Balkans Beyond Borders organised a round table with the title “Cultural challenges of Europe nowadays and the role of cinema in building cultural identity and European consciousness – the Greek viewpoint”. The event was implemented in the frame of the 11th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival “Athens Edition” with the support of the Greek Cultural Ministry on 4th of December 2020. The discussion attended students of cinema, cultural, social and ethnography studies and professionals interested in the topic.
The panel consisted of academic and professionals of the cinema field:
- Lydia Papadimitriou, Reader (Associate Professor) in Film Studies at Liverpool John Moores University
- Ilias Papagiannopoulos, Associate Professor in International & European Studies at University of Piraeus
- Petros Sevastikoglou, Film Director – Professor of Filmmaking at Greek National Drama School
- Konstandinos Aivaliotis, PhD holder in visual anthropology – Co-founder & Director of ETHNOFEST organization and the titular festival
- Anna Kasimati, responsible for the Creative Europe MEDIA Office at the Hellenic Cinema Center
The discussion was moderated by Ms Eleni Sideri, Associate Professor in the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies and member of the Laboratory “Culture-Borders-Gender” at the University of Macedonia.
The conversation developed on three axes:
1.From National to European cinema – From National to European Identities
In this context Ms Sideri stated that “The art of cinema is part of the national and European cultural heritage mentioning the saying of Luisa Passerini that “European history could be read through its cinema history” and she set the basic reason of this round table which is to explore the importance of cinema in the creation of the European and the national identity and their interaction. Mr K. Aivaliotis said that nowadays we can agree that cinema and European history are interconnected while Ms Papadimitriou highlighted the multidimensional character of cinematography and identities. Upon the European context of the identities Mr P. Sevastikoglou stated that when we speak about European identity, we need to clarify what we consider as Europe expressing a concern about the need of unifying identities. As for the EU, Mr Ilias Papagiannopoulos stated that we may have hurried to create an EU identity, which was a product of political will and speaking in nowadays terms he questioned the initial vision of the EU about its identity and suggested a refutation of the initial European idea.
The conversation continued with the topic of memory and remembrance, the effort of creating a common European cultural heritage and the place of filmmaking. Ms Kasimati stated that for many decades the European cinema as art has been used as the basis and tool of identifying and preserving a common European cultural heritage. The EU reinforced the member-states to cooperate and to re-establish efficient archiving systems for the maintenance and insurance of the audiovisual documents as long as the creation of national film centres. The narration of memory unites the past with the present and helps the audience to envision the future, stated Mr Sevastikoglou while Ms L. Papadimitriou highlighted the power of cinema to create myths and stories that enable the creation of identities and knowing who we are. Upon the evasion of the American blockbusters in Europe, European states and the EU as an institution need to reinforce their productions and create a common European memory through cinema. We can’t forget the power of cinema to be used as a tool of propaganda in order to shape the present as it happened in the period of 1930’.
Regarding the future and the vision of Europe through cinema, the speakers stated the European term which exists from 2000 “United in diversity” and what this means for the film industry. The input of Ms Kasimat was important sharing with our audience that the notion of diversity in film production is not included in the criteria for European grants under the MEDIA programme, but it is considered as an added value that the thematic of the film to have a dynamic distribution so that people from different backgrounds and from all over the EU have the interest to watch.
2. The democratization of technology and digivtal cinema and the role of the active citizen
The conversation continued about the role of the new technologies, the new trends, and the short films as a different form from feature films. All the panellists agreed that the expansion of social media has given extra power to instant and timely images. This is why short films are more adaptable to short screenings. We live in the era, and especially during the pandemic, in which we watch all the movies on our PC, laptop, cell phone and TV screenings. However, the feature movies are made to be watched in cinema theatres and a widescreen. Mr Sevastikoglou pointed out the importance of adding the cinema and film production in the schools in order to become a vital part of children’s personal development in soft skills.
3. Collaborations and co-productions in cinema
Ms Kasimati elucidated the fact that the economic crisis in Greece, on the one hand, facilitated the greek cinematography and productions to become more extrovert and affected positively the way of making films but on the other hand, it decreased the national funds and support.
4. Distribution and ways of watching films because if the pandemic of COVID-19
Mr Aivaliotis pinpointed the vital aspect of cinema theatres in watching films and making festivals. However, we can’t miss the impact of the digital opportunities that were risen because of the pandemic such as online Agora and online parallel events. Ms Ppadimitriou added the opportunity of finding new audiences thanks to the digital festival versions. Ms Kasimati mentioned that production of films has affected less than the distribution of films and going to cinema theatres. They all wished to come back to the cinema theatres and enjoy watching films on the widescreen.
In the end, the audience had the opportunity to pose their questions to the panellist and the conversation was expanded to more topics such as the cinematic way of making series and quality audiovisual projects of any forms, the way that cinema can become the EU ambassador out of Europe and how festivals can help film productions’ funding. Also, the audience showed great interest in the change the pandemic brought and the impact of NETFLIX.
The audience showed great interest in all topics discussed and according to the results of our poll, participants found the discussion very interesting and informative and they are waiting for other relevant discussions and workshops.