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Lights and Cameras In Motion |
Whether you've been watching the full moon, enjoying watery sunsets, chasing darkened bars or killing your vision in front of your laptop, time away from the glow of the movie screen is carefully measured and weighed.
To the Lighthouse
Vladimiros Golosinski, the young star of the Greek film "The Fading Light", moved to Greece from the Ukraine six years ago. Director Vassilis Douros discovered the boy, while he was playing violin with his mother in taverns. Both the young actor and director benefited from the presence of renowned actor, Alekos Alexandrakis. In the film, the veteran actor often gives a wordless weight to events, as he plays the grandfather of the small violinist. We liked the shots of the lighthouse and coasts of Chalki and Icaria.
Hidden Lighting
In one scene of Dito Tzintsadze's "Lost Killers", a pair of unthreatening hitmen (from Croatia and Georgia) enter the wrong hotel room. A woman and her grandson freeze and wordlessly abandon the TV for a stare at the intruders. An older gentleman in the bathroom looks up dumbly from his newspaper, when the criminal enters, drops his pistol, and relieves himself. The audience roared at moments like this of tongue-in-cheek humor, found in Georgian-born Dino Tsintsadze's film. The director called his German film a mosaic of cultures. It was a partly autobiographical project, he explained; like his characters, he too has lived illegally in his adopted country. Greek director Dimitris Koutsiabasakos (one of several up-and-coming directors leading film press conferences) lauded the film's ability to make the most of its low-budget parameters (29 days, nonactor cast). Tsintsadze hasn't forgotten Georgian cinema's struggle. His next project will be about a young boy who sprouts wings.
Public Spotlight
Maybe it's unsporting to talk about numbers, but here's the latest tally of the public's competition film choices. True to its title, Makoto Shinozaki's "Not Forgotten" retained the lead yesterday. The film's about a reunion of Japanese World War Two veterans. At 4,221 votes, it was a slender 99 votes ahead of the UK's "Last Resort". Today you can hear the director speak about his film at a 1pm press conference in the high ceilinged Warehouse C. (Greek lesson: "Kalo" = " good". "Kako" = "bad".) On the Greek side of things, "One and One" tickled audiences. (Footnote: The festival vote counters work much faster than the state of Florida.)
Flames of Protest
Director Nikos Zervos protested what he considered a lack of attention paid to Greek films at the festival - by not attending his own press conference for "Vices of Women". One of the film's actors, Spiros Fokas delivered the message of defiance, but went on to speak about the state of Greek cinema. On the sunnier side of things, the film has been in city cinemas for five weeks, and sold 20,000 tickets. Chose naysayers wrong by attending George Tsemberopoulos' press conference at 1.30 for "Back Door" - a retro look at dictatorship-era Greece, not to mention a boy's coming-of-age story.
Do You Have A Light?
We pity the fool who missed last night's screening of "Cheap Smokes" . The film is actor-turned-director Renos Haralambidis' follow up on his ultra-indie "No Budget Story". Don't be fooled by Renos' flashy public persona and talent at stand-up comedy, he reveals a more tortured soul in his tale of a man and a woman who connect and share just one night (and kiss) in Athens. Greece's most popular private will entertain the press at 2pm.
Into the Spotlight
The festival pays tribute tonight to Greek-French director Agnes Varda, by awarding her an honorary Gold Alexander at 8pm, at the Olympion Theatre's Pavlos Zannas theatre. The screening of her new documentary "The Gleaners and I" follows; the film is about people who search for treasures in other people's trash. At 3pm there will be a screening of an earlier documentary short - "One Sings The Other Doesn't" - at Cine Provlita 2. This 1976 film is about two young Parisiennes, their meetings at different stages in their life, and awareness of what it means to be a woman. Among her many accomplishments, the director has been dubbed "The Grandmother of the French New Wave" and made thirty films of all lengths.
Nightlights
On Tuesday evening, Mark Hadzipateras unveiled his first individual Thessaloniki exhibition, as a part of the New Horizon's dedication to sharing its favorite artists with the festival public. The "One Time One Dream" exhibit is a short walk away, at 72 Mitropoleos Street, at the Kalfayan Gallery. Just look for a bright sign, and descend a flight of stairs into Hadzipateras' world of colorful and black and white canvases. It's otherworldly stuff populated by a mix of human and machine forms, and attention-grabbing patterns.
An Inner Glow
As more and more of the international competition films are making their way onto Thessaloniki screens, two directors will address questions about their works. At 12.30 David Green Gordon will talk about the making of his intense look at a both warm and cruel rural America, "George Washington".
Tripping the Lights Fantastic
The time has finally come for the party that no one dares to miss. (Honestly.) It's the New Horizon's Party. The adventures begin at Mylos at 11pm and continue as long as your dancing feet last (be it to Greek music or the "foreign" variety).
"I know that there is good when I see my friends." - A love-smitten 12 year-old, in David Gordon Green's "George Washington".
Angelike Contis
First shot, #80, 16/11/2000
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