67-year-old talking parrot of the leader of Yugoslavia, Tito. Enclosed today in an attraction-cage, this living witness of History unrolls the surreal, geopolitical past of the Cold War, when as a diplomatic “tool” he entertained everyone from Khrushchev to Sophia Loren.

Quenton Miller is an Australian-British director and visual artist based in the Netherlands. He studied at the Jan van Eyck Academie and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK). His work moves between documentary, fiction, and experimental cinema, investigating questions of language, identity, history, and alienation, often through humor and elements of literature and science fiction. His films and projects have been presented, among others, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the Athens Biennale, and important exhibition spaces in Europe and the USA. His previous works include “The Trial” (2021), “Dying Marxists” (2018), and “The Confidence Man, His Masquerade” (2015).

Lake Tekapo: Guardians of the Night, Radomír Štefka, Czechia, 2025, Greek Premiere, 28’: The film records the common struggle of scientists and residents against light pollution in the Lake Tekapo area of New Zealand, highlighting night darkness as an invaluable, fragile natural treasure.

Hailing from Valašské Meziříčí, Radomír Štefka (1999) successfully completed his studies in multimedia creation at the Silesian University in Opava. Today he works at the Brno Planetarium, contributing to the creation of audiovisual content aimed at popularizing science. This includes productions for fulldome environments and other forms of immersive experience. His work combines documentary filmmaking with his strong interest in nature and the night sky, frequently exploring themes related to astronomy and landscapes. He has traveled to various locations, such as the Himalayas and New Zealand, where he produced his latest documentary “Lake Tekapo: Guardians of the Night”. He has experience both behind the camera and in post-production, often working independently or within small creative teams. Outside of work, he enjoys sports, traveling, and exploring new environments and perspectives.

Light, Aner Etxebarria, Spain, 2025, Greek Premiere, 18’: The staggering story of a woman-leader of the indigenous Wounaan community in the rainforest. When armed groups spread terror and death in her homeland, she transforms into the sole “light” of her community, returning to the forest to face them face-to-face, demanding peace.

Aner Etxebarria is a documentary director and producer specializing in stories regarding anthropology and nature conservation. With a particular interest in biodiversity and indigenous cultures, he has worked in more than twenty countries across five continents. In the course of his career, he has been active as a director, producer, and screenwriter for numerous documentaries, including “Baskavigin: La Matanza de los Balleneros Vascos” (2016, dir. Aitor Aspe). His most recent works include the short documentaries “Tabira, Bayandalai”, “Lord of the Taiga”, and “Joy”, which have been screened and awarded at international festivals such as the Big Sky Film Festival, Rhode Island Film Festival, Wildscreen, and Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival. He also co-authored the documentary series “Voces de la Tierra”, which explores communities that still maintain deep symbiotic relationships with animals. The series, filmed in eleven countries, was nominated for the Jackson Wild Media Award for Best Documentary Series.

Our Homes Do Not Exist, Anna Lamour, France-Greece, 2025, 14’: Shot on Super 8 film, this visual diary captures the slow fragmentation of a family home in Athens. Through a wandering across inhabited and abandoned spaces, the need is born for the invention of a new, collective homeland upon the ruins of reality. Anna Lamour is a French-Greek director. She studied film at Brooklyn College in New York and screenwriting at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne. Her films explore questions of identity and “belonging”, while investigating the role of faith as a driving force of narrative. “Our Homes Do Not Exist” marks her debut in documentary. At the same time, she works as a script supervisor, story researcher, and writing consultant in international productions, while she is currently developing her first fiction film.

Ping Pong, Tianji Yu, China, 2025, Greek Premiere, 15’: Prompted by a ping-pong racket, a man remembers an old friend from university, until he discovers a post about the latter’s vote in favor of Trump in the US elections. In search of answers, he initiates a dialogue with an AI assistant, where friendship and politics blur dangerously.

Tianji Yu was born in a coastal city in northern China. His work moves between fiction and documentary, reality and animation. Through his films, he explores and highlights the fragile but essential relationships between the individual, life, and society.

Practical Italian Grammar, Daniel Cortés, Cuba-Germany-Colombia, 2025, Greek Premiere, 12’: Miguel and his family prepare to migrate from Cuba to Italy, where his mother already lives. While they wait for approval, they take the first, decisive step of every migrant: to learn the language of their new homeland.

Daniel Cortés studied Film at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany and completed postgraduate studies in the Theory and Practice of Creative Documentary at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He specializes in the cinematography and direction of non-fiction films. The short film “Quixot D’Allela”, which he co-authored as director, premiered at BAFICI in 2025. His work focuses on issues such as migration, while exploring the narrative possibilities of creative documentary. At the same time, he is active as an independent producer of short and feature-length documentaries. For the production of his first personal short film, he attended the International Film and Television School (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, with instructors Jean Perret and Gianfranco Rosi.

The Exhibition, Dáša Raimanová, Béla Váradi, United Kingdom, Norway, Hungary, 2026, Greek Premiere, 23’: Queer Roma visual artist Béla Váradi returns from London to his hometown in Hungary to publicly present his works. In a country where the promotion of LGBTQI+ content is essentially banned, Béla exposes himself in front of his community, balancing between acceptance and rejection.

Dáša Raimanová is a documentary director from Slovakia, based in London and Berlin, whose work focuses on socio-political issues. Her short film “Gypsy Gadji” (2024), with the support of the Polish Film Institute, won the Best Short Documentary Award at the Lucania Film Festival in Italy in 2024. Her activist documentary “POLYLAND” (2018) was screened at international film festivals and in sixty community screenings across Europe. It became part of Amnesty International’s campaign against hate crimes in Poland. She has also directed short documentaries for Al Jazeera, Arte, and Deutsche Welle (DW), including “Across the Road – Worlds Apart” (2019), which was broadcast in nine European countries and reached millions of viewers worldwide.

Béla Váradi is a Roma and queer visual artist based in London. Through photography and participatory artistic practices, he explores issues of marginalization, identity, and social justice. His work has been presented internationally and published in media such as The Guardian, Balkan Insight, and WOZ.

When the Chair Fell Into the Void, Julia Kushnarenko, Belgium-Hungary-Portugal, 2026, International Premiere, 24’: A hybrid film on the boundaries of documentary and dance. Anonymous migrants forced to abandon their homeland confess their experiences of loss and disconnection, while masked dancers transform their words and memories into movement within the urban landscape.

Julia Kushnarenko is a director and editor originally from the North Caucasus and based in Belgium. She worked for more than ten years in documentary editing, while her mid-length film “Terra” won more than 15 awards at international festivals. In 2022, she received a scholarship from the international master’s program in documentary directing DocNomads, within the framework of which she shot films in Portugal, Hungary, and Belgium.

Why Are All My Friends Depressed?, Hannah Jandl, Lea Tama Springer, Germany, 2025, International Premiere, 25’: A film that poses the question that concerns us all: do we actually suffer from depression today or is society itself making us sick? Through discussions, literature, and TikTok, the documentary searches for what is happening with an entire generation that, although it seems to have everything, is trapped in the pressure for success and the anxiety of the future.

Hannah Jandl is a director from Vienna and has been studying Documentary and Television Journalism at HFF Munich since 2019. Her films have been screened at festivals such as DOK.fest Munich and Kasseler Dokfest, while her most recent short film participated in the Berlinale Special program.

Lea Tama Springer is a director and editor from Munich. She also studies at HFF Munich and has worked for more than ten years in the editing of television and cinematic documentaries. Her films have been screened at festivals such as DOK.fest Munich, Max Ophüls Film Festival, and Duisburg Film Week.

With Torn Curtains, Valia Chatzichristodoulou, Greece, 2026, World Premiere, 25’: How does a person blind from birth create images? An atmospheric documentary about Konstantinos, who perceives colors and shapes beyond sight, smells green, feels light, and guides us through his own, deeply poetic perspective on the world.

Valia Chatzichristodoulou is a Film student at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is currently working on her graduation thesis with an emphasis on production and set design, while she has already worked as a set and costume designer in student films. Her interest focuses on documentary and experimental cinema, seeking to combine the two genres to highlight the poetic dimension of daily life. Dreams and nightmarish dreamscapes constitute central themes of her artistic exploration and are directly linked to her graduation thesis. She has participated in the Chania Film Festival (CFF) and the Skopelos International Film Festival for Youth (SIFFY). “With Torn Curtains” is her first short documentary.

Festival Photos can be found HERE and stills from this year’s films HERE. The trailer for the 11th edition can be found HERE.

For more information you can visit the website www.beyondborders.gr or contact the Festival at info@beyondborders.gr.

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Organization: Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME).

Under the Auspices of The General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Main Institutional Partner Greek Film Center, Audiovisual Media and Creation (EKKOMED)

Supporters Hellenic Parliament, Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), Latsis Foundation

Award Sponsors ERT, ZDF, GGAEDD

Technical Coverage & Catalog Sponsor Ministry of National Defence (YPETHA)

Subtitling Sponsors Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Athens, Embassy of Spain in Athens, Embassy of Slovakia in Athens, Embassy of Norway in Athens, French Institute of Greece