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.

Turning our values into action

In March 2022 Alpha Bank became the accessibility sponsor to the 1st universally accessible documentary film festival. In partnership with the Centre for Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind (CERB), the universally accessible screening of the 24th Documentary Film Festival was available in Braille, while one of the Festival advertising spots also featured audio description.

At the same time, we strengthened our partnership with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. 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 unimpeded access to culture.

The Accessibility Award of the 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival was given to the film The Rite of Spring by Fernando Franco (Spain, 2022), for its contribution to highlighting issues surrounding accessibility to art.

Moreover, we sponsored the study for making the Festival headquarters, the historical Olympion building, accessible to all.

“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.