2025 is our 14th anniversary to organize the Skopelos International Film Festival for Youth (SIFFY). Each year approximately 100 children collaborate with professional filmmakers to create short films that are screened to about 1000 people at the Skopelos Amphitheater. The films are then sent to festivals throughout the world.

Living in Skopelos may seem like paradise during the summer, but the winters are difficult. The tourists have left, the shops and taverns are closed and there are little activities for the children. Children can participate in traditional dance or sports, but extracurricular creative activities are lacking. 

On average, each school year, the children have eighteen subjects. They study things like physics, biology, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, three languages including Ancient Greek, and so much more. The children must rely on tutors to keep up with their studies, so the year is grueling.

Unfortunately, art or any sort of creative subject is low on the list in the curriculum. The children are lucky if they have an hour per week of drawing. This is the reason we created SIFFY. 

There is a lot of pressure on Greek students to study subjects like medicine, science, law, architecture, so that they can make money. Rarely do parents suggest pursuing anything in the arts. We know of many cases of students changing their college studies because of their SIFFY experience. Kids are pursuing editing, filmmaking, sound engineering and much more. The professional filmmakers that participate in SIFFY give the kids the confidence to see the possibility of going into such fields. 

Another benefit is the idea of creating a project from nothing and having a final product in one week. It takes hours of hard work, but it happens. This empowers the children and shows them the importance of following-through. 

Another incredible result of SIFFY are the many students that return each year to volunteer their time. A lot of these kids have finished their degrees and want to have the hands-on experience with the filmmakers. Each year we have an average of 50 volunteers, and more and more are SIFFY graduates. We hope that in the future they will be able to take over and continue the festival. 

Please take a look at the backstage film created by Adrian Almazan and Kostas Kapezanos about the SIFFY experience from the parent’s perspective.

Let's talk about the costs. The filmmaker pays their own way to fly into Athens which is considered in-kind donations. We pay their round-trip tickets from Athens to Skopelos and back, most of their food and accommodations. This is the breakdown:

In-kind Donations - $20,000 - flights for 14 filmmakers 

Housing - $8,000

Food - $3,000

Travel - $2,500 

Other expenses - $4,000 (T-shirts, renting equipment, festival submissions)

Promotional Material - $1,000

Total: $38,500

Cost to sponsor 1 child - $250

Cost to sponsor a team - $2,250 -9 children on a team with 1 filmmaker