Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oceanside50]

Greek farmers shine at the ArcLight Documentary Film Festival in Los Angeles

2012-11-21
inspired0calm0happy0sad0angry0amazed0proud1
More Sharing Services
The Greek film “Farming on Crisis?“ won top prize at the ArcLight Documentary Film Festival in Los Angeles on November 10.

Directed by Haris Donias, the documentary tells the story of young Greek farmers and the prospects of revamping their country’s debt-stricken economy. The film, which was financed by the Netherlands (one of the world’s largest agricultural producers), is part of a Dutch campaign launched earlier this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.


Donias’ documentary follows Greek reporter Pavlos Georgiadis as he crisscrosses the Greek countryside speaking to young farmers. He speaks to brothers Panayiotis and Christos Papazilakis (ages 23 and 24 respectively) who run the largest cattle farm in Greece. They talk about their efforts to create a spacious environment for their 2,000 milking cows and their decision to feed the animals non-genetically modified (GM) soy. Georgiadis also speaks to Antonis Breskas, a 32-year-old “seed saver” who explains how farmers can become more self-sufficient if they save the seeds of their crops.

More than 350 films were submitted to this year’s ArcLight festival. The winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Lesley Chilcott, an Academy Award winning documentary producer ("An Inconvenient Truth”).

Donias, a graduate of the Centre d’Estudies Cinematografics de Catalanya, in Barcelona, splits his time between Spain and his hometown in Alexandroupolis, northern Greece. He embarked on his career shooting music videos in Greece and Spain. He started making documentaries and short films in New York and London. In Greece, he directed the short film “240” that was recently selected at the International Film Festival in Drama, Greece and screened at the Harvard Graduate School Of Design in Boston last year.Donias is currently working on his next short film titled “Travel Stop”, which will delve deep into the Greek attitude and lifestyle that has hurled the country into a state of moral and financial bankruptcy.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Yup - Cyprus could follow their lead ...