The first “Fest of Fests” international forum was held from 25 to 28 of June 2018 in Athens, Greece. This new initiative was launched by the cultural center of Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, EFFE Hub in Greece and host of CIFEJ Regional Office for Europe.

 The upper goal of “Fest of Fests” is the development of a critical and media informed viewer through existing and new pathways of film, media and digital literacy. So during this great event many institutions, organizations, festivals and professionals in the field of children cinema gathered together to share their vision for the development of the “smart viewers”. I this regard, “Fest of Fests” has developed 2 main outputs. One is an online community of practice which has been supported by a platform which will enable networking, online collaboration and synergies between the members of the community and also maps the workshops, initiatives and projects run by the youth film festivals and relevant educational organizations and specializing on the development of “smart viewers”. The other output is going to be annual meetings between the community members and stakeholders, including experts and educators, festivals and public institutions and information literacy dynamics for all.

 The first day of the forum started with the greetings from MCF, the Ministry of Culture of Greece, the Governor of Attica and some prominent media institutions and organizations of Greece which continued with the explanations about scope and vision of Fest of Fests and speeches by Carolyn Wilson from UNESCO GAPMIL, Sannette Naeye the former CEO of Cinekid, Margret Albers, the president of ECFA, and Mohsen Chiniforoushan, the Secretary General of CIFEJ. Then some other Speakers talked about their projects and experiences in their own countries in the field of children cinema and media literacy. The day ended with the presentation of thematic guidelines for the discussion groups by David Kleeman. In the next 2 days, 3 discussion groups were held under the titles of “Festivals”, “Media Educators” and “Institutions” during which the participants exchanged their views and experiences. In 27 of June, there was a presentation of the Screenwiser Platform, its philosophy, features and functionalities and at the end of the day David Kleeman announced the final remarks from the discussion groups. This great event finished on Thursday 28 of June with a great hope for the brilliant future of children cinema and media literacy.