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2nd Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival, 2021
International & Greek Short Films in SW Crete, June 5 - 10* (NEW DATES)
The 2nd Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival takes place June 5th - 10th in SW Crete; a six day event which is jam packed with the very best in International & Greek Short Films, paralleled with a dynamic programme of Live Music, Talks, culinary highlights & more.
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Focused on presenting International & Greek short films which demonstrate great storytelling, the festival is located in one of the most desirable spots on the Planet. Paleochora, in SW Crete lies at the foot of majestic mountains on a peninsula surrounded by pristine beaches, a crystal blue ocean and also close to the world renowned Elafonissi Beach, consistently voted one of the Top 10 beaches in the World! Film Screenings are held under the Stars in the Town Square and oceanside at the Pearl Cavo venue attracting filmmakers and visitors from all corners of the Globe.
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The Lost World Film Festival was a huge hit straight of the gate at the inaugural edition, with 2020 gearing up to exceed expectations once again. Having already garnered an International reputation as a ‘must do’ Film Festival destination due to its infectious charm, fabulous hospitality and stellar ambience, the event even gained a full page spread in the 25th edition of ‘Compass’, the International Film Location Managers quarterly magazine (LMGI).
Hundreds of film submissions will result in around 80 Officially Selected films and the Festival team look forward to welcoming a vast array of filmmaking talent to the event bringing short films from over 35 countries with the majority of participants already signing up to attend. On our 2020 VIP guest list are Barbara Bentree & John Rangel, the Director and producer of our special inclusion feature film ‘Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time’ along with Bruno Chatelin, CEO of Film Festivals.com.
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Screening as a GREEK PREMIERE, award winning Director & Musician, Barbara Bentree’s film, DAVE GRUSIN: NOT ENOUGH TIME is an uplifting Documentary about one of the 20th Century's most important music composers. Millions of people all over the world have viewed Dave Grusin’s Film Score Themes, Live Concerts, and Recorded Album Music on YouTube, but even his most ardent fans don't completely realize what a phenomenal career he has had. Dave has had 8 Academy Award® Nominations, 80 Grammy Award® Nominations (GRP Records), 38 Personal Grammy Award® Nominations, 4 Golden Globe® Nominations, 3 Honorary Doctorate Degrees and 1 Emmy Award® Nomination. ‘Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time’ will screen following the Awards presentation on the Closing Night, Thursday October 8th.
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Also attending, LWSFF major Festival Partner, Bruno Chatelin. Veteran Film Distributor, Film Agent & CEO of Film Festivals.com, European Film Academy (former Board Member); Les Cesar voting member since 1987 & former head of Sony marketing, having launched 100’s of films throughout his career, including four Woody Allen films, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Boyz in the Hood’, ‘Field of Dreams’ & ‘The Doors’ to name but a few, Bruno will present a Keynote which is part of his annual Festival inclusion: ‘The Hollywood Stories from Bruno Chatelin’ – Chapter 2 ‘The Doors’ by Oliver Stone based on Bruno’s experience working on the film.
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Making up the VIP Judging Panel in 2020, Bruno & Barbara will join Paul McGuirk, lecturer in Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin and author of Neil Jordan: The literary Fiction.
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Notable amongst several Short Films which have GREEK PREMIERE status at Lost World Film Festival is BAFTA award winning best animation 2020, ‘Grandad was a Romantic’ by LWSFF Alumni, Maryam Mohajer who travelled to from London to Paleochora in 2019 with her short, ‘Red Dress no Straps’ picking an LWSFF animation Award. Another short animation, ‘Father’ by Apollonia Xylouris, a member of the world renowned Cretan Xylouris Family of musicians will also Premiere in Crete during the 2020 event.
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Festival days & nights are packed with social events & Live Music, including daily performances from Jan Olesen, flying in from Denmark to attend, as well as local favourites ‘Andromeda’ - Opening Night party and legendary Chania based Rock Band ‘Change House’ - Closing Night Party, with further details on the website ‘At a Glance – 6 Day Event’ & Programme page. Festival beverages sponsored by Loupakis Winery & Fischer Beer from Heineken
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FREE ENTRY – ALL WELCOME
Festival Director - Linda McGuire
E-mail: lostwordfilmfest@gmail.com / Tel: +30 6987856018
WEBSITE: https://www.lostworldfilmfestival.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LostWorldFilmFestival
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/LWorldFilmFest
BLOG: https://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/lost_world_film_festi
2019
PALEOCHORA LOST WORLD SHORT FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS
2019 Edition
Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival, June 1-5
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The 1st Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival in co-operation with the Municipality of Kandanos Selinou launched to a huge success June 1-5, 2019.
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With over 350 film submissions resulting in 67 Officially Selected films from 19 countries, the Festival team are delighted to announce that over 20 of our International and Greek filmmakers & directors attended Paleochora to participate in the Festival! Film guests travelled from Brazil, USA, Germany, Ireland, UK, Greece & France, the majority of whom remained for the entire week in Paleochora. The festival was also delighted to be joined by Veteran Film Distributor, Film Agent & CEO of Film Festivals.com, Bruno Chatelin. Having launched 100’s of films throughout his career, including 4 Woody Allen films, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Boyz in the Hood’ & ‘Field of Dreams’ to name a few, the daily full house audience were captivated by his talk at the Pearl Cavo venue on Sunday June 2nd. In the role of Film Agent, Bruno also represented the closing Night Feature documentary produced and narrated by Jeff Bridges & directed by Susan Kucera. Paleochora LWSFF were also honoured to have established an ongoing partnership with filmfestivals.com
The Festival launched with a spectacular opening day celebration which included a Gourmet Meet & Greet Wine buffet at Finikas-Palm Tree Restaurant, an evening concert by vocal & guitar duo ‘Rainbow Touch’ as well as Traditional Cretan dancing performed by the Paleochora Cultural Association with all concerts & evening screenings taking place ‘Under the Stars’ in the Town Square and continuing onto a fabulous opening night party with Live Greek Music from ‘Andromeda’ at Atoli on Sandy Beach.
The programme of Short films played to packed houses both day & night making the 5 day event a success beyond all expectations. One screenwriter from London who happened to be on holiday during the Festival commented that she could not believe that a Film Festival worthy of a City had been produced and presented in a small village in Crete. Despite the fact that she is a feature screenwriter, the captivating magic of the Paleochora Lost World Film Festival has inspired her to write a Short Film to produce & submit next year!
The Festival magic continued until closing night when many of the attending filmmakers received their Awards including: ‘Without Milk’ winning 4 Awards, Best Greek Director: Thodoris Vournas / Best Greek Film Cast: Alexandros Logothetis & Panos Mouzouakis / Best Cinematography Greek: Petros Antoniadis & Best Greek Short Fiction Film 2nd - ‘Check In’ for Best Greek Editing by Dimitris Kadis with the Award being accepted by Director Giorgios Kaltsas - having recently won Music Video Awards in Cannes, London & New York, ‘Red Lion’, was Joint Winner of Best Experimental Mixed Media Short Film with Director & Musician Olivia Hadjiioannou accepting the Award alongside co-Winner, Director Mike Reft (USA) for ‘Chemistry 101’ - ‘Luftholen’ (Germany) received Best International Cast with Gaston Stabiszewski (director) Ania Pilch (producer) & Jonas Steltenkamp (actor) accepting the Award - Gabriel Gallindo who travelled to Paleochora from Brazil collected his Award for Best International Director for the short film ‘View’ - ‘Nice Night for it’ received Best Cinematography by Piers McGrail with director Rachel Carey from Ireland accepting the Award - from Iran & London, Maryam Mohajer received her Award for Best Animation 3rd - for ‘The Bureaucrat’ Dimitrios Karas received his Award for Best Greek Newcomer Director alongside attending actress Sophia Fhytou and finally Bruno Chatelin received an Industry Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film & Film Festival Marketing & Representation. The remaining Awards went to: The Tattoo (dir) Ian Power (Ireland) Best Short Fiction Film International - Chandelier (dir) Antony Glaros (Greece) Best Short Fiction Film Greek - Let the Boat Sail (dir) Kostas Giannakis (Greece) Best Short Documentary 3rd - ATM (dir) David Huergo (Spain) Best Short Screenplay International 2nd - Mother & Baby (dir) Mia Mullarkey (Ireland) Best Short Documentary 2nd - Returning Home (dir) Nikolia Apostolou (Greece) Best Short Documentary 1st
Retouch (dir) Kaveh Mazaheri (Iran) Best Short Fiction International 2nd - Lost Treasure (dir) George Georgakopoulos (Greece) Best Greek Short Screenplay 2nd - Cubeman (dir) Linda Dombrovszky (Hungary) Best International Short Fiction 3rd - Curro (dir) Micah Stathis (USA) Best International Short Screenplay 1st - Inverse (dir) Ioanna Tsinividi (Greece) Best Short Animation 2nd - Blue Tomorrow (dir) Numan Ayaz (Turkey) Best Short Animation 1st - Paul is Dead (dir) George Moore (UK) Best Short Comedy - Mousse (dir) John Hellberg (Sweden) Outstanding Film Festival Achievement Award - Reply (score) Ioannis Giannakakis (Greece) Best Original Greek Music Award.
The event concluded with an electric atmosphere at the closing night party with Live Music from Chania based band ‘Change House’ who played into the early morning hours along with DJ Christos.
The annual Lost World Film Festival aims to continue to bring a dynamic selection of International and Greek Short Films to our wonderful location in SW Crete, as well as establishing a regular annual meeting point for filmmakers and Film Industry representatives alike with a Festival audience which consists of an eclectic mix of Filmmakers, Film Industry veterans as well as locals, incidental International tourists and visitors to the region. With that in mind, the main focus is to programme films that demonstrate great Universal storytelling with a wide audience appeal. Paleochora is famed for its laid back, chilled out charm and the LWSFF event reflects these qualities as well as presenting a premium standard International Short Film Festival.
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This year’s VIP Jury were: Susan Kucera (Film Director) Paul McGuirk (Professor of Film & Author) Bruno Chatelin (CEO FilmFestivals.com) Beverage sponsors were Loupakis Vineyard Estate (Crete) and Fischer Beer.
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Paleochora is the ‘Lost World’ that gives the Film Festival its name. Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty, surrounded by the ocean and nestled beneath the Mountains, the town is accessed by a scenic drive from Chania in the north across the Cretan mountains to SW Crete.
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FESTIVAL DIRECTOR - Linda McGuire
E-mail: lostwordfilmfest@gmail.com
Tel: +30 6987856018
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WEBSITE
https://www.lostworldfilmfestival.com/
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https://www.facebook.com/LostWorldFilmFestival
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https://twitter.com/LWorldFilmFest
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