Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Good evening. Tonight we are going to review the
color documentary film by Marios Lefteriotis, titled CORFU,
which last year participated at the fourteenth Salonica Cine Festival,
The Director chooses to start his movie,
with the 6th Rhapsody from Homer's Odyssey,
"Φαίηκες μὲν τήνδε πόλιν καὶ γαῖαν ἔχουσιν" (Faiakes - "Corfiots" - own this land)
His intention was not to create just another tourist film,
showing the picturesque beauty and the magic sceneries of this island.
Besides touring the island, he made a deeper analysis
which was not fully completed, perhaps on purpose..
He just highlighted the Greek origin of Corfu,
using the extract from the 6th Rapsody of Homer's Odyssey,
which was quite enough, by its self, to cover successfully
all the ancient Greek period of this island.
Essensially what Marios Lefteriotis really wanted to show us
and is successfully doing,
is the today's identity and features of Corfu,
as they have been formed through its long and eventful history ..
And these features are the Venetian buildings, the musical tradition,
and the deep Christian faith and devotion of the inhabitants,
to the island's patron Saint Spyridon !
So, at the beginning of the film we watch the procession of the holy relics
of the Saint, an event that is repeated several times a year,
and the musical tradition of the Corfiots.
Particular attention is given by Lefteriotis to the Venetian buildings
and their characteristic architectural style.
With a CORFU dance and the juxtaposition of sculptured female heads,
he gives fleetingly but properly, the unity in space, events and history ..
The custom of carrying water with buckets
on their heads, by the women of Corfu village GIANNADES,
adds authenticity to the atmosphere of the film.
Marios Lefteriotis made a faultless and meticulous work,
without visual excesses nor verbal ones.
The film has no narration.
The images are so beautiful and eloquent, that they need no words
to help us feel their essence !
But let us watch the film now !
Unfortunately we have not enough time to talk to the Filmmaker, Marios Lefteriotis
but next week he will be with us. Good night to all of you !
Good evening. Last week we showed you the short movie "CORFU" by Marios Lefteriotis
and as we promised, we have with us now the director.
and we are going to talk with him about his work.
Mr. Lefteriotis, it's a privilege for us to welcome you to our show,
at the Greek Short Movies program.
Thank you Mrs. Panagou
... before starting the interview with the Filmmaker
we are going to show you another of his movies (10 min)
the "REQUIEM FOR HUMANITY" (Elegeion or Requiem).
In 1970 this film participated succesfully (3 stars rating)
at the London "TEN BEST" International amateur's Short Movie Festival.
In this movie, "REQUIEM", the Filmmaker presents briefly,
the history of Mankind, from the very beginning to the space age.
CIVILIZATIONS come and go, thriving and falling nations,
customs that are changing ..
only one element remains unchanged in human relationships,
the violence, the law of the jungle and the struggle for victory,
which ultimately leads man to self-destruction ...
The guileless children's souls, as the incarnation of good,
trying to find their way, in an irrational world, stressful and noisy
in a planet that the clamor of war, has never ceased to sound,
The children's eyes observe, full of awe, the human INSANITY,
terrified before their collapsed dreams
and denying the role of tomorrow's successors to this disaster ...
But these awed and accusing children's eyes,
are also the hopeful message of the film !
As you will see shortly my friends, the movie has a very fast pace,
consisting of a series of rapidly changing photos!
This new editing style, successfully applied,
blends perfectly with the music by Mozart and Scarlati.
The children in the movie, Sofie and Olivier, are so real,
that it is impossible for somebody to think that these innocent children,
have to accept and suffer the insanity of the adults ..
But it's time for us to watch "REQUIEM (for Humanity)"
Mr. Lefteriotis although you are a Civil Engineer, you are competing with
professional filmmakers, since your film Corfu took part
in the Salonica Cine Festival last year.
Tell us please how compatible is your profession as civil engineer
with that of film-making and when did you start making movies ?
Mrs. Panagou I do not make films professionally, for a living
Besides my job as civil engineer does not give me time
to do anything else for a living.
Movie making is for me a means of expressing my ideas.
So it is not in conflict with my profession.
On the contrary I believe that it helps me cope better with my life.
I started filmmaking, for the first time in 1967,
with a short film, 8 mm,
which excelled in the 3rd Greek Festival for amateur short films.
It was then that I began to be seriously involved in filmmaking
and after a lot of reading I shaped my personal style.
So you started from the amateurs clubs ?
Yes of course, I started as a member of the Hellenic Amateur Cine Club (ELEK)
where I made friends willing to help me in my filmmaking problems,
to watch and evaluate my movies and at the same time, detect my mistakes ..
Tell us please, what is the purpose of this club and how is it achieved ?
Mainly, the purpose of the club is to help
the members make films with no mistakes.
But the ultimate objective of our club is to educate
its members, to properly assess all kinds of films,
after having developed a true artistic sense,
even with nationwide film festivals.
By the way, I should mention that our fifth nationwide Festival,
will be held early next month.
You mean to say that there have been four previous ones ?
Yes of course, organized by our club.
Did any former member of your club, become a professional filmmaker ?
To my knowledge, many members of our club have excelled
at international festivals for amateurs, making remarkable films,
but I think my film (CORFU) was the first
to take part in a professional festival for filmmakers (Salonika Festival).
Mr. Lefteriotis if you were not a Civil Engineer,
would you like to deal only with the cinema now ?
It's a tough question, because I love my profession, as well as the cinema.
But if I was not a Civil Engineer dealing with constructions,
and had reached my present level of filmmaking,
I suppose that I should like to be involved professionally with filmmaking.
Does filmmaking help you in your profession ?
On the contrary. I think that my job helps me in creating films !
And though this may sound strange, there is an explanation.
You see, a construction engineer, needs certain skills,
to perform properly his job,
such as, acute observation, clarity in expression and creative imagination.
Of course, I don't suggest that these features alone
are quite enough for a filmmaker to do a proper movie.
The main features are talent, studies, inspiration, overall artistic experience
But it is certain that these features together with the other ones,
certainly help the filmmaker to achieve a wholesome artistic result !
To make your movie Corfu, that we saw last week,
did you use an organized film crew ?
No, I do not use, for any cause, a film crew, to shoot my movies.
I personally do that job, as well as the film processing.
Corfu has a variety of characteristics, which are hardly encountered elsewhere.
You see, Corfu is an island with too much beauty but also with many contrasts.
Next to the tourist centers, beaches and the hotels
there is the closed society of the villages where little has changed for
many years and at the center of the island there is the city Corfu, an architectural
and urban UNESCO monument, of the Venetian period in the Ionian Islands
of great value, especially after the earthquake of 1953
when, as you know, Argostoli and Zakynthos were destroyed ..
So in this monument city, the current residents of Corfu
are living and moving in full harmony with their environment. AMAZING !
Would you like now to speak to us about your film REQUIEM, we have just watched ?
With "REQUIEM" I attempted to present the heavy legacy,
of the present generation, which was born with the burden of a past, full of violence
and is forced to live in an absurd and robotic world ..
Children in this movie, symbolize the lost innocence of man.
but also his final hope !
When did you shoot "REQUIEM" Mr. Lefteriotis?
In the summer of 1970.
Why have we not seen this movie at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, (..this movie was censored by dictatorship)
although its style is very modern, its photography
is excellent and generally it is a most remarkable film ?
"REQUIEM" Miss Panagou, participated in the London International
Festival "TEN BEST", in March 1971 and received an honorary distinction,
while, much was said and written about its style !
After this I decided that this movie was qualified to participate
successfully at the Salonika Festival
So I submited it, in August 1971 to the secretariat of the festival
under the Greek title "Ελεγείον ή Ρέκβιεμ" (ELEGEION or REQUIEM)
but the selection committee rejected it (censored by dictorship)
Why after this first experience of yours, we had to wait
for two more years to see you again at this festival ?
At first I was disappointed, but ultimately chose to make a travel
documentary, "CORFU", with which I took part successfully in the festival.
Mr. Lefteriotis how many films have you made before your first successful one ?
Four short films.
Are you planning a new film for the future and if yes, what is it ?
After "RΕQUIEM" with which I tried to give
a taste of the modern era and the contemporary trends of humanity (1970)
I plan, sometime in the future, to make a film
about the man of to-morrow, the man of a far off era.
So it will be a science fiction film ?
Certainly it will have some science fiction elements, but without overdoing it,
because my goal will be the man of the future as a
spiritual entity and not as an element of the environment.
And now I have a question Mr. Lefteriotis,
how do you find the time you need to make your movies ?
Mrs. Panagou, I make usually a short movie,
of 15 or 20 minutes duration, per year, and sometimes per two years.
So my free time, though very short, is enough for this purpose.
You mean to say that you make films, at the expence of your entertainment ?
But filmmaking is my entertainment !
Very nice Mr. Leftheriotis. We have nothing else to add,
but to thank you for coming to our show !
I thank you too Mrs. Panagou, as well as Mrs. Danou,
who was kind enough to invite me to her show !
And now our friends, we come to the end of our show. Have a good night ! �