Gloria is a girl who gives and lets go. She gives in what she does, she gets attached to what she does and she lets go in what she does with a vehicle of imagination. A real life method acting, imprinted on a photograph in continuous processing. A painting that is redefined on the axis of its own background. A woman evolving based on contribution and creation.
Gloria does not seek her place in life as a formalistic condition. She enters into the flow of things, transfusing them with the energy of the moment. And collecting the distillation of their collective view. Some call it the «need to belong through giving and receiving». But perhaps it goes even further than that. Perhaps it satisfies a deeper need for self-determination through a sentient self-worth that ultimately leads to consciousness. You are consciously allowing yourself to process experiential experiences in the dynamics of the moment, with the ultimate goal of emitting a message of collective acceptance as a personification of the time you have been called upon to manage.
It is a transcendental process, just as the art of photography, which Gloria loves so much, is transcendental. As transcendent as her participation in the film groups of Kythera High School under George Didymiotis. A presence in the absence. Absence of sound in the Swallows. Aisha, the refugee girl she plays, feels like she doesn't speak, doesn't move, almost doesn't breathe. Yet! She is in a perpetual state of exhaling a rhonchus, so poignant in the essence of the statement she utters: Listen to me, feel me, touch me!
And of course, the absence of a shaped frame in «I Need You». «I literally did everything in this film», he says to me and I realize that senses new movements of self-definition in an internal terrain that seems fragmented, but in reality is constantly seeking and finding new constants. I lose her in the spinning that white noise sets up around the rotation of the camera, I find her in the protagonist's close-up that reminds me so much of the look of Aisha from Swallows. Until, eventually, I spot her in the cameo she gives us in I Need You. Actually, I don't take it as such, but as a fade out of an exhale and fade in of a new inhale. Like the sharp intakes of breath that an orchestra conductor takes before welcoming a new instrument to the stage.
Yes, Gloria is a man in a constant state of metastasis. She writes, erases, coordinates, observes, observes, empathizes, compassions, sympathizes. Gloria, yes, now I know, is Art expanding, each time the horizon of the senses contracts in the exhalation of the moments that define it. And leaves behind snapshots with which everyone somehow identifies. In the moment. In the now. In everything.
Here is the interview of Gloria Tousai in Kythera.News about her experience from the project of the Kythera High School film teams.
Q. How did your relationship with the film teams of Kythera High School begin?;
-It all started for me in the movie «Swallows». I was very young at the time, I was in the third grade and therefore quite shy. And yes, I had a little fear, just because of the age difference. Nevertheless, I started going to the meetings and as time went on, I found everything that was going on there more and more interesting. And in this, I was greatly helped by the role for which I had been chosen: that of Aisha. As time went by, I identified with her, I was in the skin of the role, I felt her anxieties. Until the day came when I realized I was Aisha.
Q. Why do you think this particular role had this impact on you?;
-I think that my own origin also contributed to this. For years I was uncomfortable with my country of origin, but Aisha helped me to accept some things about myself. Now I don't care, I love who I am. My then and my now, my past and my present. That's why I felt part of the team and part of the team over time, it was that acceptance that helped with that. And feeling one with the whole, I did my best to faithfully perform the role and feel the satisfaction of contributing to the team.
Q. You rejoined the teams the following year, based on the film «I Need You». You were now in high school, it was your elective. How did you handle it?;
-In the beginning, with a lot of anxiety. But the presence of Mr Leventis and of course George of Didymiotis proved to be a catalyst. I learned so much in that two hours on Friday with Didi for the cinema!
Q. In which areas were you active in the film?;
-Who I was not active to say! In fact, I did everything! I was trying to coordinate the team all the time, I was also running the script at the same time, in general I tried hard and it worked out well. The way I say it, it sounds like I did it all by myself. No, it's not like that. We were a team of 4-5 people who worked hard on the film and that's the feeling I'm describing in somewhat more personal tones.
Q. What is the film about and how did you come up with the subject matter?;
In one of the courses, Didi told us to think about the main idea of the film and work it out script-wise. For two hours, we wracked our brains, maybe 1000 different ideas were thrown on the table but we didn't come up with anything. That night, I was sitting around thinking about film themes and at one point the idea came to me to make a film about the relationship between a mother and daughter. I told the others the next day, they agreed and we started building the storyline on that. In the end, the whole process took 2 years and I can say that the result left us completely satisfied. The result shows that a lot of professional work was done, but it is the passion, the passion and the will to make the film that I hold above all. That, after all, is what both Mr Leventis and Didi had told us. To have the will and to be absolutely committed to what we're doing, so that it's done right. As it was done.
Q. What is a Gloria film for you? - What kind of movies do you love?;
-A film is a combination of things. Knowledge and entertainment first and foremost. And this is an equation that helps a lot in the general way of thinking. Personally, I consider it a life lesson and, since the films I love deal with real-life events and situations, the lessons I take in through this treatment are primarily applicable to my own life.
Q. What else do you like to do?;
-I love photography, which I have been involved in since I was a child. What I see with the eye, I capture on the lens. In general, I am a child of the artistic world. I love fashion, I paint a lot, I like to combine my clothes. And I am happy that I followed the graphic design branch in my studies. After all, this was my first choice in the national exams.
Q. Gloria, what is it that defines you as a person?;
-My imagination. I'm constantly trying to push its boundaries, working on it, either on my own or with my friends. I constantly want to add variety to my activities and imagination is the perfect vehicle for that.
Q. What about cinema? Could it fit within the boundaries of your imagination and possibly become a reality as an occupation in the future?;
-You never know. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to go through this process again. With the same passion and the same will as the first time.
