 "Now in its seventh year, BeFilm the Underground Film Festival focuses only on short films with over 500 submissions from around the world. This is a festival fueled by passion." |
Laurence Asseraf founded the festival in March 2004 in her gallery "A Taste of Art" in Tribeca, focusing on short films and allowing the vibrant New York City community of filmmakers to use her space as a forum to show their films and discover shorts from all over the world. Due to the growing interest in the event, and the need for a place where shorts could be seen on a regular basis, in September 2004 she created the Short Screening Series allowing filmmakers to put together a program of shorts, and invite the directors and other participants to come to the screening of their films, and interphase with the public in a Q & A session. The festival has grown and is now in its seventh year, showcasing the best national and international short films in animation, documentary, experimental, spec, narrative and since 2009 3D Stereoscopic categories. Focusing on the fact that "Shorter is Better" the festival always on the cutting edge is extremely proud to be the first film festival in the world exclusively dedicated to short films to have a 3D Stereoscopic Category.
It provides a cultural and
entertaining forum while recognizing and honoring independent emerging
filmmakers through a panel of judges from the entertainment industry who
reviews the films and gives the awards.
Dimitris Athos was born and raised in New York City in a Greek-American family, and is an alumnus of the United Nations International School. While attending New York University, he became a U.S. correspondent for the Greek film magazine CINEMA. He subsequently worked for a talent agency in the casting process for feature films, television, and New York theater.
In 1999, Mr. Athos began to allocate his time between New York and Greece,
where he has worked as a script consultant and producer for several Greek box-office hits. In addition,he also wrote "Homage To Callas"
a theatrical presentation about the opera Diva under the musical direction of renowned opera conductor Eugene Kohn.
Also a published photographer, Mr. Athos has branched out into 3D photography/video and is a member of the National
Stereoscopic Association and New York Stereoscopic Society. Over the years, Dimitris Athos has worked as producer and co-writer on more than thirty short and feature films. In the fall of 2004, he joined BEFILM The Underground Film Festival team as Program Director. Mr. Athos is devoted to identifying the best and most interesting short films from around the world. |
