Cinema for awakening

ΤHE FILM FESTIVAL AS AN EXPRESSION AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC CULTURE
Outline of thoughts for the seminar by Lucia Rikaki
am off to Delhi today and this is my outilne for my little talk at a panel during the Persistence Resistance festival check the festival it is a great initiative http://www.persistenceresistance.in/
αποσπασματα απο την μικρη μου ομιλια την Δευτερα 7.2.2011 στο φεστιβαλ ΕΠΙΜΟΝΗ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΑΣΗ του Νεου Δελχι
Cinema with a soul from all over the world
The Independent film festival
Is an open meeting place for creators unsettled citizens who still believe that art enlightens in a unique purpose our truth and highlights issues of our awakening from the deep sleep of our consumer habits, towards what constitutes the creation and consumption of contemporary images

The Independent film festival hosts
Cinema for awakening…. in a world that seems to demand other forms of storytelling as they are now being spelled out in the new media forms and the net
The theology of the “marketplace” represents a single sides financial suppression Η and this market oriented images and films now prove insufficient to provide tools to comprehend but mostly to change the terms or our common coexistence
These market oriented narratives do not correspond any more to our real needs and certainly do not respond to the urgency of shaping a common standpoint towards existence and whatever morality aesthetics and creativity this may involve

We are in urgent need of another social and political scene
Independent Film Festivals do provide the tools for broadening our perceptions on the way cinematic languages and narratives in the context of a technology era resist and transform worlds realities

We have created in Greece the
Rodos Ecofilms http://www.ecofilms.gr/ International Health Film festival http://www.healthfilmfestival.gr/
Independent Film Festivals are fortunately some of the worlds last oasis
They provide meeting places for innovative thought, visionary approach and ideas that do flourish in independent fertile gardens around the planet
All these are expressed through the lenses of filmmakers with wide open perception impatient to create new narratives

Independent Film Festivals do foster the silent upraising of international consciousness’ Audiences and film lovers adopt an active stand point towards the commons and demand beyond, the sheer pleasure of watching yet another film
They seek hope beyond the obvious and towards the real heartbeat of being, where the tender look upon life may give us wings to fly towards our dreams

These festivals are the wide open windows that reveal the alternative beauty of the world

We realize, with great perplexity, the results of an elusive global economic scheme. A scheme that originates from sources that are captive by wealth. This never ending concentration of wealth is a huge disease that co-exists with the modern life style.
It is a dysfunction that has little to do with real life, but nevertheless, has taken huge dimensions. I wonder what are the moral values of the people who control or participate in these systems that regulate global economy, therefore the lives of every living being on this planet . It seems as though it is an incurable illness. At present we are experiencing the first hives of this epidemic.
We thought that we could continue to ride on the fake chariot of consumerism without getting injured. But we are walking on thin ice. Even though the poets warned us, we kept on seeking wealth. What a pathetic way to live, wasting time on earth chasing money…

We have created Ecofilms and the International Health Film festival during a time of crisis, to suggest a way of life that could save us, to enlighten those dynamic exceptions that point out other values, beyond wealth, that constitute the greatest living capital and only with those values a person can obtain equilibrium of body and soul, consequently good health.
At this annual meeting of cinema environment health and medicine, which is the only one in the world, we bring together films of great moral value and most probably, of low stock value, which shed light to those who serve Health with self denial, those who take care of their fellowman with generosity, those who care and actively attend to our well balanced life on this planet. Far away from the ephemeral sirens, of our equally ephemeral monetary wealth, which is responsible for many of today’s health disorders, are people that respect the gift of life, honor their journey on this planet and return the gesture wholeheartedly.
Next to science stands human will power, our bond with nature along with the way of thinking and experiences that we gained through centuries. Fortunately, there are certain civilizations that haven’t turned their back on this valuable knowledge, they haven’t surrendered it to a cash transaction, a transaction that obviously aims criminally against our health system … just as it aims against our economy.
At Ecofilms and at the International Health Film festival we operate on the outskirts of any big international events, bending their evaluation rules. We invest a small capital but a generous soul, we turn our backs to cheap glamour, our sole interest are the propositions of moral depth and we consider them priceless.
The result is that we create our own value system, where people gather from all over the world and rediscover what is most important in life. This is priceless and it ensures more than survival. It ensures a long and healthy life.

Lucia Rikaki creator and Artistic director Rodos Ecofilms http://www.ecofilms.gr/ International Health Film festival http://www.healthfilmfestival.gr/