Dreamland is a wish, an urge, a spark. It has been created out of the need to have and to offer access to experimental and poetic cinema in Athens for a wider audience, beyond but also including audiences who love cinema and watch a lot of films. We believe that this kind of films open up gateways to different worlds, thus expanding the way we perceive reality and its possibilities.

 

The inspiration for this festival was primarily the films of Jack Smith. In 2009 Alex, initiator of Dreamland, was lucky enough to be in Berlin and witness the festival “Live Film! Jack Smith”. Alex knew about him and his films, but this festival gave them the opportunity to delve into Jack Smith’s world, meet people who knew him and hear stories about him first hand, but also see the work of people he inspired, and listen to them talk about him. Watching Flaming Creatures and Normal Love they were immersed in the world created before them, and their body felt it was actually one of the performers. 

 

Ever since they hoped to someday bring Jack Smith's work to Athens.

 

Complementing Jack Smith’s work, the curatorial team intends to showcase short film programs as well as feature films, with older and newer work of filmmakers whose work is still quite unknown in Greece especially with younger audiences, such as that of Ulrike Ottinger, Stan Brakhage, Bertrand Mandico, Barbara Hammer, Guy Maddin to name a few, but also Greek filmmakers, such as Eva Stefani and Filtig. Maybe we won’t show all of these filmmakers’ work in one year, but we intend to create gripping programs as well as satellite screenings throughout the year, that will keep audiences interested and in the cinemas.

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