“In this year’s edition of AltCine Action, I was a big first timer – first time in Greece, first time on a film festival abroad, first time I had a chance to write movie critics, first time I’ve ever traveled by plane.
As you can guess, I’ve had some mild fears about how will I handle all the new things. However, from the moment I have arrived, lovely volunteers were there to make things much easier for me. Gathering with the rest of the people involved in this festival was more than pleasant. Those three days went too fast, marked by traditional Balkan hospitality, enriched by high quality contents. I cannot decide which masterclass I loved more – Jean-Michel Frodon gave us some really practical tips about movie criticism, while Olympia Mytilinaiou helped me find out more about cinematography and duties of DOP – which was pretty new topic for me. I also enjoyed open discussion about building cultural identity through cinema with Maria Komninos; now I have a huge list of Greek movies I’m looking forward to watch.
The experience of being in Athens was interesting. By seeing all the differences between the capital of Greece and Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, I’ve actually learned much about our similarities. Despise all the economical hurdles, we still tend to have fun, enjoy life and seize the best of our culture. Of course, we still care about the quality of cinema.
In the end, I’ve almost slept over all of my alarms activated to wake me up for my flight. I guess it was my subconscious wish to stay in Athens for a bit more. I’ve left Greece happy for meeting so many different experts and great people.”