A child attends the Athens International Children's Film Festival in Athens, Greece, on Dec. 7, 2018. Athens launched the 1st International Children's Film Festival on Friday, offering more than 70 feature films from 30 countries around the world. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
ATHENS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Athens launches the 1st International Children's Film Festival on Friday, offering more than 70 feature films from 30 countries around the world.
Visitors will also enjoy live movie dubbings, book readings, workshops, educational programs, parallel activities and lots of fun activities.
At the Megaron Concert Hall, festival organizers invite people to spend three days with activities for everyone.
"Our intention is for families to spend the whole day at the Megaron starting from the morning, watching a movie, taking a break for the children to rest and eat a snack and then continue, see another movie and spend the whole day there", Kalliopi Charalambous, director of the Festival, told Xinhua.
A film festival dedicated to children was absent from Athens in recent years. "The idea for the Festival arose from the need to have in Athens, as well as in other cities of the world, a children's film festival. A festival during which we will recommend to families, young people and children, movies from all over the world", Charalambous added.
The festival premiered on Friday with the screening of the new film of the great French director Michel Ocelot, "Dilili in Paris", with the presence of the director himself.
The organizers of the Festival talk highly about the films for children, aged 3-5 years old, which will be dubbed live by a group of Greek actors, creating a theatrical happening on stage.
Another film that the Festival recommends is "Supa Modo" from Kenya, a hymn to life, joy and optimism that is Kenya's proposal for the Best Foreign Language Film of the Academy Award, or the Oscar.
The organizers also recommend Kim Brand's "Hello Salaam", a documentary from the Netherlands shot at the greek island of Mytilene, in a refugee camp.
Moreover, the live performance of the young French rapper Si-G, will follow the screening of her film on Saturday evening.
"It's nice to see kids experience the cinema theatre, the sound system that takes you away and no matter what kind of home cinema you own, is not the same," President of the Festival, Amanda Livanou said.
Right after the Festival, the organizers will announce a script competition in an attempt to help directors in Greece start filming more motion pictures aimed at children and young people.
"We want to create new artists and scientists, musicians, doctors, people with wild imagination. People who will dream something else for the future and will take the world a step further", said Livanou.
The Festival will last till Sunday.
