The Olympia Festival has long shown a dedicated interest in supporting Greek film production for children and youth through its professional initiatives. As in all national cinemas, Greek filmmakers often explore themes of childhood. However, in many national cinemas, including European ones, a question persists: do these films truly meet the viewing needs of children themselves? Children and youth are a dynamic audience for cinema and audiovisual media, yet they rarely engage with national productions. In Greece, this gap is even more pronounced compared to other European countries.
In 2018, we established the “Takes on Childhood and Youth in Modern Greek Cinema” showcase and the Olympia “Creative Ideas” Pitching Lab to address this challenge. Since then, the Greek film community—filmmakers, producers, and institutions—has shown a greater awareness of the needs of young audiences, with many now working to meet these needs. This year’s review of national productions yielded a very positive result: a significant number of short films (both live-action and animation) were identified as fitting within children’s and youth cinema, as we understand it, based on theme, style, cinematography, and, most importantly, perspective. These films are suitable for our festival’s young audiences.
The “TRACES: Towards a Modern Greek Cinema for Children and Youth” showcase replaces “Takes on Childhood and Youth in Modern Greek Cinema” focusing specifically on Greek short films about childhood and youth that directly engage with young audiences. We hope this trend continues, allowing TRACES to become a stable, competitive section within our festival and a springboard for those aiming to take children’s needs seriously in Greek cinema.
This evolution aligns with Olympia Festival’s effort to create a support chain—from concept to screening—of contemporary Greek films for children and youth, a process we call “The Olympia Effect.”
The first TRACES program includes ten Greek short films, both live-action and animation, student and non-student works alike. They share a common trait: they sensitively capture reality through the eyes of children and adolescents.
We launch this showcase with optimism and the awareness that substantial work is needed from all stakeholders to fill the gap in quality cinema for children and youth in Greece.
These films will be judged by the International Jury for Feature Films, which will award the 2024 Best Greek Short Film for Children and Youth.
These films will be judged by the International Jury for Feature Films, which will award the 2024 Best Greek Short Film for Children and Youth. This distinction includes a €2,000 prize to the director, generously provided by ERT SA at the Olympia Festival’s suggestion. The director of the film also receives a five-year subscription to Crew United, generously offered by the platform.
Screenings will be accompanied by an in-cinema discussion on Greek children’s and youth audiences.
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