Opening and Closing Films and Parallel Events of the 10th Beyond Borders

The 10th Beyond Borders | Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival will kick off on Sunday, August 24, with a captivating documentary that is bound to spark many discussions. Opening and closing films on people who vanish without a trace and on asteroids, respectively, along with concerts, parallel events, and activities for all ages, will soon bring the remote, beautiful island of Kastellorizo to life.

Strategic Partner of Beyond Borders is the Public Power Corporation (PPC), the leading energy company in Southeastern Europe, which actively supports the arts and culture. As an integral part of Greece’s social and economic fabric, PPC fosters dialogue with culture and art, supporting everyone and everything that leads us toward a better future, where culture plays the central role.

Opening Film

Johatsu – Into Thin Air, by Andreas Hartmann & Arata Mori, Japan–Germany, 2024, 86’

Every year, thousands of people disappear without a trace in Japan. Known as Johatsu, or “the evaporated,” they leave their lives behind for various reasons—troubled relationships, mounting debts, or threats from the mafia. Some seek help from so-called “night moving companies” that assist them in vanishing and starting anew elsewhere. Offering a deeply personal look into this phenomenon, Johatsu – Into Thin Air explores the inner conflicts and struggles for reconciliation between those who disappeared and those left behind.

Andreas Hartmann is a Berlin-based filmmaker and producer. A graduate of HFF Konrad Wolf (2011) and a student of Professor Thomas Arslan at the Berlin University of the Arts, he was an artist-in-residence at the Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto in 2014. In 2017, he was nominated for the Grimme Award and received the Gerd Ruge Grant. His film A Free Man won the Busan Cinephile Award for Best World Documentary at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and the Sundance Institute.
Arata Mori is a Japanese filmmaker and artist based in Berlin and Tokyo. A graduate of Central Saint Martins (London), his first feature-length film A Million premiered at the 64th DOK Leipzig. In 2022, he was awarded a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council, and in 2023 he took part in Docs by the Sea and European Social Documentary.

Opening Concert: Musical Anthology – From Memory to the Present

Following the screening, Chrysi Papagiannouli (vocals), Nikos Plios (guitar, vocals), and Tasos Giannousis (bouzouki, vocals, artistic direction) will present a special musical anthology for the Festival’s 10th anniversary edition. The performance features timeless works by some of Greece’s greatest composers—Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hadjidakis, Manos Loïzos, Stavros Kougioumtzis, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Markos Vamvakaris, among others.

Landmark songs of modern Greek cultural heritage, which shaped collective sentiment and continue to inspire, will be performed with respect, intensity, and a fresh perspective in an evening filled with music, memory, and emotion.

Closing Film

Asteroid Hunters, by Thomas Marlier & Guillaume Lenel, France 2024, 52’

Planetary scientists, astrophysicists, geochemists, and experts from various disciplines form today’s global network of “sky watchers.” Their mission: to detect, observe, and study asteroids—celestial bodies that may follow potentially catastrophic trajectories, yet also carry invaluable information about the origins of our solar system.

Thomas Marlier, a French filmmaker with a PhD in Ancient History from the Sorbonne, has written and co-written numerous documentaries for major broadcasters such as France 5, France 2, Arte, and CuriosityStream, covering subjects from environmental crises and space exploration to antiquity and volcanology. He co-directed the award-winning series Apocalypse. Author of Profession astronaute and several academic publications, his historical insight imbues his films with both accuracy and narrative depth.
Guillaume Lenel is a French documentary director and motion designer whose work spans science, fiction, animation, and museum installations. He co-directed Collisions, Chasseurs d’Astéroïdes (France 5, 2024) and directed Astéroïdes: le nouvel Eldorado Spatial?, awarded at Parisciences. His projects, including Apollo and Pictopolis Superhero, combine narrative with visual innovation. He has also designed motion graphics for French television programs such as the presidential elections, Nous, Thalassa, and Faut Pas Rêver, as well as VFX and AR productions of high artistic caliber.

Closing Concert: Kostas Triantafyllidis, “Historia”

Singer Kostas Triantafyllidis comes to Kastellorizo for the 10th anniversary edition of Beyond Borders with a concert promising to leave its mark.

With a steady and deliberate musical journey, he has collaborated with some of Greece’s most important performers: touring with Dimitris Mitropanos, singing alongside Giorgos Dalaras and Marinella, and recording with legendary artists such as Vicky Moscholiou and Giannis Spanos.

On the stage of Hero Square, in an evening of music filled with emotion, memory, and power, he will perform songs that have written their own history, along with personal favorites, such as Oneiro Apatilo (in Mínos Matsas’s adaptation for the film Eftychia) and the moving Historia (music by Mátas, lyrics by Sofia Kapsourou), which accompanies the acclaimed TV series Oi Pantheoi.

Parallel Events

In addition to the screenings in Competition and Panorama, the Audiovisual Pitching Lab, masterclasses, the Co-Production Forum, workshops, and discussions, Beyond Borders hosts a wide range of activities for all ages on Kastellorizo:

Musical Interludes (25–28/8, Hero Square): The Athens String Quartet, comprising leading members of the Athens State Orchestra and the Greek National Opera Orchestra, will perform chamber music masterpieces as well as premieres of works by Greek and international composers. Since its founding in 2010, the Quartet has been recognized for its strong social engagement, performing in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, prisons, special schools, disadvantaged communities, and remote regions.
Travelling with My Documentary (25–27/8, Town Hall): An educational program from the Chania Film Festival focusing on documentaries made with schools in Crete, highlighting oral history, local culture, and human stories.
Stilt Walker Neil Adrian Blakemore (27–28/8, St. George Square): A whimsical, acrobatic performance for all ages by the seasoned British performer who has lived in Greece for 25 years.
Chess Lessons with AI Robots (25–29/8, Market): The Rhodes Chess Club “Knight” will offer chess workshops and demonstrations for children and adults, featuring interactive games against AI-powered SenseRobots.
Bookbinding Workshop (30–31/8, Town Hall): A playful introduction to bookbinding materials and techniques, led by Dolores María Juárez de la Tela (“Tela”) and her mischievous partner “Spagos.”
Nighttime Confessions Concert (30/8, Hero Square): Pianist and conductor Miltos Logiadis and accordion virtuoso Christos Zerbinos present a program spanning Greek tradition to Manos Hadjidakis tributes.
Sculpture Exhibition “Shaping the Land” by Alexandros Zygouris (25–30/8, Zygouris Atelier): A sculptor living in Kastellorizo for 35 years, Zygouris sculpts the island’s stones entirely by hand, revealing their essence.
Book Presentations:
- Kastellorizo by Athena Tarsouli (25/8, Poseidon Square): A re-edition by the Hellenic History Foundation (IDISME) of the folklorist’s landmark work, 75 years after its first release.
- The Uses of Oppression: The Ottoman Empire through its Greek Newspapers, 1830–1862 by Marina Sakali, Lady Marks (30/8, Hero Square): A Harvard University Press publication illuminating the Greek-Ottoman press and daily life in mid-19th-century Ottoman society.

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

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.