Cinema for all

At a glance

We respect diversity and promote equal access to culture, through our “Cinema for all” initiative. In partnership with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, we expand access to quality cinema with accessible screenings, audiovisual aids and more accessible venues.

Offering equal rights of access to culture

Since 2019 we have been working with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival to bring audiences with hearing and visual impairments closer to quality cinema.

We support initiatives such as:

Organising universally accessible screenings.
Improving venue accessibility.
Improving the Festival’s website accessibility.
Providing simultaneous interpretation of ceremonies and special events into sign language.

We provide audiovisual aids, such as:

Audio Description (AD) for the blind or visually impaired.
Greek subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing (SDH)

At the end of the Festival, we offer the edited subtitles and audio description to producers, so the films can be distributed in an accessible form, both in movie theatres and DVD releases.

Our initiative in numbers

What we have accomplished since 2019 at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival:

Accessible film screenings at theatres or online

237

Audience members who attended the accessible screenings

95270

People benefited from film and venue accessibility

143100

Turning our values into action

By sponsoring universally accessible screenings and establishing the accessibility award

Universally accessible Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival

Since 2022 we have been accessibility sponsors at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Our aim is for people with disabilities to be able to attend universally acceptable screenings.

We have participated in 3 Festivals to date:

2025 / 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival - In the context of the grand tribute entitled “Geography of the Gaze: Off-Plan Greece (1950 -2000)”, 2 films were screened under conditions of universal accessibility:

The documentary Gazoros Serron (1974) received the Best Production Award at the 15th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and presents the authentic character of the Greek countryside.
The short documentary Prespes (1966) was named Best Short Documentary Film at the 7th Greek Film Festival.

2024 / 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival – The documentary Tilos Weddings (2022) by Panayotis Evangelidis was screened in Olympion, a venue accessible to people in wheelchairs.
2022 / 24th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival – For the 1st time ever, in partnership with the Centre for Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind (KEAT), the Festival programme was available in Braille, while the advertising spots also included audio description.

Alpha Bank Accessibility Award

In 2022 we established the Alpha Bank Accessibility Award, which comes with a €3,000 cash prize. The award goes to persons or films showcasing the issue of access to culture without barriers.

To date the Alpha Bank Accessibility Award has been awarded to:

2025 / 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival – The film Viktor by French artist Olivier Sarbil, which records a deaf young man from Kharkiv, as he experienced the first days of the Russian invasion against Ukraine. Oscar nominated (2011) director Darren Aronofksy served as the producer

2024 / 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Director Leonard Mink and actor Ben Kermer for the medium-length movie Tremolo. The child protagonist is deaf himself.
2024 / 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival – The documentary Loxy by Dimitris Zahos and Thanasis Kafetzis, which highlights the issue of accessibility for actors with disability to the Greek art scene. It was the 1st documentary to receive the award.
2023 / 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Stavros Zafeiris, Greek actor with disability, for his leading role in the film Touched by Claudia Rorarius.
2022 / 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival – The film The Rite of Spring by Fernando Franco (Spain), for its contribution to highlighting issues surrounding accessibility to art.

Olympion: An accessible venue

We sponsored a study to turn the historic Olympion building, which hosts the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, into an accessible and friendly venue for people with mobility impairment.

From 2019 to date, several accessible open talks, masterclasses, exhibitions and workshops have been hosted at the Olympion facilities.

Stronger initiatives and partnerships

In 2024, we created the new version of the awarded documentary Loxy by Dimitris Zahos and Thanasis Kafetzis at the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival with:

Audio description for the visually impaired in partnership with the accessibility services provider liminal.
Trailer with audio description
Documentary programme available in large letters and in Braille

Since the start of 2025 it has been screened through partnerships at:

iRodi Festival
Greek Film Archive (9th BEYOND FESTIVAL)
Olympion movie theatre for a school
Schools and recreational centres

Screenings will go on throughout the year

The accessible version was staged for the first time at the 3rd Festival Nevronas – Feel the Art… your Own way, and the junior high school of Kalampaki, Drama, Greece, on the occasion of the World Day of Persons with Disabilities.

At the documentary opening night in 2024 and during the screening in theatres across Athens, we supported the interpretation in Greek Sign Language (GSL) of the discussion that followed.

More than 1,300 adults and children have watched the documentary in the context of Alpha Bank initiatives.

“Our goal is to ensure equal access to arts and culture for all.”

V. Psaltis, Alpha Bank CEO

Planning for the future

We envision unimpeded access to art for all. This is why, through our initiatives, we try to cultivate the concept of inclusion and social integration in the Greek society.

Our aim is to further highlight the struggles of people with disabilities. To this end, every year we offer our people the chance to watch the accessible screenings, live or online. This is yet another way we raise awareness on matters of inclusion.