Greece: ERT holds a special online press conference elaborating on the show 'Europe Shine a Light' and future plans

Greece: ERT holds a special online press conference elaborating on the show 'Europe Shine a Light' and future plans
Wednesday, 13 May 2020

  • The Greek national broadcaster held today an online press conference regarding the upcoming alternative show 'Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light' and invited fans and media outlets to join through the Zoom app. 

    Eurofans radio had the honor to participate in the alternative online press confrence held today by ERT, in order to inform fans and the press on the alternative show : 'Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light'.  The conference was joined by the Greek ESC 2020 hopeful, Stefania and the composer of the Greek entry, Dimitris Kontopoulos while the session was hosted by Head of Press Ioanna Niaoti. 

     

    The show 'Eurovision: 'Europe Shine a Light'

    During the first part the Heald of ERT's International Relations and Head of Delegation , Maria Koufopoulou, elaborated on how EBU was examining, after the coviid-19 outbreak, several alternative solutions. However the escalation that followed left no options than to cancel the contest.  Therefore since the restrictions on movement were enforced the ideo of the show Eurovision: Shine A Light started winning ground as an alternative show. 

    The whole concept is based on the idea: the national broadcasters will take care of  producing, editing the photo and video material while the Dutch ESC 2020 host broadcasters will distribute the pictures through this special show. ERT has already sent four videos of the Acropolis illuminated, from which the Dutch broadcasters will choose the most fit for them. A small snippet of the videos was shared during the online press conference, showcasing impressive shots of the historical monument. 

    Althought ERT won't air any additional preview show, it will launch an online voting for this year's entries  through its Eurovision facebook page. The show 'Europe Shine A Light' , won't see Helena Paparizou featuring the show but will include several surprises with past participants working as a bridge among the past and present times of the contest. 

     

    Maria Kozakou the Greek Commnetator of the show 

    Maria Kozakou is no stranger to the Eurovision family as she has been commentating the contest for several years. This time she'll be alone but the remarkable element this year is the collaboration between the Greek national broadcaster and the Estonian one (ERR) , as Maria will be commenting on the show from Talin while the picture on our screen will be coming from The Netherlands. A really modern way of covering the show that seems to bringing together national broadcasters in order to serve the same purpose. 

     

    Stefania's Eurovision 2021 entry

    Maria Koufopoulou confirmed that ERT will head to next year's contest with Stefania and the same team. Eurofans radio asked Stefania if she has any preference on the type of song she would like to perform next year with the young talented act responding:

    "No i don't have any kind of preference when it comes down to the type of song. On that subject i trust my composition team and Dimitris (Kontopolos) that i am sure will find the best song for me" 

    Further on Dimitris kontopoulos was asked if this year's feedback for the ESC 2020 entry has helped them to approach some things differently or take into account  additional factors.

    Dimitris Kontopoulos went on saying regarding next year's entry: 

    "Already we have started making the first steps in our search of next year's entry for Stefania. This year the feedback we received for the song "Supergi!rl was positive. We want to continue working on the same direction taking in mind  the  music trends and Stefania's age along with her outstanding positive attitude. For me it is really important the act you work with to be positive and harworker. Stefania is all that and much more."

     

    Working for Eurovision 2021 to take place. 

    Maria Koufopoulou confirmed during the press conference that EBU is working with the national broadcasters with the propsect of holding next year's Eurovision Song Contest. However the next contest is a year away and no one knows how the Covid-19 pandemic will develop and if a vaccine is found and concluded saying,

    "Who imagined three months before that this press conference will be taking place online instead of all us being in Rotterdam getting ready for the Semi finals?"