About the Festival

Positively Different Short Film Festival, March 11-13, TRIANON, Athens

Gender, sexuality, race, class, ethnicity, religion, able-bodiedness – are influences of our present and future, life prospects and obstructions. Shedding light on life paths of “others” – often through realism and humor and other times through abstraction and experimentation – Positively Different Short Film Festival aims to act as a reference point for raising awareness with regards to intersectionality and discrimination, providing a safe space for co-creation and networking.

PDSFF22: Communalities

Between the collective inertia caused by the insistence on individual experience and established but abusive groupings that only serve privileged minorities, there lies a dilating social space; our space. PDSFF22 explores the frontiers of different communities and the commonalities of characteristics, oppressions and struggles that constitute them. It follows entangled roots and underground channels that connect interest and identities that do not, at first, seem to have a relation to one another. It aspires to balance the need for free expression and safe spaces and the ambition to be effective and assertive towards structures that nurture discriminations.

Produced by: Inter Alia

Submissions

Years

Countries

Awards

Announcements

PDSFF22 x Masterclass on Film Critique

The Masterclass on Film Critique with Yiannis Kantea-Papadopoulos was followed up with our final meeting on Saturday the 6th, where we met physically and virtually to talk about intersectionality.

We had the chance to get an insight on the theory behind the festival’s rationale, discuss our experiences related to our multiple and conflicted identities, and learn from each other, through games and discussions. The next phase, that of programming, is about to kick off and we couldn’t be more excited! #PDSFF22

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2022 | Call for Volunteers

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2022 calls out to all film enthusiasts for yet another exciting year to come:

Will you help us narrow down the official festival selection for 2022?

Complete the form linked & join the PDSFF22 festival team!

Positively Different Short Film Festival seeks to explore intersecting discriminations; the festival team is particularly interested in providing a space for otherwise ‘invisible’ stories to be articulated and heard; stories of individuals and communities facing marginalisation due to the identities they carry.

What you will gain by volunteering with our team:

Training on film critique and the subject of intersectionality
Collaboration with an international team of committed and motivated people
All access to screenings and side events

What we’re looking for:

Cinema related experience (professional, educational, volunteer)
Interest in the topic of intersectionality
Sense of responsibility

Call for submissions #PDSFF22

Positively Different Short Film Festival, 11 – 13 March 2022, Athens

Two years into a narrower life, filmmakers keep inspiring us with their resilience. They exemplify that power and imagination can’t be confined. PDSFF is a time of appreciation and celebration of this lot.

We invite all filmmakers, documentarists, visual content creators, students and emerging artists to submit their shorts from the fields of fiction, documentary and visual arts. We are particularly interested in the topic of intersectionality; in the stories of communities and individuals that, due to their intersecting identities and complex experiences regarding their gender, sexuality, race, class, ethnicity, religion and able-bodiedness, remain unseen.

Positively Different Short Film Festival focuses on the multiple facets of oppression and aspires to further creative works, cultural networks and political causes from and about the ‘invisibles’ of modern societies. Our team and audience are charmed by aesthetic coherence as much as they are excited by robustness, simplicity and tacitness. Shorts that reflect bold visions, grounded sophistication, original viewpoints and personal urgency are, essentially, what we look for.

The festival will feature a curated catalogue of approximately 35 short films that will be screened at TRIANON cinema in Athens from March 11 to13 competing for 3 prizes – Best Film Award, Audience Award, Best Greek Production. Concerts, workshops and masterclasses, special screenings, poetry-slam sessions and discussions will assemble an intense three-day celebration of diversity and togetherness.
The festival will support all finalists to join in person.

Early bird submission deadline: 20/09 (free)

Regural submission deadline: 31/10

Submit your short

PDSFF21 x Cine Sxoleio

Positively Different Short Film Festival collaborated with Cine Sholeio Pikermiou to hold a day devoted to cinema and social action. Through a curated selection of awarded and handpicked shorts from the official program of PDSFF20 & PDSFF21 touched upon a series of otherwise under-represented thematics and initiated a dialogue with the local community within the context of the 2nd Rafina Short Film Festival.

More info: Facebook

PDSFF21 x Zagoriwood | Κato Pedina

For the second time around, PDSFF prepared and showcased a hand-picked selection of this year’s award winners (Best Film Award, Audience Award and Best Greek Production) and Honorable Mentions.

In the breathtaking scenery of Epirus and Zagorochoria, we were glad to collaborate again with ‘Zagoriwood’ and their exceptional team. Screenings, workshops and multi-awarded films brought us together at Kato Pedina to chat and exchange ideas and best practices.

Until next time,

Thank you Zagjoriwood

PDSFF21 x Exarcheia Square | Plateia Exarcheion

Time and space in our cities is narrowing; a consequence of a lifestyle pattern imposed by few and experienced as an alienating reality by the rest. Positively Different Short Film Festival was created to enable people voice themselves against oppressive structures, enhance their agency and defend the public sphere.

Our route intersected with the struggle to stop the construction of a metro station on Exarchia square and to maintain it as one of the few free public spaces of central Athens. Exarchia square except from a political symbol, is also a field of the community’s earthly struggle for quality time and space. And, as such, it should be defended by all.

On Friday, July 23, we shared some of the PDSFF films on the topics of public space and displacement, fostering reflection on what is at stake:

Between the hill and the marsh, 19′, Spain
Bladgoud, 26′, Netherlands
Suicide Candidates, 18′, Morocco
At the schoolyard, 10′, Greece
Reonghee, 15′, Republic of Korea

Positively Different Short Film Festival Travels to France

On the occasion of the international meeting on European values and the value of Europe that took place in Loche, France, organised by Europe en Berry Tourraine, PDSFF conveyed a message of equality, empathy and solidarity. An audience of great diversity, adolescents, youngsters and elderly people from 20 European countries, enjoyed a special screening from the 2020 and 2021 collection, offering an intersectional view on contemporary challenges of European communities. Able-bodiness, sexuality, age, refugeeship and mental health were among the issues touched through fiction and documentary movies from across Europe. The screening included the following movies:

Happy, 8’, Greece
At Night I Dream, 16’, Luxemburg
At the Schoolyard, 10’, Greece
I See in the Dark, 16’, Slovenia
Down the Wire, 14’, Italy

PDSFF21 x CineParko | Autodiaxeirizomeno Parko Navarinou

The curatorial team of Positively Different Short Film Festival presents this year’s winners and audience picks in open air pop-up screenings in some of our favorites city spots during July.

Last Wednesday we gathered at CineParko | Autodiaxeirizomeno Parko Navarinou and watched some of our feel good shorts along with some of the Greek directors. Thanks for the full house!

Each screening comes with a differentiated program seeking to narrate a specific storyline. Catch a screening if in Athens and come say hi!

Next available date:

23/07 @Plateia Exarcheion

PDSFF21 x Summer Screening | ΤΡΙΑΝΟΝ Οpen Air

Last Sunday, we had the pleasure to screen some of this year’s audience favorites, award-winning shorts and honorable mentions to the festival’s main venue, TΡΙΑΝΟΝ.

The editorial team of PDSFF21 presented two curated sets in PDSFF21 first open air session in Athens and facilitated a Q&A discussion with the invited directors on filming from a position of privilege, underlying motives and on creating safe spaces for less represented communities.

Catch a screening if still in Athens and come say hi!

Next available dates:

14/07 @CineParko | Autodiaxeirizomeno Parko Navarinou

23/07 @Plateia Exarcheion

Positively Different Short Film Festival at ΤΡΙΑΝΟΝ Open Air

Positively Different Short Film Festival throws its first summer screening for 2021. This year’s winners and honorable mentions will be presented in two sessions along with some of the curatiorial team’s favorites. The films will be projected with greek subtitles.

The screening will take place at the 4th of July at the festival’s main venue yet summer-ish;

Rendez-vous at TΡΙΑΝΟΝ Open air ✨

Tickets will be available at the box office from 3 euros/slot or 5 euros for the whole day.

RSVP: PDSFF21 x ΤΡΙΑΝΟΝ Open Air

Submissions for 2021 are now open!

This year’s call for submissions is up!

Building up on the success of 2020’s event, urged by intensified injustices as a result, among others, of the pandemic; moved by the uprisings against racism: Positively Different Short Film Festival returns!

We invite all filmmakers, documentarists, visual artists and film students to submit short movies from the fields of fiction, documentary or visual arts.

Check out the official call in the link below, submit your films, and see you in March 2021!

RSVP: Positively Different Short Film Festival 2021

Positively Different Short Film Festival joins Zagoriwood

Up in the mountains of Epirus under a magical August full-moon, PDSFF held a screening of selected movies from the 2020 catalogue in the framework of Zagoriwood film festival and workshop. Along with local citizens and film students, in the main square of Kato Pedina, films about intersecting stories and shared struggles against oppression were screened. The discussions that followed with participants and teachers in the workshop were enlightening as to how to make the upcoming festival even better.

Big thanks to Zagoriwood organising team for the invitation and to the local community of Kato Pedina for the warm welcome. See you next year!

Positively Different Short Film Festival at CinePark

Thank you for this great turnout and the participation in the screening of these wonderful short films.

We especially would like to thank Navarinou Self-Managed Park for hosting us – see you at the next one!

Have a great summer!

Pre-festival screening Photos

PDSFF was introduced to the audience with its first pre-festival event on Friday, 10th of January, almost a month prior to its official opening at the 13rd of February at Trianon. The attendees had the chance to discuss the festival’s core thematics and to participate in crafting the official 2020 festival selection by selecting amongst the semi-finalists.

Stay tuned!

At a glance...

*All non-English films come with English subtitles and all Q&As with invited directors are translated in English and Greek live on the spot.

Friday, March 11th

10:00 - 12:00 (SOLD OUT)
Going through changes (91’)

A set designed to be accessible for diverse age groups and experiences, full of stories about the changes that happen within and around us, stories that change us, and stories that change the world, our world.

Illegitimate voice (5’) – US
April’s last memories (20’) – Colombia
Feeling through (18’) – US
One never kills for love (15’) – Canada
Before the eruption (11’) – Spain
Strange (3’) – UK
In the silence of the abyssale sea (19’) – France

19:00 - 21:00
Humans of late capitalism (90’)

Pandemic, isolation, precarity, political turmoil: the era we are going through imprints upon the lives and relationships of us all. Who will manage to remain intact?

Decompensation (23’) – Croatia
Beauty (20’) – Greece
Ain’t no time for women (20’) – Canada/Tunisia
Path of a ghost (11’) – Sweden
Sexual Distancing (16’) – Greece

21:15 - 23:15
Intimate encounters (94’)

content warning: self harm, sexual and gender-based violence
There are times when the camera creates a bond of trust and offers an insight to an unseen, esoteric world. This world is entirely personal, but simultaneously creates the space for the spectators to connect and identify with it.

Scars (10’) – Canada
Kiki (11’) – Greece
Listen to me (16’) – Spain
First kiss (with a girl) (3’) – US
Old man (30’) – Lithuania
To Vancouver (25’) – Greece

Saturday, March 12th

18:00 - 20:00
Open Discussion ‘Symptoms of Masculinity’

20:30 - 22:30
Symptoms of Masculinity (91')

content warning: self harm, sexual and gender-based violence
This set exists within a society that is complex and contradictory, where no pedestal will remain standing. It examines masculinities being dethroned, threatened, ruptured and re-constructed, in order to make space for sensitivity.

Βolzmann (30’) – Germany
I am Matteo (24’) – Italy
Beauty boys (18’) – France
An ocean (19’) – Germany

23:00
Los Tre Live at TRIANON

Sunday, March 13th

16:00
Living Library

How does it feel to live this life? The cinema becomes a library

19:00 - 20:30
Family 2.0 (96')

content warning: homophobic/queerphobic speech, grief, gender-based violence
What counts as family? What is sacrificed in its name, and how are connections constructed over and beyond blood relations? This set speaks of chosen families and relationships that are passed down or created, relationships that are contested, but most of all, relationships that have nothing taken for granted.

My mother’s girlfriend (15’) – India
My grandmother is an egg (12’) – Taiwan
Otava (15’) – Slovenia
Lamb (12’) – Sweden
Article 6.1 (23’) – Russian Federation
Building no. 7 (19’) – Canada

20:45 - 22:45
Castaways (93')

content warning: homophobic/queerphobic violence, femicide, mental illness
This is a set for the space demanded by those threatened by violence, rejection and marginalisation. A set for the world we could dream of, if only these lives ceased to be invisible, if only they were deemed worth living.

The uninhabitable ones (25’) – Brazil
Suited (3’) – UK
Bridging the gap (6’) – UK
If I go out with my dead friends (6’) – Germany/Greece
The market man (19’) – Italy
Black and white (19’) – Czech Republic
The whore’s chair (15’) – Spain

22:30
Award Ceremony

Going through changes

A set designed to be accessible for diverse age groups and experiences, full of stories about the changes that happen within and around us, stories that change us, and stories that change the world, our world.

Illegitimate voice (5’)
US | 2021

April’s last memories (20’)
Colombia | 2020

Feeling through (18’)
US | 2020

One never kills for love (15’)
Canada | 2021

Before the eruption (11’)
Spain | 2020

Strange (3’)
UK | 2020

In the silence of the abyssale sea (19’)
France | 2021

This is Right; Zak Life and After (2020)

Directed by: Gevi Dimitrakopoulou

Synopsis: A short narrative documentary about the aftermath of Zak’s murder from her community’s perspective.

Genre: Documentary
Country of Origin: Greece
Country of Filming: Greece
Language: Greek

Ukde (2019)

Directed by: Ecem Çelik

Synopsis: The film deals with a universal immigrant problem that suddenly enters the life of a woman. Güzide is a tailor. She has a routine life, strictly adheres to his own rules. One day Leyla comes to Güzide’s house with a little girl. Leyla asks Guzide to take care of the child for a few days, says that she will go out of town for work and will get her back. The tailor does not accept. Leyla leaves the house on the pretext of speaking on the phone and does not return.

Trailer: vimeo

Genre: Fiction
Country of Origin: Turkey
Country of Filming: Turkey
Language: Turkish

Let there be Colour (2020)

Directed by: Ado Hasanovic

Synopsis: (trigger warning: hate speech) On September, 8 2019 Sarajevo hosts its first Pride March. Are people ready for this event?

Trailer: vimeo

Genre: Documentary
Country of Origin: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Country of Filming: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy
Language: Bosnian, English

As if Underwater (2020)

Directed by: Anthi Daoutaki

Synopsis: The film is the portrait of Hera, a 35-year-old woman. Her home is her world, and a world of magic, and her loneliness is filled with objects. She forgets herself in her daily routine and gets tangled in the universe of her mind. Her difficulty to cope with social gender norms and an awkward encounter with a jeweler lead her to buy a wedding ring. The ring gives life to an imaginary relationship, fleeting like a dream. As the relationship comes to an end, Hera goes back to her everyday life.

Trailer: YouTube

Genre: Fiction
Country of Origin: Greece
Country of Filming: Greece
Language: Greek

The Stamp (2019)

Directed by: Lovro Mrdjen

Synopsis: The real war begins, when the one ends. The clock is ticking for a foreigner, an immigrant faced with the coldblooded bureaucracy of a foreign country, as he tries to save his younger sister and prevent separation. Nobody hears their voices, lost in translation.

Trailer: YouTube

Genre: Fiction
Country of Origin: Croatia
Country of Filming: Belgium, Croatia
Language: Arabic, Croatian

2021 Awards

Honorable Mentions

Videos

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2020

Positively Different 2020 Aftermovie

Positively Different 2020 Trailer

Positively Different 2020 Teaser

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2021

Positively Different 2021 Trailer

Meet the Team

Organisers

Volunteers

Jury Committee

Robbie Eksiel

A journalist and a film critic, Robbie Eksiel was a film writer for the daily newspaper Ethnos from 1993 and its chief film reviewer from 1998 to 2017, a writer at the Greek film magazine Cinema from its foundation in 1989 to its last issue in 2017, and a contributor at several weekly or monthly variety magazines through the years. He has served as artistic director at the Greek Film Center (2007-2009) and as a member of the governing council at the Greek Association of Film Critics (2006-2016). A FIPRESCI, European Film Academy and Greek Film Academy member, he has also served in several FIPRESCI juries (Toronto, Tromso, etc) and as a member of the Discovery Awards Nominations jury for the EFA for three consecutive years. He is a contributor at the film site www.flix.gr, a programming consultant at the New York City Greek Film Festival and the artistic director of the Larissa International Film Festival.

Ines Johnson-Spain

Ines Johnson-Spain is an independent German/Togolese filmmaker based in Berlin. She studied Scienes of Religions at Freie Universität Berlin (FU) and was a guest student for Fine Arts and painting at University of Arts Berlin. During the many years as a scenic painter and in other positions of the art departments of national and international film-productions she worked among others with Peter Greenaway, Anders Thomas Jensen, Lana Wachowsky, Andrej Swjaginzew. Johnson-Spain teaches scenic painting at Film University Babelsberg and worked for different film jurys. Since 2002 she develops and realizes her own documentary film projects. Her work focuses on intimate portraits that explore the notion of self and affiliation. More recently she is working together with two other colleagues on a fictional feature-length script. Her films have been screened and awarded at prestigious local and international film festivals, galleries and exhibitions.

Kostis Theodosopoulos

Kostis Theodosopoulos studied at the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture of Panteion University and worked as coordinator of film masterclasses and open discussions at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. He moved on to take up the position of head of programming for the Athens International Film Festival, which he held for more than a decade while also pursuing further studies in film. His debut short film “Rouge” had its International premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2020 and its North American premiere at Palm Springs ShortFest 2020. It won 3 prizes in Greece’s Drama Short Film Festival – National Competition (Best Newcomer Director, Best Screenplay, Best Make-Up).

Venue

Trianon, 21 Kodrigktonos, Athina 104 34, Greece

TRIANON is not a building where a business struggles to survive.
TRIANON is countless individuals who are struggling to support entrepreneurship in art

Having hosted everybody who is passionate about art.
Having relentlessly supported young Greek filmmakers.
Having resisted the decline of downtown Athens.
Believing every moment that “PATISION Lives”.

More info at: TRIANON.GR

Communication sponsors

Press Kit

PDSFF22 Official Logos

These are the official logos and icons for PDSFF. Clicking on them will provide you with high resolution files suitable for your publishing needs. PDSFF2021 logos should have a small margin of clear space on all sides around it. For using the transparent high resolution icons, you should use a plain dark background for the white or a light background for the black. Please refrain from having text or any type of colorful imagery behind the logos or the margin around them.

About the Festival

Positively Different Short Film Festival, March 11-13, TRIANON, Athens

PDSFF22: Communalities

Announcements

PDSFF22 x Masterclass on Film Critique

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2022 | Call for Volunteers

Call for submissions #PDSFF22

PDSFF21 x Cine Sxoleio

PDSFF21 x Zagoriwood | Κato Pedina

PDSFF21 x Exarcheia Square | Plateia Exarcheion

Positively Different Short Film Festival Travels to France

PDSFF21 x CineParko | Autodiaxeirizomeno Parko Navarinou

PDSFF21 x Summer Screening | ΤΡΙΑΝΟΝ Οpen Air

Positively Different Short Film Festival at ΤΡΙΑΝΟΝ Open Air

Submissions for 2021 are now open!

Positively Different Short Film Festival joins Zagoriwood

Positively Different Short Film Festival at CinePark

Pre-festival screening Photos

Programme

At a glance...

*All non-English films come with English subtitles and all Q&As with invited directors are translated in English and Greek live on the spot.

Friday, March 11th

Saturday, March 12th

Sunday, March 13th

Going through changes

A set designed to be accessible for diverse age groups and experiences, full of stories about the changes that happen within and around us, stories that change us, and stories that change the world, our world.

Illegitimate voice (5’)US | 2021

April’s last memories (20’)Colombia | 2020

Feeling through (18’)US | 2020

One never kills for love (15’) Canada | 2021

Before the eruption (11’)Spain | 2020

Strange (3’)UK | 2020

In the silence of the abyssale sea (19’)France | 2021

2021 Awards

Positively Different Short Film Festival Best Film Award

Positively Different Short Film Festival Audience Award

Positively Different Short Film Festival Best Greek Production

This is Right; Zak Life and After

Rouge

This is Right; Zak Life and After

Honorable Mentions

My Other Son

The Daring Young Girl on the flying Trapeze

Aderfi

Videos

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2020

Positively Different Short Film Festival 2021

Meet the Team

Organisers

Volunteers

Irini Tampasouli

Jacques

Olina Karagianni

Dimitris Asproloupos

Elena Markopoulou

Christina Mpitzeli

Giannis Andronikidis

Hara Papadatou

Apostolos Nalmpantis

Tzeni Krithara

Marina Bikou

Isobel Phillips

Christos Salikas

Nasia Christoy