Europe

The 4th Hellas FilmBox Berlin Festival

Festival to Promote German-Greek collaboration in the audiovisual industry

January 22nd, 2019
Tina Bitouni, News from Berlin
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The 4th Hellas FilmBox Festival was hosted in the Babylon Kino as an attempt to build cultural bridges and financial alliances in the filmmaking industry.

The 4th Hellas FilmBox Berlin took place from January 16th until the 20th in the Babylon Kino in Berlin (Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30). The annual film festival which was first introduced in 2016 in the city of Berlin with the main aims of promoting Greek cinema and movie producers beyond the geographical limits of Greece and establishing a public interest within the cultural scene of the German capital. During the festival, which was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Greece and Cyprus, the Greek Deputy Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, Lefteris Kretsos participated with a presentation of the future aspirations for the growth in the audiovisual industry.

His speech, entitled “Audiovisual Industry: Α Growth Challenge for Greece” introduced the financial motivations inspired in order to develop the audiovisual entertainment platforms and to promote collaboration and co-production on an international level. These financial measures include the new term “cash rebate” which corresponds to the partial refund of 35% of any production expenses made in Greece, in addition to the new “friendly” financial environment that strengthens the motivation to proceed to audiovisual activities in the country. Lefteris Kretsos in his interview in Deutsche Welle highlighted the importance of the audiovisual industry not only as a tool for Greek financial growth but also as a means to promote Greek talents and to attract foreign companies' interest. According to his interview, his wish is to restore the public image about Greece and attenuate the association of his country with the debt crisis, but instead to open the roads for the images of Greek beauty, landscapes and culture to travel.

The public attendance in the Babylon venue was bigger than expected, a fact that testifies about the successful trajectory of the Hellas FilmBox Berlin Festival. People's constant need and desire for intercultural exchange and understanding is perfectly met with filmmaking. Thus, cultural organizations and institutions undertake the task to preserve and promote those recreational activities. While the official festival was completed on the 20th of January, there are still screenings of  movies of Greek-German productions until the end of the month.

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News from Berlin