PRESS RELEASE

Sidestreets  is pleased to announce, in collaboration with the Embassy of Austria, the start of a new series of inspirational documentary films on sports and achievement stories as a way of promoting motivation and a sense of identity.

Through screenings of four very different but important films on people’s trials and achievements in sports (Mount St. Elias by Gerald Salmina, Autumn Gold by Jan Tenhaven,  Jochen Rindt Lives by Christian Giesser, and Kick Off by Hüseyin Tabak we would also like to contribute to the international NGO Peace Players, who are doing important work here in Cyprus to promote sports as a form of collaboration between the people of Cyprus.

Program

The screenings will all start at 20.00 hrs, except on the first day, when the evening will begin with a cocktail at 19.00 hrs, followed by the screening at 8.00pm.

Although the last 3 films will be screened at Sidestreets free of charge, the first screening of Mount St. Elias by Gerald Salmina will have an entrance fee of 2 Euros and be screened at Arabahmet Cultural Center-Nicosia. The entire proceeds will then be donated to the Peace Players as a gesture of good will and appreciation for their contribution to peace.

*PeacePlayers - Cyprus (PPI - CY)

http://www.peaceplayersintl.org/locations/cyprus

PeacePlayers - Cyprus (PPI - CY) is a locally led, independently registered charity in Cyprus that uses the game of basketball to allow 11-15 year-old Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play together, learn together and build positive relationships that overcome generations of mistrust and formidable physical barriers to interaction.

PPI - CY is currently the only year-round bicommunal youth sports organization on the island. By facilitating regular, frequent, and structured interaction, it helps reverse prejudices built steadily over years in segregated communities and fosters the long-term trust necessary for true friendship.

In its current programmatic year, PPI - CY works with over 320 children.

1) Mount St. Elias

by Gerald Salmina - 30 September 8.00pm at Arabahmet Cultural Center

A dramatic and awe-inspiring feature documentary following three of the world’s greatest ski mountaineers to the Mount St. Elias in their attempt to realize the longest ski descent of the world.
Set against the backdrop of Alaska’s dangerous beauty, Mount St. Elias is about a visionary borderline experience where unparalleled physical and mental pressure pushes them to the absolute limit. They find themselves in puristic situations, in which heroism cannot easily be distinguished from folly. Situations which can only be mastered if reason is supposedly abandoned and in which courage as well as trust in their own abilities and last but not least luck are used as guidelines.

Two Austrian ski mountaineers Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann as well as the American freeski mountaineer Jon Jonhston are facing this breathtaking challenge! A team with individual abilities, but also a team of leaders, knowing they literally cannot survive without teamwork and cooperation. Especially Axel Naglich, he unconsciously takes the role of the protagonist due to his charismatic and authentic personality and, within the permanent struggle not against nature but against himself, polarizes as a strong character.

A movie about men who accept mountains as a challenge. A process whose vision becomes a real adventure. Men who, formed by their origins, want to experience their passion as intensively as possible and above all want to survive.

Festivals and Awards

2009

2) Autumn Gold

by Jan Tenhaven - 7 October 8.00pm at Sidestreets

Autumn Gold tells the life-affirming stories of five senior athletes who all have one goal: to take part in the track and field section of the World Masters Championships 2009 in Finland. The biggest challenge they face is their age: all five athletes are between 82 and 100 years old. AUTUMN GOLD  (original title: HERBSTGOLD)

95 min | camera: Marcus Winterbauer | ARTE, WDR, NDR

Produced by Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion / Navigator Film

Supported by Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Austrian Film Institute (ÖFI), DFFF, FFA

Jan Tenhaven is a freelance writer and director for German public television and a lecturer at the Electronic Media School in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He started his journalistic career as a reporter and free-lance writer for the daily newspaper WAZ and the weekly paper DIE ZEIT, as well as on the editorial staff of various German broadcasters. From 1998 to 2001, Tenhaven was a television correspondent and bureau chief of APM Media in London and a director for London International Television (LITV).

Awards

– AUDIENCE AWARD at the prestigious One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival- Prague,

– Shortlisted for the German Academy Award LOLA-Berlinale Film Festival within the section German Cinema - LOLA@Berlinale,

 – GRAND PRIZE OF THE JURY at Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival-China,

Youth Jury Award at IDFA-Amsterdam, FILMMAKERS AWARD at HotDocs Festival- Toronto!

3) Jochen Rindt Lives

by Christian Giesser - 14 October 8.00pm at Sidestreets

Jochen Rindt was an idol, the James Dean of the Formula 1, and he became immortal after his fatal accident on September 5, 1970, in Monza. The film examines the life of this 1970 Formula 1 world champion: his childhood years, his first car, the first wins in touring cars, his beginnings in Formula 1, and his final training rounds in Monza in 1970.

Running time 99min Director(s): Christian Giesser Writer(s): Christian Giesser,

Cinematographer(s): Christian Giesser, Max Haselberger, Producer(s): Felix R. Giuliani

4) Kick Off

by Hüseyin Tabak - 21 October 8.00pm at Sidestreets

ad feedbackThe Homeless World Cup is a world championship for homeless people, asylum seekers, former alcoholics and drug addicts. No player can earn money in this competition; it’s about much more than that: here one can play one’s way back into life. Football is giving them back feelings they lost a long time ago: respect, pride, self-confidence. And renewed zest for life. Perhaps, above all, renewed zest for life.