Press releases 2025

4th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "KYMATA" 2025
KEFALONIA, 24–31 AUGUST

The Kymata International Film Festival returns to the beautiful island of Kefalonia from August 24 to 31, 2025, with a stellar lineup of guests and events. We are honored to announce that this year's special guest will be Irène Jacob, the muse of the great Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski. Jacob will be present throughout the festival and will attend the screening of The Double Life of Véronique on August 27, engaging in a discussion with the audience.

The festival also welcomes the popular Greek rapper Lex, who joins the official jury that will award prizes to the best short fiction and documentary films of the 4th edition. On August 30, the audience will have the opportunity to attend a special making-of screening of Broken Vein, the upcoming film by Yannis Economides, directed by Miltiadis Christidis, followed by a Q&A with Lex, Maria Kehayioglou, and Yannis Anastasakis. On the same day, Lex will also present the film's theme song, which he wrote especially for the production.

On August 27, actors Yannis Anastasakis and Maria Kehayioglou will lead a masterclass titled "Working as an Actor in the Films of Yannis Economides". On August 29, director Christos Dimas will also conduct a masterclass and present selected works from his filmography.

The festival, held at the Thalassomylos cultural space in Argostoli, right by the sea, will close on August 31 with a concert by Argyris Bakirtzis and the legendary Greek band Heimerinoi Kolymvites (Winter Swimmers). A day earlier, on August 30, there will be a screening of Stavros Tsiolis' film Please Ladies, Don't Cry, with Bakirtzis in attendance.

This year's program also includes:

• An SFX exhibition and masterclass by the Alahouzos brothers (August 25–26)

• An exhibition of sketches, designs, and costumes by the late Giorgos Patsas

• A comic art exhibition by Antonis Vavagiannis (Kourafelkythra)

• A screening of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (August 24) with live music by Nikos Veliotis

• A classical guitar recital "The Cinematic Theodorakis" by Konstantinos Manolkidis (August 31)

• Two unique exhibitions by Lefteris Lambrakis, featuring vintage Greek National Tourism Organization posters and historical cinema memorabilia from his archive (August 24)

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION

The 2025 competition section includes two categories: fiction and documentary short films (up to 30 minutes). The international jury includes:

• Lex, artist

• Christos Dimas, director

• Roby Eksiel, film critic

• Maria Kehayioglou, actress

• Marinos Sklavounakis, Artistic Director of Kymata Festival

Film presentations will be curated and hosted by film critic Akis Kapranos, creator of Midnight Express.

🎬 Selected Fiction Short Films

• The Contact – Mert Erez

• Delulu – Michalis Alexakis

• Cats – Danilo Stanimirović

• Ker – Sajad Soleymani

• Smother – Anne-Laure Gruet

• Skeleton Tree – Haris Zalavras

• Greenhouse – George Georgakopoulos

• Baozhda – Keran Abukasimu

• Numb – Despina Kourti

• The Choice – Marko Crnogorski

• Taxidermist – Behzad Alavi & Sousan Salamat

• The Island – Félicien Forest & Bruno Coulon

• Extracurricular Activity – Dean Wei & Yidan Xu

• Stay – Nikos Vittis

• 11.01 – Jimi Drosinos

• Tsikitigklon, The Fairy and The Man – Marios Mettis

🎥 Selected Documentary Short Films

• A Winter's Return – Stratis Alvanos

• Mahjong and Mahashas – Carolyn Saul

• Mukunan Aprendiz de Pajé – Rodrigo Sena

• The Village of Ballet Dancers – Fatih Diren

• Tree Crown – Predrag Todorović

• Coming Soon. – Liza Themeli

• Roots – Mikel Aristregui & Alfonso Moral

• Prikosýmphono – Elena Gazi, Dolan Bailey, Alejandra Diaz, Leonardo Dal Fabbro

PRESS RELEASE 2-9-2024

The 3rd International Film Festival "Kymata" concluded on September 1st.
At the closing ceremony a total of 9 awards were presented to the films participating in the competition section in the short fiction film and short documentary categories.
The jury awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the category of Best Short Fiction films and 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the category of Best Short documentaries.
The 1st prize for the Best short fiction film comes with 1,000 euros from the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication-EKOME and the 1st prize for the best short documentary comes with 1,000 euros from the Hellenic Film Centre.
In addition, 2 audience awards were presented to the audience's favourite short fiction film and favourite short documentary based on the votes cast throughout the festival by the audience. Finally, a special prize was awarded by gr2me for commissioning the creation of a short documentary.
The results of the Competition are presented below:
- Gr2 me award was presented to "When I die I let the universe burn" by Evripidis Karidis, Greece.
"Kymata" Film Festival collaborated this year with Gr2me .Gr2me is a digital platform that promotes Greek culture abroad. At the same time, it funds small documentary productions. gr2me adopts an annual gr2me Award that will be awarded to a short documentary film director who competes in the festival.The award is accompanied by the commissioning of the winning director to create a short documentary that will be screened online on its website for audiences in Greece and abroad and will be promoted internationally through the website's social media.
- The Audience Award for the best short documentary was presented to "Mothers of Daughters" by Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss and Youla Boudalis, Greece
- The Audience Award for the best short fiction film was presented to "Wings" by Foivos Imellos, Greece
- The 1st Best Short Documentary Award was presented to "Stradivari" by Maria Voukena, Greece. The award comes with 1,000 euros from the Hellenic Film Centre
- The 2nd Best Short Documentary Award was presented to "When I die I let the universe Burn" by Evripides Karidis, Greece
- The 3rd Best Short Documentary Award was presented to "Pail" by Adel Mohammed Alhaimi, Yemen
- The 1st Best Short Fiction Film was presented to "A Summer's End Poem" by Lam Can-zhao, China. The award comes with 1,000 euros from National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication-EKOME
- The 2nd Best Short Fiction Film Award was presented to "5/3/0" by Danilo Stanimirovic, Serbia
- The 3rd Best Short Fiction film Award was presented to "Why don't you dance?" by Pinelopi Mavropsaridi, Greece

NOTICE ABOUT COMPETITION SECTION (13-6-2024)

Due to increased entries, the submission deadlines for short films in the categories documentary and music documentary have been postponed until 7 July 2024.

NOTICE ABOUT COMPETITION SECTION (26-3-2024)

In the category Best International short fiction film a prize of 1.000 euro has offered from the Greek Film Centre for the 1st winner

NOTICE ABOUT COMPETITION SECTION (30-1-2024)

The dates for the Competitive Section have been changed:

The dates for submissions to Filmfreeway's "Earlybird Deadline" for all films has been extended to April 19, 2024.

Dates for submissions to Filmfreeway on the "Regular Deadline", for all films is extended to May 10, 2024.

Dates for submissions to Filmfreeway on the "Late Deadline", for all films extended to June 14, 2024.

Dates for submissions to Filmfreeway on the "Extended Deadline", for short fiction only extended to July 7, 2024.

PRESS RELEASE
(15-1-2024)
CALL FOR FILM SUBMISSIONS TO THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL MOVIE FESTIVAL "KYMATA" 2024
After the successful events of the last two years, the International Film Festival "KYMATA" is preparing for its 3rd edition which will take place from 25 August to 1 September 2024 at the municipal area of Thalassomilos in Argostoli, Kefalonia.
The new addition of this year's festival is the International Competition Programme.
The 3rd International Film Festival "KYMATA" will present in this year's programme 

Short fiction films (up to 20 minutes), 

Short documentaries (up to 30 minutes), 

Short music documentaries (up to 30 minutes).

The festival invites all interested parties in Greece and abroad to submit their entries. Applications are submitted ONLY online through the platform https://filmfreeway.com/KYMATAFilmFestival where one can find out about the conditions of participation. The film submission period has already started.
The jury will award the best entries with the following prizes:
Short Fiction Film Award (1st, 2nd and 3rd prize)
Documentary Short Film Award (1st prize, 1st prize, 1st prize, 1st prize).
Short Music Documentary Film Award (1st prize)

Marinos Sklavounakis
Festival Artistic Director - Production