Cyprus Comic Con is proud to announce the winners of the CCC16 Film Festival!
Andreas Sheittanis won the prize for the best local production for his film Y.K.AN., while Syni Pappa won the international award for her film titled WHACK.
The winners are awarded with €2500 in production services and €2500 in post-production services respectively, both of which are generously donated by GeekOtopos.
Andreas Sheittanis
Andreas Sheittanis is a young upcoming filmmaker from Nicosia, Cyprus, born in 1991. From an early age, he became interested in video-making and started creating his first videos on Youtube, which further fueled his passion and led to his decision to study film-making. Andreas graduated from Bournemouth University with a Film Production & Cinematography degree, however he quickly found himself more drawn to directing, which has been his main area of expertise for the last few years.
Sheittanis has directed five short films until this day, with Y.K.AN. being his fourth, while his latest film was only shot recently and is currently in post-production.
Visit Andreas’ website and YouTube channel to see more of his projects and upcoming work!
In 2015, his short film ‘The Storyteller’ won Best Short-Film, Best Direction and Best Cinematography at the Cyprus International Film Festival. Currently, Sheittanis has an impressive 7.5 million views on his YouTube channel and nearly 10,000 subscribers!
Y.K.AN.
Sheittanis fondly remembers the initial brainstorming sessions of Y.K.AN. as a “silly idea between friends”, for which he collaborated with Demetris Kafataris who produced and also starred in the film as KotsinisMan! The concept was first written as a short skit, until eventually evolving into a short film. The project was partly funded by sponsors who covered the basic costs, while the remaining expenses were paid for by the team itself. Sheittanis describes Y.K.AN. as a “passion project”, made by people that have a real passion for their craft that were willing to work without any pay for a project they believed in and wanted to share with the rest of the world!
Funnily enough, when Sheittanis was asked what he wanted to do with the initial script for Y.K.AN., a film about Cypriot superheroes, he would always reply that his goal was to participate at the Cyprus Comic Con! It took an entire year of writing, shooting and post-production but Y.K.AN. finally had its premiere at CCC where it belonged and even won an award, “surpassing any expectations” that Sheittanis had! Since then, Y.K.AN. was selected to feature at other film festivals across Cyprus, Greece, UK, Romania and Canada.
Watch the trailer for Υ.Κ.ΑΝ.:
Syni Pappa
Film director and screenwriter Syni Pappa was born in Cologne, Germany and, after finishing school in North Greece, she majored in Film at the Raindance Filmschool in London, and Social Anthropology at the Panteion University in Athens. Syni is also a classically-trained dancer.
Her work features a large body of experimental fiction, as well as short narratives that have been screened and awarded at several festivals internationally.
Whack was the winner screenplay of the SEE Cinema Network Funding Award in 2013 and was presented at Euroconnection, Co-Production Forum in 2014. In 2015, the film was realised and co-produced with the Greek Film Center, the Croatian company Kinematograf and the EMMY nominated VFX studio Yafka.
Following Whack’s success, Syni Pappa completed her short film titled ‘The National Garden’ in 2016, which was granted a funding award by the Athens Film Lab, AIFF’s screenplay competition and development program. Syni is currently living in Berlin and working on her debut feature film, ‘Wrong Island’.
Make sure to visit Syni’s personal blog, as well as Whack’s website!
WHACK
Whack is a short film that takes place in a dystopic Athenean cityscape of the near future. At the year of 2027 suicide, the city’s trend of despair for years, becomes illegal. The state defines it as a horrible crime and people who get caught trying to commit are being imprisoned, sent for life in breeding camps.
The camera follows a quest around a highly guarded dystopic cityscape. We meet our heroes on their final or what they wished to be their final moments.
The inspiration for this film comes from the the city of Athens, the potent, violent combination of it’s First & Third World realities.
It’s hardcore everyday living and it’s chaotic cityscape. As suicides have already become a big happening on the city’s public space in reality, the film starts questioning about it and begins an existential quest, in a place where terror is life itself and people have no other will but to die.
Watch Whack’s trailer:
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