A special evening - a tribute to the «poet of images», the Theo Angelopoulos, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death, hosted last night (31/1) the French Institute, in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, with the participation of personalities who knew him and worked with him in Greece and France.
«The work of Theo Angelopoulos is inscribed in the history of Greek and world cinema as a unique, in its specificity, view of the tragedy of history,» said, among others, the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, in her address.
«These days, ten years after his death, I am thinking of scenes and faces from Theo Angelopoulos' films and I stop at one: is the Papagiannopoulos-Katrakis meeting from “Journey to Kythera”. Two former political rivals - Katrakis, a former communist who has just returned to Greece after 35 years of exile in the Soviet Union, and Papagiannopoulos, a right-winger, the village president - cross paths on a dirt road under a heavy winter sky and exchange a cigarette. And Dionysis Papagiannopoulos’ few stirring words follow: “They put us in and we fought. We took out our eyes. You this way. I on the other side. We both lost. Man to man, wolf to wolf. Nothing left here.” Words that sum up with shocking economy the great drama of our modern history and the author's look at our past. A creator who sought inspiration in ancient myths and theatre, ancient and modern, dived into the historical experience, followed the mnemonic traces, travelled in time, space and consciousness, and created a work that is Greek and international, allegorical and yet realistic, grandiose and profound», added Ms Sakellaropoulou.
Events and valuable memories from their common course and their collaboration with the great creator, who left his indelible imprint in the history of world cinema, were narrated by the composer Eleni Karairindrou which sealed with its music the atmosphere and the feeling of the films of Th. Angelopoulos, his director of photography and permanent collaborator for many years and for a total of 11 films, George Arvanitis and George Archimandrite, author of the books «Théo Angelopoulos, with a naked voice» (Pataki Publications) and «Théo Angelopoulos, le temps suspendu» (Actes Sud Publications), who also moderated the discussion.
«There was a period of my life when I worked at Finos Film in colourful films, with feathers and feathers, in a cinema that tried to imitate the American cinema, but in my opinion fake. I was lucky enough to be on my way with Theodore. And that's where my life changed. At some point after “Representation”, “Days of ’36” and “Theasos”, I said to myself that I could not go back to the previous works, because I found another perspective, another aesthetic, another approach to cinema,» said George Arvanitis.
«I owe everything I am to Theo,» he added. «I didn't study film and he opened my eyes. When I started working with him, I changed as a person, I changed as an artist and it's because of him. I owe him everything. Of course, don't think, we fought, we argued about work, I teased him, he teased me... As friends we didn't hang out much but on set we were one person. We looked at each other and we knew things were going to work out.».
Referring to their collaboration, Giorgos Arvanitis said that «there was always an inner music on the set». «When Theo would start to slowly set up a shot, time would pass and we would rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more. The way he set up the whole scene was like choreography. And the actors and extras were getting into that atmosphere. All this choreography was done with an inner music. And I often felt like I was listening to that music. And even two or three times I even stopped the shot because my eyes were dumbfounded by what I was seeing. It was something magical that stripped you down.».
Eleni Karaindrou referred to her first meeting with T. Angelopoulos: «I was late to come into contact with his work because I had left for Paris during the Junta. I had not seen any of his early films, but because I saw Yannis Tsarouchis quite often and he had seen Anastasis, he spoke to me in very nice terms about Theo. The first film of his I saw was ’Megalexander“ in 1980 in Venice where I was blown away. I saw ”Thiaso“ after I worked with him. But something happened: whatever work I did after I returned to Greece, it was thematically related to what Theo was thinking about. In 1982 at the Thessaloniki Festival I was awarded the music prize for the soundtrack of the film ”Rosa“ by Christoforos Christofis. It was the first prize of my life and it was from the hand of Theo, who was then the chairman of the jury of the festival... From then on I had the pleasure, honour and happiness to be chosen by Theo and to write music for his films.”.
In response to a question from C. Archimandrite, the composer said that her inspiration does not come from images but from ideas. «Ideas are the ones that tear and overwhelm. I don't interpret images, I interpret feelings deeply hidden. And Theo was very, very rich in ideas. He was a great poet of the image but had a philosophical depth to his work, and that's what I was moved by. I think that's where I really found my element and was able to create, to do what I did.».
«Theo was a big heart. Some of my happiest moments with him are those of creating, recording, editing... All these are things that don't leave the memory. We are very, very lucky to have been around him. Of course we lost him quickly, he still had a lot to do. But he has left a great legacy. And I think that the Greece that Theodoros envisioned and showed is not a local Greece, it is a global, ecumenical Greece.. Because what Theo did through his films, was to narrate the global human adventure. For me, he is a Homer who, with his images, has created a great mosaic in which all his films together create a single work,» he said.
During the event at the Auditorium Théo Angelopoulos of the French Institute, the audience had the opportunity to see a rare selection of documents and to listen to recorded testimonies of Theo Angelopoulos, as well as personalities from Greece and France, about the unique journey of the Greek director. Among them, we listened to Jean Moreau (in a personal recording by G. Archimandritis), who was playing in «The Stork's Meteoro Step», talking about the special relationship between actors and director, about the vision that Th. Angelopoulos' vision for his film and about how demanding he was with himself and his collaborators. But also the Irene Jacob who was involved in Dust of Time, saying that «the expectation in shooting Theo was that a lot was taken into consideration in terms of the shot. The actor was not always at the center of the shot and the feeling of the shot. It looked like an equation with a lot of data».
George Archimandrite also referred to the role that France played in shaping Angelopoulos' aesthetics, while he read a letter dedicated to the Greek director sent to him by Gilles Jacob, who was for over 30 years the artistic director and then president of the Cannes Film Festival. The short film «Chacun son cinèma: trois minutes» / «Everyone and his cinema: three minutes» (2007), commissioned by the Cannes Film Festival for Th. Angelopoulos on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the institution.
The evening ended with the top soloists Natalia Michaelidou (piano) and Vangelis Christopoulos (oboe) performing musical themes by Eleni Karaindrou for films by Theo Angelopoulos.
