The non-profit organization Balkaniko, which is active in the field of art and photography in particular, is set to organize the 3rd Analog Photography Festival in Athens.

Analog photography, i.e., the use of traditional film when taking a photograph and then printing the image in a darkroom, has been gaining more and more fans and admirers in recent years. The charm of the handmade appearance of film and the wonder of the image appearing through the liquid chemicals of the darkroom are making a comeback after more than fifteen years of digital photography.

In the fall of 2023, the 1st Analog Photography Festival was launched, with impressive attendance and public participation in the activities. The 2nd Festival followed in the fall of 2024, with even more participants in both the exhibitions and the activities. This year, we are spreading our wings with the motto “3rd Festival – three venues,” aiming to broaden the scope of our events and have an even greater impact on the city of Athens and lovers of analog photography.

This year, we are joined by the Municipality of New Heraklion, which warmly embraces us and places the 3rd Festival under its auspices. The Municipality, in consultation with the Heraklion photography group “FAOS,” is granting us the exhibition space of “Villa Stella,” the darkroom located in the basement of the building for a creative workshop, as well as the courtyard for the closing night of the Festival.

The main exhibition of the Festival will take place at the “YpOpsi” photography space in Peristeri, while the day of talks and presentations on analog photography will take place at the “IRIS” cinema, the venue of the Photography Department of the Cultural Association of Students of the University of Athens.

The aim of the Festival is to bring together creators who love to express themselves through analog photography and to take them on a journey through a series of activities. The organizers hope that, after the end of the Festival, analog photography will have spread further into the art world and that in the coming years, with the continuation of the Festival, analog creation will be strengthened so that it can shed light on unseen aspects of its past, present, and future.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Wednesday 08/10/2025

YpOPSI, space for photography

10 Thoukididou Street, Peristeri

8:00 p.m.

Opening of the main exhibition on the theme “Water, a reference point for life”

Sunday 12/10/2025

Villa Stella Cultural Center

1 Sofias and Galinis Streets, Heraklion, Attica

6:00 p.m.

“From A to Z: Discovering the Alchemy of Black-and-White Photography”

Creative workshop with Alexandros Syrogiannoulis

8:00 p.m.

“9 Moves in Black and White”

George Mavrikos, opening of solo exhibition

Wednesday 15/10/2025

IRIS Cinema

55 Akadimias Street, Athens

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Talks and presentations on analog photography

• Welcome from the Balkaniko team
• “Actions and Iris Visions” by the Cultural Association of Students of the University of Athens (POFPA)
• “Analog photography: Trend and fashion or knowledge and opinion?”

Vasilis Geramas, Sales Manager of the photography company “Geramas”

• “The making of the film and the process of its release”

Panagiotis Elias, former Professor at the Department of Photography and Audiovisual Arts, University of West Attica

• “The aerial photograph archive of the Army Geographical Service”

Georgia Imsiridou, Curator of photographic archives and collections

• “The water element as ambivalence”

Fotis Kangelaris, Doctor of Psychopathology, University of Paris, AICA International, Author

Sunday 19/10/2025

19:00

Finissage

Villa Stella Cultural Center

1 Sofias and Galinis Streets, Heraklion, Attica