July 28–31, 2022 Hermoupolis, Syros
SIFF celebrates its 10th anniversary with a rich program and special events highlighting local identities in an international context
#siff2022 #topos
The Syros International Film Festival (SIFF) returns July 28–31, celebrating its 10th anniversary in the capital of the Cyclades with an edition packed with film screenings, audiovisual performances, installations, workshops, as well as an innovative audiovisual project to celebrate the occasion.
As each year, SIFF utilizes the cultural heritage of Syros in unexpected ways by carrying out screenings and public programs in selected parts of the island that enter into dialogue with the history of the place. From the open-air Pallas cinema to the emblematic Apollo theater, and from the unique aesthetic of the Tarsanas shipyard to the popular drive-in cinema in Dellagrazia, SIFF is expanding this year to several surprise locations celebrating 10 productive years in cooperation with local communities, as well as experimenting with different tools and viewing environments highlighting the island’s cultural and natural heritage.
The edition’s theme, Topos, focuses on the local identity of Syros as an integral part of the dynamic creative process of SIFF, experiencing artistic works in a context that is defined by the characteristic landscape of Syros, and collaborations that work across traditional geographical borders. The selected theme proposes an alternative perspective, beyond the confines of large urban centers, where islands and other so-called “peripheral” areas emerge as places of contemporary artistic creation.
As Jacob Moe, co-founder of SIFF, says “a main common denominator linking this past decade of cinema on Syros at SIFF is the exploration of place: locations where we screen films, host performances, discussions, and workshops in site-specific ways. So, the choice of Topos as our celebratory anniversary theme came naturally, as a way to pay homage to the dozens of sites in which our festival has taken place over the years, and to investigate the myriad nuances of this concept in a local and international context.”
SIFF’s program includes:
Anniversary Audiovisual Project: 10 Years SIFF
To celebrate the 10 years of SIFF’s presence on the island, a project is being developed that focuses on the holistic approach of Syros as a place with unique social, historical, and cultural characteristics. Thus, audiovisual moving image installations will be created, functioning as interventions in the urban landscape, highlighting buildings, and other public spaces of Hermoupolis. This artistic “route” combined with historical information about the locations will be presented in a digital map made by SIFF.
Films
The main screening program includes around thirty (30) short, mid-length, and feature films addressing the theme of “Topos,” while the programming runs through various cinema genres without adhering to the constraints of the traditional film industry, allowing a wide range of films to be screened: independent, commercial, art house, experimental, documentary, and fiction, in an effort to respond to diverse geographical and societal perceptions.
Audiovisual Performances
SIFF 2022 will present several audiovisual performances that include silent movies accompanied by original music compositions, as well as live musical performances.
Workshops
Workshops are an integral part of SIFF and focus on local, natural, cultural heritage, and film literacy. All sections of the workshops are free for participants. More specific:
- Peripheral Vision
The workshop aims to expand archive-based audiovisual work and encourage the maintenance, curation and use of film and sound archives in order to create new audiovisual works. Led by Tamer El Said, co-founder of Cimatheque Cairo, the workshop involves artistic groups from Greece, Lebanon and Egypt, who are invited to create moving image works from archive-based material from the the Lebanese cultural organization UMAM-Documentation & Research (UMAM-D & R), the Historical Archive of Syros, and Cimatheque. The workshop is supported by the Goethe-Institut Athen.
- Cinematic Design Interventions
SIFF in collaboration with Point Supreme Architects, an architectural studio based in Athens with robust experience architectural design in both urban and rural contexts, leads a collaborative workshop to design specialized architectural interventions in several different screening locations with emphasis on the characteristics of local communities.
Find out more: syrosfilmfestival.org
