Support Emotion Pictures Festival - "Documentary & Disability"

Four years ago all of us, the undersigned, were happy to welcome the Greek film festival Emotion Pictures - Documentary and Disability, which within a very short space of time managed to chart an impressive course: with first-rate organization, imagination and innovation, with top-notch artistic criteria but also a political goal, always at the side of persons with disabilities, with educational-cultural workshops, with distinguished personalities as members of its juries and an artistic director who works with passion and selflessness.  The festival made its presence felt not only in Athens, attracting large and enthusiastic audiences to the Benaki Museum every year, but also outside the big city, with an array of events held throughout the year, and of course at the international film festivals which from the very first moment embraced Emotion Pictures and cooperated with it.
To our great disappointment we learn that this year's festival which had been scheduled for September is in danger of not taking place at all, supposedly for financial and bureaucratic reasons which have not even been officially made known to the festival by the Greek state.  And its future is uncertain.  It is a festival with a particularly low budget, which does very significant work, promoting the discussion on the issue of disability and human dignity through film and culture.  We all know that Greece is in the midst of an economic crisis but we wonder what this Greece wants to keep and what to discard in order to be able to advance into the future.  So far the state has been indifferent to a film festival which has been characterized as a model.  We believe that there are the means which would enable it to continue its work and we hope the situation is cleared up soon.  And if the fate of a film festival on disability may seem like a secondary issue to those who make the decisions, let them not forget that very often Leonem ex unguibus - one can tell a lion by its claws.
Sign our petition now and show your support for Emotion Pictures! 
==================================================================