Chania Film Festival opens 14th edition with about 400 films from 53 countries
The 14th Chania Film Festival opened its ten-day run with about 400 films from 53 countries, including more than 30 premieres, organizers said. Roughly 300 guests, including filmmakers, actors and photographers, are expected in Chania during the festival, while around 8,500 schoolchildren and teachers have registered for its educational activities.
The opening ceremony included a tribute screening of Nikos Kountouros’ film “The Dragon” (“O Drakos”), attended by the director’s wife, Sotiria Batziri Kountourou. The event also honored two Chania-based artists, Marinella Vlachaki and Dimitris Kalogerakis, for their long careers in theatre and film. The Polish Ambassador to Greece, Wojciech Ponikiewski, also attended.
Officials address the opening
Festival director Matthaios Frantzeskakis told attendees that more than 300 filmmakers and crew members involved in the films being screened would pass through the festival over the coming days, calling it “a living space of culture, education, meeting and dialogue.” He also outlined the festival’s year-round activities linking cinema with education, local society, history and culture.
Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronou Titos spoke about the role of cinema in emotional and spiritual development, saying “films are clarity of feeling and cultivation of feeling.” He said he was pleased that thousands of children take part in the festival, noting that young people need new images and films in their lives.
Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Sevi Voloudaki, representing the government, said the festival’s success shows that the regions can lead rather than simply follow cultural developments in Greece, adding that Chania “produces ideas and creates contemporary culture.” Alexandros Markogiannakis, the Member of Parliament for Chania representing the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, said it was not easy to sustain such an institution outside the capital, crediting the festival’s organizers, local partners and the public in Chania and beyond.
Ambassador Ponikiewski referred to the festival’s tribute to Polish director Andrzej Wajda, marking 100 years since his birth and 10 years since his death, and thanked organizers for the initiative. Deputy Regional Governor of Chania Nikos Kalogeris highlighted the Pnevmatiko Kentro Chanion, the festival’s permanent venue, and also referenced Polish cinema. Mayor of Chania Panagiotis Simandirakis said the festival “was born during the economic crisis” but has followed “a steadily upward path,” becoming an increasingly important part of the city’s cultural identity.
Mayor of Platanias Giannis Malandrakis and Deputy Mayor for Culture of the Municipality of Kissamos Giorgos Makrakis both emphasized the value of the festival’s educational activities for students in their municipalities. Dimitris Mountakis, representing the Chania Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said “development is measured not only in numbers but also in the culture a place produces.” Charalambos Zapounidis, representing EKKOMED, conveyed a greeting from the organization’s managing director, Leonidas Christopoulos, and underlined the festival’s role in film education, regional development and cultural outreach for Crete. The opening evening closed with the screening of “The Dragon.”
Program highlights
According to the festival, the program includes award-winning Greek and international fiction and documentary films, animation, VR and podcast content, oral-history projects turned into film, and screenings made by students at all education levels. It also includes screenings for older adults and people with disabilities, workshops, masterclasses, live music events, midnight screenings, retrospectives, exhibitions and book presentations spread across the ten-day event, which organizers describe as turning the city into a hub of ideas and creativity. The festival’s broader cultural programming fits within the wider calendar of events in Crete held throughout the autumn.
Listed highlights include a special October 28 screening of the award-winning documentary “Naza” by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, alongside a panorama of Cypriot films the same day. On October 23, in cooperation with the cycling group Podilatreis, the festival is showing films inspired by cycling. On October 29, short films will be screened at the Fournos bar in Halepa with live musical accompaniment by Melentini, who will also perform live at the venue on October 30.
The festival’s traditional midnight screening on Saturday, October 24, will feature “Vilma: The Last Goodbye” by Kostas Bakirtzis and Kostis Stamoulis. On October 22, Giannis Soldatos’ documentary “I Dreamed You Hadn’t Died…,” a portrait of Nikos Kountouros built from material the director gathered over decades, will be followed by a discussion with his friends and collaborators. Marianna Economou’s new film “Where Shadows Rest” screens and is discussed on October 23.
Loukas Paleokrassas’ “Bugboy,” an award winner at the 28th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, screens in Chania on October 31, while Vicky Anastasiadou’s “Wheel to Live,” recently awarded at the 49th Drama International Short Film Festival, screens on October 27. The program also includes Angelos Kovotsos’ “I Went to America” and the premieres of “Manos Hadjidakis – The Mirror and the Knife – The Sequel” by Dimitris Vernikos and “Mikis, the Lambrakides and Peace” by Nikos Kavoukidis. International selections include “Trine on Fire” by Alexander Lind, “The Last Prometheus of Donbas” by Anton Shtuka and “Les Culpables” by Marta Duran Lozano.
New sections and educational activities
With support from the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Technical University of Crete, the festival is introducing a VR Screenings section for the first time this year, alongside a daily podcast room. Organizers have also arranged a dedicated screening and film workshop for older adults, visits to elderly care facilities, and a special screening and animation workshops for people with disabilities.
Children remain a central focus of the festival, with daily morning screenings for schools, visits to schools in rural areas, radio shows and podcasts, mobile-phone filmmaking, the digital shadow-theatre project eShadow, ART book and augmented-reality activities, animation, Manga Lab character design and cyanotype workshops. The festival is also presenting “CineMathimata 2025-2026,” featuring 23 films made by students and teachers as part of its annual educational program, as well as “Stories to Be Heard,” a competition showcasing audiovisual work from schools across Greece. The Hellenic Open University is presenting student films from around the country in three parts, while the festival has organized a series of workshops and masterclasses with academic bodies including EKKOMED and ASIFA Hellas.
The festival’s retrospectives this year include a tribute to Canada-based animator Joe Chang titled “Between the Lines: A Duet of Chinese Animation,” a tribute to comic artist and visual artist Giorgos Botsos, and a tribute to Hungarian composer, musician and actor Mihály Víg, a longtime collaborator of the recently deceased director Béla Tarr. Further tributes are dedicated to Andrzej Wajda, to composer Manos Hadjidakis and his connection to Crete, and to cinematographer Nikos Kavoukidis.
Following a screening of Siamak Etemadi’s “What We Are Made Of,” the festival is hosting a discussion titled “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex and Disability and Were Afraid to Ask.” Journalist Alexandra Christakaki will speak with film critic Panagiotis Timogiannakis about his book “Oscar,” and with Giannis Kokiasmenos, the only Greek actor to appear in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” Psychiatrist Giorgos Nikolaidis, director at the Institute of Child Health, will discuss “Culture, School and Mental Health: The Case of Cinema” and take part in a discussion of the book “Rock, Paper, Scissors: Children’s Rights in Comics,” illustrated by Botsos. A separate panel of journalists and educators will address media literacy, and following a screening of Eva Libertad’s “Sorda” (winner of the 2026 LUX Audience Award), representatives of European institutions in Greece will discuss how cinema can give voice to lived experience. The festival is also hosting its Festival Animation Network event, organizers said, continuing the island’s calendar of cultural gatherings alongside experiences in Crete such as the recent Tsikoudia Festival at Chania’s Venetian harbour.
