Aegean Film Festival

Introduction

In July 2021, our Foundation was one of the presenting sponsors for the 4th environmental program "Echoes - Call to Action" of the Aegean Film Festival.

Having set the annual goal of bringing measurable environmental change in respect with the conservation and restoration of the Aegean archipelago micro-climate, the Aegean Film Festival introduced the 4th “Echoes” program that took place at the Environmental and Cultural Park of Paros from the 30th July until the 2nd August 2021.

About the Program

"Echoes" is an international summit that brings together award-winning filmmakers, writers, scientists, philanthropists, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and opinion leaders over five days, concurrently to the main film festival.

By assembling the knowledge, resources and communicators together in the same location, it aims to “fast-track” projects and amplify awareness about ways to make a positive impact both locally and globally.

The program consists of documentary screenings, Q&A’s, panel talks, presentations and workshops, concluding with a sustainability Roundtable. The Roundtable functions as an incubator for ideas that will be transformed into feasible solutions which will result in immediate action.

The solutions generated will be evaluated and organized by the scientific team, while the results will be uploaded on an online community platform for activation over the 9 months following the summit. The online platform, which is under development, will help the participants to stay connected, monitor the realization process, fundraise, post solutions and bring complete transparency in matters of budget utilization.

In addition to the summer program, part of it will be repeated during the winter in remote islands for students and residents who wouldn’t have access to such initiatives otherwise.

Aside of the abovementioned, “Echoes” also supports young environmental visionaries. Through the “ReScript the Future” -an idea development and writing competition that was established in 2020- the young generations have a chance to imagine a better tomorrow by creating an inspiring short documentary script. Two winning ideas will be produced into short documentaries with the help of WaterBear’s production team. They will premiere at the next Aegean Film Festival and be distributed to global audiences through WaterBear and a network of affiliated festivals.