“Why was the selection committee of the Greek nomination for the International Oscar replaced?”, asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with its announcement by the Hellenic Film Academy (EAK).

According to EAK, “at beginning of August the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proceeded to recommendation of seven members committee which will choose this year’s proposal of Greece for the Oscar Award for International Film. The competent Department of Cinematography and Audiovisual Media sent an invitation to participate in the committee to the members of the EAK director Vasilis Kekatthe, film critic Leda Galanou and actor Cora Carbounh, as well as to the screenwriter Kallia Papadakiswhich all four they accepted».

As the Academy notes in its announcement, and while the competent department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 11/8 “sent an email to the colleagues in question confirming their participation in the committee”, two days aftera “the four colleagues received e-mail from the head of the Cinematography and Audiovisual Media Department who informed them that you were accidentally notified of your participation in the Committee who will give an opinion regarding the Greek candidacy for the 97th edition of the OSCAR awards, participation which, unfortunately, has not been finalized”.

The EAK emphasizes that “the above incident affects the face and prestige of the colleagues in question” and “damages the credibility and meritocracy of the newly formed seven-member committee that was announced in Diaugia on August 13, just a few hours after the “corrective letters””.

At the same time, it asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “give immediate and public explanations for all of the above” and, once again, from the Greek State “to assign to the EAK the responsibility of selecting the Greek candidacy for the Oscar International Film award in accordance with other Academies , such as Great Britain and Spain”.

The full announcement of the Hellenic Film Academy:

“At the beginning of August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proceeded with the establishment of the seven-member committee that will select this year’s proposal of Greece for the Oscar International Film Award. The competent Department of Cinematography and Audiovisual Media sent an invitation to participate in the committee to the members of the EAK director Vassilis Kekato, film critic Leda Galanou and actress Kora Karvounis, as well as to the screenwriter Kallia Papadakis, which all four accepted.

On August 11, the above Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an email to the colleagues in question confirming their participation in the committee, appointing Vassilis Kekatos as chairman. In the same email, the links of the films were communicated to them in order to see and evaluate the candidate projects in view of an online meeting where they would consult on the final decision.

Two days later, on August 13, the four colleagues received an email from the head of the Cinematography and Audiovisual Media Department informing them that “by mistake, you have been notified of your participation in the Committee that will give an opinion regarding the Greek candidacy for the 97th edition of the awards OSCAR, participation which, unfortunately, was not finalized”.

The above incident affects the face and prestige of the colleagues in question. Much more, however, it affects the credibility and meritocracy of the newly formed seven-member committee that was announced in Diaugia on August 13, just a few hours after the “corrective letters”. We ask the Ministry to provide immediate and public explanations for all of the above in order to answer the reasonable questions of the entire film community about the motivations and causes of this replacement.

• Who and why decided to replace colleagues with summary procedures?

• Was there any pressure on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to change committee members from any person related to the nominated films?

On the occasion of this unacceptable and sad handling by a part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we once again ask the Greek State to entrust the EAK with the responsibility of selecting the Greek nomination for the Oscar International Film award in correspondence with other Academies, such as the UK and Spain . We have repeatedly put this constant request of the Hellenic Film Academy to the Deputy Ministers of Modern Culture over the last four years.

The EAK taking over the process is perfectly reasonable, as an equal body with the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For this reason, since its foundation, EAK every year makes its own proposal for the International Film Oscar to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This proposal results from an electronic vote of the members on a specially designed platform supervised by a notary public, unaffected by current pressures and any guided choices of persons. In addition, EAK members as professionals from the entire spectrum of the audio-visual industry are the maximum guarantee for fairness in the nomination of the nominated film.

Based on Law 3905/2010, article 35, the way of selecting the Greek candidacy is at the discretion of the respective Minister of Culture, hence no legislative regulation is required but a Ministerial Decision to transfer the responsibility to the EAK.

We hope for the immediate response of the Ministry of Defense to all of the above.”

Finally, regarding the same issue, the Union of Directors-Producers of Greek Cinema (ESPEK), the Association of Independent Producers of Audiovisual Works (SAPOE), the Union of Greek Documentaries (EEN) and Association of Communication Project Producers (PACT).