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Sinfully Good Cinema at Thessaloniki |
As any cinema-lover knows, festival films are not just about tricky angles and fancy edits. They usually also tackle at least one of the deadly sins. The cinematic soul-searching continues in this bewitching port city.
Good Cop & Bad
Don't miss special guest Harvey Keitel's one and only meeting with the press/public at 11am in Warehouse D.
Soul Rebel
Scolding the press for its cynicism regarding his dual role as fest prez and tribute-holder, Theo Angelopoulos noted that Greece, like other countries, should be able to have a retrospective of his work. George Lucas has nothing on the Greek director who's also working on a trilogy. The first film (inspired by Tonino Guerra) spans from 1919 to post-Civil War Greece. The former USSR will be the site for his second film, set from the 1950s to early 1970s. Diaspora Greeks will delight in the Toronto and New York settings of his third story (spanning 1972 to the present). In a time when Greece is making itself sick over identity cards, he noted that ancient stories inspire him and that true identity ("our mother's language") can never be severed from the self. His first film, "The Travelling Players", contains his first love, gaze and discovery of both cinema and inner Greece.
Orgiastic Humour
"I just wanted to make people laugh," confessed director Nikos Zapatinas of his "In Good Company ". He and his cast expressed pride at their accomplishment and optimism at the climate in Greece for such projects. The film has a lot in common with two other bouncy local efforts to "talk about sex, baby" showing today: "Vices of Women" and "Female Company." A more contemplative item on the Greek menu is "2000+1 Shots", about 8 Millennium moments (with English subtitles).
Guilt-free
Total liberty was a prerequisite for Ilan Duran Cohen's "Confusion of Genders". He and charismatic actor Vincent Martinez explained that a lot of conversation preceded the competition film. Cohen- who is also a novelist - explained that he avoids "the angry director" approach on the set. Martinez described his film character as "trapped between the four walls of love, a bit crazy and a megalomaniac."
Unspoiled Beauty
Yesterday a down-to-earth Eleni Karaindrou talked about her art and her upcoming piano concert (Nov. 16 and 17) of work she composed for Angelopoulos' films. The concert will include a piece for "The Suspended Step of the Stork," composed for the director in 1993 - only performed in its entirety once. Before each film is shot, Karaindrou presents Angelopoulos with music that he may or may not use. "It's never a waste of time," she said. She's inspired by "all that is beautiful in the world" and appreciative of the city of Thessaloniki and the festival. It was Manos Hadzidakis who banned the word "serious" from her musical vocabulary.
High on Cash
"In our society, the most common drug is money," feels Viennese Gotz Spielman, director of "The Stranger" (about a taxi driver and a Mexican drug-smuggler). In talking about drugs in his film, the director avoided moralizing as well as drug glorification. Experimentation is alive and well in Austrian film, where state financing uses artistic criteria.
Wilderness Training
Though her film's about East Berlin youths, Ether Gronenbrog got the title for "alaska.de" from a pipeline in the Northern American State that orients travelers. Her characters (all amateurs) cling to utility pipes when looking for a way home.
Civilised Lechery
Sample the festival Wine Collection daily in Warehouse C.
Hell on Earth
At 12.45 the director of "Dead End Streets" will speak about the documentary-like film about a Kurdish man's effort to find his brother. "We're living like dogs," say the men living in makeshift Athens street housing, after fleeing bombed villages.
Only Adultery
One not-to-miss festival film is Liv Ullman's "Faithless". Igmar Bergman wrote the script, in which a fictional character appears to the screenwriter and relates her story of a destructive affair, in a creative monologue.
Real Obsessions
The makers of two Greek documentaries, "Mediterranean Stories" (tracing oil, bread and wine across the Mediterranean) and " I Like Hearts Like Mine " (about "rembetiko" music talent Markos Vamvakaris) speak at 10am and 1.25pm.
Adam and Eve
Thanassis Antoniou wouldn't say who killed Eve, but he did explain that his film is a mountainous metaphor (shot in Karpenisi) about the system that imprisons all of us. It turns out this rare Greek experiment in B-movie stylization is also a thickly-veiled feminist critique. "It's about a man who traps women in order to procreate," explained the director. Yes, you are allowed to laugh, as you watch its wacko hunter try to trap savvy women.
Criminal Offenses
The passion behind the production of the Croatian "Is it Clear, My Friend" was more than apparent in the presentation of the film by brother and sister producer/director team Tatjana and Dejan Acimovic. Persistence was the word, after six proposals to the Ministry of Culture. Eventually the project was only funded 26% by the government and relied on the generosity of friends like musician Goran Bregovic. The story uses a cramped prison microcosm for its social criticism. The chic team is already home promoting the soon-to-be-released film.
Crimes of the Fathers
Christian Petzold explained that "The State I'm In" - about a teenager on the run with her anarchist parents - is pure fiction, because the individual cells of these German groups don't have children. Though akin to heroes of Westerns and mafia movies, the parents in the film hassle their daughter like any parents. He imprisoned his actors for a week before the shoot, showing them movies and talking philosophy. The lucid film has many levels, not least of which is the director's comment on family life; people encase themselves in Saab and Mercedes cars in order to be safe from the world, he pointed out. Petzold's next project is about a techno DJ. "I'm a very very lonely person, with a very very lonely movie," explained the new father, referring to the lack of a united German filmmaking community.
No Heaven on Earth
Featured Mexican director Arturo Ripstein talks about his "The Ruin of Men" and "Such is Life" at noon.
Quote/unquote:
"Humor doesn't always translate well - especially from the Greek language, which has so many games to play." - Nikos Zapatinas, director of "In Good Company".
"The blank white page is a realm of complete liberty." - Ilan Duran Cohen, director of "The Confusion of Genders"
Angelike Contis
First shot, #77, 13/11/2000
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