23/08/2023 - Up-and-coming directors from Greece, Armenia, Romania and Montenegro, among other countries, will introduce their projects and initiatives at the online event that unspools on 24 and 25 August

Director Elli Xypolitaki, who is taking part with Dog Star

Beyond Borders Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival’s Visio-Pitching Lab is a remote audiovisual lab that gives up-and-coming filmmakers the chance to pitch their ideas and receive professional feedback on how to turn a concept into a perfect project. The lab will unspool online on 24 and 25 August, and the aim is to offer 12 young directors the opportunity to present their basic ideas to a group of experienced decision makers in the European documentary scene. Below we cover the ideas in more detail.

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Elli Xypolitaki, a photographer and filmmaker based in Athens, will pitch Dog Star, “a creative and observational medium-length documentary (between 31 and 60 minutes long) about a family that has been running a local radio station for the past 30 years in the prefecture of Viotia, Greece”. 57 by fellow Greek artist Nikolaos kihem Kotsampougioukis is a short creative film with the following synopsis: “28 February 2023, area of Tempe. A train crash. Fifty-seven people died and, with them, an entire country.”

Let Girls Play is an observational and creative film by Russia’s Julia Kushnarenko (Terra), who says it is “a documentary about indigenous women from the North Caucasus who want to gain the right to freedom of choice through sports”. From Nowhere, the first film by Lanya Nooralddin Abdalla (Kurdistan), is a creative documentary about children who were born in Iraqi Kurdistan but whose families are from Syria. Now they don’t know where they are from, and they don’t have any ID because they are refugees.

Pulling Through, a short experimental documentary by Beirut-based videographer Chloe Khoury, tells the story of four young Lebanese women sitting in an enclosed space; they express the whirlwind of emotions they go through while suffering from trichotillomania. The feature-length investigative documentary Little Armenia by Robert Minassian, a Lebanese filmmaker of Armenian origin, follows the remarkable journey of the protagonist, a director, as he embarks on a deeply personal quest to trace his grandmother's long-lost family, who were separated during the tragic events of the Armenian genocide.

UNIQ:Stoudios Monastery by Erdil Onur Kocatürk (Turkey) is an up-close and personal look at the struggle for existence undertaken by the Monastery of Stoudios, a 1,500-year-old piece of cultural heritage that is the oldest example of ecclesiastical Byzantine architecture still standing in central Istanbul. Should We See Your Marriage? by Begüm Aksoy (Turkey) is about two young people, a Turk and a Palestinian, who set out with the aim of getting married, but who experience difficulties owing to the invisibility of Palestine as a state. Through this story, it examines the aforementioned issue of invisibility. Searching for Al-Yarmouk, a short film by Daniel Mansaray, a Syrian man who has spent most of his life in Sweden, is about three Palestinian women who, after fleeing the Al Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria during the war, search for a sense of belonging.

Black Panther Among the Serbs, another short film by Đorđije Petrović (Montenegro), is about a black panther that allegedly showed up in Vojvodina province, and through this case, it explores sensationalism in the media and the unreliability of information in Serbia today. Are They Still Fighting? by Cotovanu Dana Gabriela (Romania) is a medium-length doc about violence in Romanian villages, while For Whom We Build the City? by Maya Rihawi (Syria) investigates an unfair urban construction law that threatens the residents of a neighbourhood in Damascus with displacement and plans to change the demographics of the area as well as its agricultural bedrock.

Here is the full list of ideas taking part:

Let Girls Play - Julia Kushnarenko (Russia)
From Nowhere - Lanya Nooralddin Abdalla (Kurdistan)
Pulling Through - Chloe Khoury (Lebanon)
Dog Star - Elli Xypolitaki (Greece)
57 - Nikolaos kihem Kotsampougioukis (Greece)
Little Armenia - Robert Minassian (Armenia)
UNIQ:Stoudios Monastery - Erdil Onur Kocatürk (Turkey)
Searching for Al-Yarmouk - Daniel Mansaray (Sweden)
Black Panther Among the Serbs - Đorđije Petrović (Montenegro)
Are They Still Fighting? - Cotovanu Dana Gabriela (Romania)
Should We See Your Marriage? - Begüm Aksoy (Turkey)
For Whom We Build the City? - Maya Rihawi (Syria)