ΤΙ ΜΑΣ ΑΝΑΦΕΡΑΝ ΟΙ ΣΚΗΝΟΘΕΤΕΣ ΠΟΥ ΣΥΜΜΕΤΕΧΟΥΝ ΣΤΟ ΦΕΣΤΙΒΑΛ ΜΑΣ
Αναστασία Χαραλάμπους Barnfather
ΑΝΑΜΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΚΥΠΡΙΑΚΟ ΣΙΔΗΡΟΔΡΟΜΟ -ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗ | FRIDAY > 21/9/2018
19:00 | 30΄
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
I have always loved history and my ancestral home of Cyprus. My father, Charalambos, and I were walking along the seafront at Limassol one day and we saw the rails that used to be there and he just started telling me about the dock railways … I was fascinated and began researching the subject immediately.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
Our modern industrial history is equally as important as our ancient hellenic one.
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
For me, the opportunity to preserve a moment in history for posterity is a privilege. While making this documentary, which will form part of a ten-part television series, we met many people who worked and travelled on the railways of Cyprus. We filmed and preserved their memories. Many are no longer with us and this is our tribute to them.
4. How significant do you think is the institution of an ethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
It is vital and long overdue! This festival will help to focus our nation’s attention on both the rich archaeological heritage we have … but also on the importance of preserving it! Both for future generations and to promote Cyprus as a cultural centre and holiday destination.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/Historical film festival.
We both wish the festival every success and are looking forward it! We hope and expect it will not be the last and this is only the beginning!
Rastislav Durman
Bordjosh, Ένα Μυστήριο 7,000 Χρόνων/Bordjosh, a 7,000 Year old Mystery
ΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ | SATURDAY > 22/9/2018
17:00 | 52΄
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
* To be honest, I had idea to create fiction TV series about late stone age, but then I had realized that my knowledge about that period is more than poor. I went to Museum of Vojvodina to learn and meet there Ildiko and Alexander Medović who were researching Bordjosh settlement. After a few sentences I was seduced. Bordjosh was a challenge that I could not resist.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
*Often, the late Stone Age from the perspective of the 21st century is treated with underestimating - and it is forgotten that at that time some communities lasted longer than some states made it in so called modern time.
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
I like to see myself as a filmmaker, but as a storyteller; content is the one that selects the tool, archaeological story has chosen film
4. How significant do you think is the institution of a ethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
Any documentary festival improves quality of life at certain place by giving possibility to audience to see something what usually can’t be seen - at least not for several years and not together with other works of its kind.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/ Historical film festival.
Let’s learn about past for better understanding the future.
Χαράλαμπος Μαργαρίτης και Γιάννης Σακέλης
Ένα ντοκιμαντέρ για μια πρέσα που δεν βρέθηκε ποτέ/A documentary for one press that was never found
ΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ | SATURDAY > 22/9/2018
18:00 | 22΄
1. Ποια τα ερεθίσματα σας ώστε να ασχοληθείτε με το ντοκιμαντέρ σας το οποίο συμμετέχει στο AEI CineFest;
Δεν επρόκειτο τόσο για ερεθίσματα όσο για ερεθισμό. Όντας ειδικευμένοι στη χαρακτική και αφού πληροφορηθήκαμε ότι υπήρχε μια πρέσα χαρακτικής στο οίκημα της Στέγης Γραμμάτων και Τεχνών της Πάφου, είχαμε την αφελή πρόθεση να επισκεφθούμε το χώρο για να τη χρησιμοποιήσουμε. Λογικά θα ήταν τόσο απλό. Δεν ήταν. Δεν καταφέραμε να χρησιμοποιήσουμε ποτέ αυτή την πρέσα. Κατ’ ακρίβεια δεν τη βρήκαμε ποτέ. Το ντοκιμαντέρ το φτιάξαμε γιατί, αλλιώς, πιθανόν να μην μας πίστευε κανείς. Δεν είχαμε πρέσα, αλλά τουλάχιστον είχαμε κάμερα.
2. Τί μήνυμα(τα) θέλει αυτό το ντοκιμαντέρ να μεταδώσει;
Δεν έχει κάποιο μήνυμα να μεταδώσει -εκτός από ένα πολύ συγκεκριμένο και ξεκάθαρο το οποίο μεταδίδεται στο τέλος του ντοκιμαντέρ και το οποίο απευθύνεται σε μια πολύ συγκεκριμένη ομάδα ανθρώπων. Πέρα από αυτό, το ντοκιμαντέρ μας είναι περισσότερο μια έκφραση απορίας.
3. Τι σημαίνει για σένα, ως δημιουργός ταινιών, η καταγραφή της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και του πολιτισμού μεσα από τη τέχνη του κινηματoγράφου;
Η καταγραφή είναι, πιστεύουμε, ένα από τα εγγενή χαρακτηριστικά του κινηματογράφου. Μια απόδοση της λέξης ντοκιμαντέρ στα ελληνικά είναι “τεκμηριογράφημα”: δηλαδή όταν μιλάμε για ντοκιμαντέρ μιλάμε για την ταινία ως τεκμήριο για τα όσα παρουσιάζει. Ως αποδεικτικό στοιχείο. Ο κινηματογράφος καθιστά το θεατή αυτόπτη μάρτυρα των όσων του παρουσιάζει. Έτσι από τη μια διασώζει και από την άλλη αναθέτει ευθύνη – διότι ο αυτόπτης μάρτυρας είναι ο πρώτος που φέρει την ευθύνη της μαρτυρίας (της ομολογίας, της περιγραφής, της αναφοράς) των όσων έχει δει. Επομένως, για να το συνοψίσουμε, η καταγραφή του πολιτισμού μέσα από την τέχνη του κινηματογράφου σημαίνει ανάληψη της ευθύνης απέναντι σε αυτό που ουσιωδώς είναι ο πολιτισμός.
4. Πόσο σημαντικό πιστεύεις ότι είναι ο θεσμός ενός φεστιβάλ εθνογραφικού, αρχαιολογικού και ιστορικού ντοκιμαντέρ στην Κύπρο;
Πολύ σημαντικός καθώς είναι μια θεματολογία για την οποία δεν υπάρχει ήδη κάποια πλατφόρμα. Θεωρούμε ότι είναι αναγκαίο και απαραίτητο, ειδικά σε μια χώρα με την ιστορία της Κύπρου.
5. Την δική σου ευχή για την επιτυχία του 1ου διεθνούς φεστιβάλ αρχαιολογικού, εθνογραφικού και ιστορικού ντοκιμαντέρ Κύπρου.
Έχοντας τις δικές μας εμπειρίες από τη διοργάνωση φεστιβάλ σε μια χώρα που δεν έχει καμία απολύτως ευνοϊκή προδιάθεση για κάτι τέτοιο ευχόμαστε πάνω απ’ όλα καλό κουράγιο και επιμονή. Ευχόμαστε καλή αρχή και ελπίζουμε το φεστιβάλ αυτό να καθιερωθεί.
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
It was not an inspiration but an exasperation that led us to the creation of the film. We are specialized in printmaking, so when we found out that there was a printing press in the House of Letters and Arts in Paphos, we had the naive impression that all we had to do was just go there and use it. Logically, it should have been as easy as that. It was not. We never got to use that press. Actually, we never found that press. We made the documentary because otherwise no one would believe us. We didn’t have a press, but at least we had a camera.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
We don’t really want to send a message – only a very precise one which is shown clearly in the end of the film and is addressed to a very precise group of people. Other than that, our documentary is an expression of our bewilderment.
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
Recording is, I believe, one of the innate characteristics of cinema. If you think of the word documentary, it derives from the verb “to document”. Documents are evidence, proofs. So, a documentary is offered as a piece of evidence of the events it records. In that way, cinema renders the viewer an eye witness of all those things that it shows to him. So, in one hand, cinema “rescues” (by recording evidence) and, on the other hand, it assigns responsibility to the viewer – because the eye witness is the one who has the responsibility to testify (to confess, describe and report on the things he saw). So, to sum it up, recording culture through the art of film means assuming the responsibility of culture – the responsibility to rescue it from oblivion and the responsibility to testify about it in time.
4. How significant do you think is the institution of a ethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
We think that it is very important since there is no platform to promote this theme. It is very necessary, especially in a country such as Cyprus, with all this history.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/Historical film festival.
Having our own experience in organizing festivals in a country that has absolutely no favorable predisposition to something like that, the first thing we hope is for you to have courage and insistence. We wish a good start and we hope that the festival will be established as a reoccurring annual event that grows bigger and bigger.
Yeliz Shukri
Αναζητώντας την Φετινέ /Missing Fetine
ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ |SUNDAY > 23/9/2018
20:00 | 75΄
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
I was inspired to make the documentary, ‘Missing Fetine’, after reading about young girls in my community being forced into marriage with foreigners and sent away, with many never being seen or heard from again. I wanted to find out more and wanted to understand how and why it happened. When my close friend Pembe told me about her great aunt Fetine being forced into marriage at the age of 14 and that she very much want to find her, I knew that we had the curiosity, passion and urgency to make an inspiring documentary.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
There is not merely one message but several messages this film hopes to relay to its’ audience’. Namely, finding information is not as hard as people sometimes want you to think and don’t give up.
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
Learning about ones own cultural heritage can only bring richness and understanding to a person. Good and bad, all the information we learn and we gather about where we come from helps us to understand who we are, why we do the things we do and perhaps how we can continue or change our habits and ways of life.
4. How significant do you think is the creation of an ethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
Film festivals allow people to see the world through the eyes of talented and inspiring filmmakers. People working hard to bring to light stories often forgotten or stories unheard of due to the mass production of media and entertainment. Film, especially documentary gives a glimpse of the true story, untainted and detailed, often made by a filmmaker affected by the situation personally. For us to know, understand and help the situation of people both in our own community and of those abroad we must first understand what the situation is. We must be enlightened. Film/Documentary film festivals are a great way of educating people and allowing people to step out of their boxes/comfort zones.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/Historical film festival.
I have worked closely with Stavros Papageorghiou the producer of the documentary, ‘Missing Fetine’ and the organizer of the AEI Film Festival for many years and have seen him work tirelessly for the love of culture, film, history and its’ representation in Cyprus and beyond.
I wish him and the festival the very best of luck and hope people in Cyprus appreciate what an important thing it is for our country to have such events taking place. Wishing the festival full seats, engaged viewers and many fruitful years ahead.
Simge Cerkezoglu
H ιστορία του ξενοδοχείου DOME/The history of DOME hotel
ΠΕΜΠΤΗ | THURSDAY
20/9/2018 18:30
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
DOME hotel is one of the most important symbols for Kyrenia after the Kyrenia castle. So I want people, and especially the young generation,to remember all the historical value of the hotel. The owner of the hotel Katsellis worked hard to build it. When we look at the history of the hotel we see that Dome was home to many people. During the second world war and 1974 the hotel protected many lives. And now the hotel protects its employees. It is not easy to explain the importance of the hotel for people. But if you watch it, you will understand what I am trying to say.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
First of all I want to protect Dome hotel according to its originality. Then I want to remind people our common history on the island. Divided we lost many times, but now we can stop this division.
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
Our cultural heritage is our past but also our future. If we protect and develop it, we can derive strength from it and we can underline our significance to the world.
4. How significant do you think is the institution of anethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
I am very happy and very proud to attend this festival. This is the first time but I believe that if the audience is enthusiastic about it, it will develop each year. We can watch various films especially about the history of the Cyprus and we can also watch foreign films. It is also a great advantage for us. I hope these kinds of festival will be arranged on both parts of the island.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/Historical film festival.
I wish this festival will inspire people to make new documentaries and hope that it will continue for a long time. Cinema is very powerful when compared the other means of expression. Cinema gives the message easily through visual, music and its scenario. We can use it to reach peace, to understand people and to share our stories. All people have a story but not all of them can share it. If we can do cinema, film or documentary we should do it...
I was born in Nicosia. I was educated on radio television and cinema. I am working as a journalist to the north. I have a television program about arts and I work also with Yenidüzen newspaper. I make interviews there. I did many interviews with Greek Cypriots artists. I tried to introduce them to the North and I tried to understand them. I saw that we have got many common beliefs, culture and history. I believe in peace on the island and in the world. So with all my works I gave this message and try to show our common things.
Maren Wickwire
Μαζί και Χωριστά/Together Apart
ΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ | SATURDAY
22/9/2018 21:45
1. What inspired you to create this documentary that will be screened at the AEI Cinefest Festival?
My main objective with the film to “un-mute” the “silenced worker” and to give a platform for marginalized women to express themselves didn’t take too much effort from my side. The so often purported “silenced workers” were not silent at all.A vast collection of detailed narratives of personal accounts filled my notebooks and SD cards. The women had a lot to say when in the private spaces of their shared flats, sitting in Starbucks or spending time together at Karaoke bars. It was not a matter of them being silenced, it was a matter of a missing audience. Participating in the story creation, the women might not understand the entirety of structures in place that shaped their preferences and movements across the world, but they share their insights as “experts of their own lives.” But what struck me most during the filmmaking process is the resilience and courage of Carren, Guil Ann and all the other women that I met while working on the film and the strategies they employed to provide a better future for themselves and their families, which is a fundamental desire that connects all of us across our cultural and socio economic differences.
2. What would be the message that you wish to send to the audience of your film?
We live in a time of migration with an increasing movement of people across the globe. Being mobile is for some people considered a privilege, and for others a necessity to sustain their families, escape wars and simply survive. I was looking at the question of mobility and transnational relationships through the lens of the domestic workers from the Philippines in Cyprus. Together Apart shares the complexities and ambiguities of these women’s strategies of mastering their lives while oftentimes disconnected from their own families and, in many cases, their children. The film highlights the human and social cost and individual experience, critiquing the marginalization and stigmatization of domestic workers in the European Union while also revealing the absurdity of global markets that displace family members and especially mothers across the globe
3. What does the recording of the cultural heritage and culture through the art of film stand for you, as a filmmaker?
Producing ethnographic and documentary films is a challenging task with a multitude of ethical and moral considerations towards the individuals and larger community involved. Together Apart is an attempt to reject the simplification of the complex journey of my film’s protagonists and to fit into specific roles that ‘we’, the media, academia, journalists, and filmmakers carved out for them, without leaving room for imagination, dreams and changes in their trajectories. The open-endedness of storytelling allowed for questions to be posed and left unanswered. Using film as a catalyst for critical discourse, my aim is to inspires audiences to look beyond the visible layers of the digital file they were watching and rather start to engage and inquire beyond the last credit slide. My hope is, that film, like a palimpsest, reveals layer after layer and adds new meaning and nodes to connect the viewer to a deeper understanding of the experience and life story unfolded on the screen.
4. How significant do you think is the institution of an ethnographic, archaeological and historical film festival on the island?
I was actually contemplating to start an ethnographic film festival in Cyprus but I’m glad you did ☺ Film festivals that don’t simply cater to mainstream viewpoints but allow space for participatory approaches and ethnographic methods are vital to understand culture from multiple perspectives and create important dialogue beyond entertainment.
Ethnographic film festivals have the opportunity to allow quieter voices to be heard and offer a space for discovery through filmmaking.
5. Your own message/wish for the success of the forthcoming 1st int. Archaeological/Ethnographic/Hisyorical film festival.
I’m honored to participate in the first AEI_ Cine Fest in Cyprus and hope that the festival will grow into a platform that reaches audiences beyond the islands boundaries – this is a great space to celebrate multi- culturism , diversity and the beauty of cinema.
Γιάννης Ξηρουχάκης
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Ποια τα ερεθίσματα σας ώστε να ασχοληθείτε με το ντοκιμαντερ σας το οποίο συμμετέχει στο AEICineFest;
Το καλοκαίρι του 2014 με παίρνει τηλέφωνο ο Κώστας ο Σπυρόπουλος, μου λέει «Ο Άγιος Βαλεντίνος επιστρέφει στη Μυτιλήνη, το κάνουμε ντοκιμαντέρ;»
Άγιος Βαλεντίνος χα χαχα, καλό το αστείο, του λέω. Πώς πάει η προετοιμασία για το φεστιβάλ, το AegeanDocs , τον ρωτάω.
Επιμένει, λέγοντας ότι σύμφωνα με δημοσιεύματα θα γίνει τελετή για την υποδοχή των λειψάνων.
Ξεκινήσαμε, και η έρευνα έδειξε ότι Βαλεντίνοι που έχουν αγιοποιηθεί είναι 18. Λείψανά τους υπάρχουν σε όλη την Ευρώπη. Στην Ιταλία, στην περιοχή της Ρώμης υπάρχουν δύο, για τους οποίους τα ιστορικά – εκκλησιαστικά στοιχεία είναι συγκεχυμένα. Και οι δύο έζησαν τον 5ο – 6ο ήταν επίσκοποι και πάντρευαν Χριστιανούς, πράγμα που δεν άρεσε σε όλους και ιδιαίτερα στους Ρωμαίους άρχοντες γιατί χάνανε υποψήφιους στρατιώτες.
Ο Βαλεντίνος έγινε ο άγιος των ερωτευμένων και ιδιαίτερα δημοφιλής. Συχνά αναφέρεται σε λαϊκά τραγούδια και σε βιβλία. Ακόμα και ο Σαίξπηρ τον βάζει στο στόμα της Οφηλίας
Η φήμη του μεγαλώνει και από τα τέλη του 18ου αιώνα γίνεται εμπορικό brand.
Τέλη του 19ου αιώνα, λείψανα Αγίου Βαλεντίνου δωρίζονται στην εκκλησία των Καθολικών της Μυτιλήνης, μια κοινότητα με σημαντική παρουσία και επίδραση στο νησί. Μέλος της κοινότητας είναι ο συνθέτης που γράφει ύμνο στον έρωτα, όπως και ο φωτογράφος με την ιδιαίτερη ματιά.
Μετά το 1922 η κοινότητα φθίνει, η Φραγκοκλησιά σταδιακά ερημώνει και τα λείψανα μεταφέρονται το 1990 στην εκκλησία του Αγίου Φραγίσκου και Κλάρας, στην πλατεία Βικτωρίας στην Αθήνα.
Το 2014 στη Μυτιλήνη, η λιτανεία καταλήγει στην ανακαινισμένη Φραγκοκλησιά και ο καθολικός αρχιεπίσκοπος «παραδίδει στη Μυτιλήνη» τα λείψανα για να συνυπάρχουν με τα λείψανα άλλων αγίων που υπάρχουν ήδη εκεί.
Εξάλλου η Μυτιλήνη είναι ένας τόπος στον οποίο έχει υμνηθεί ο Έρωτας, από τη Σαπφώ και τον Ελύτη.
2. Τί μήνυμα(τα) θέλει αυτό το ντοκιμαντέρ να μεταδώσει;
Το ντοκιμαντέρ δίνει στοιχεία σχετικά με την πολυπολιτισμική Μυτιλήνη του 19ου και 20ου αιώνα και τις σχέσεις που είχαν οι Έλληνες μα τους Φράγκους.
Αναζητά απαντήσεις για μια ιστορία που δεν είχε ειπωθεί για 100 και περισσότερα χρόνια.
Επιπλέον θέτει ερωτήματα, για τον Βαλεντίνο που γνωρίζουμε.
Είναι Άγιος μόνο της καθολικής εκκλησίας;
Είναι ο Άγιος της Αγάπης και της θυσίας;
Είναι ο Άγιος του Έρωτα, του ενστίκτου;
Είναι ο Άγιος του συναισθήματος και του γάμου ;
Είναι η γιορτή του «ανόητη γιατί είναι εμπορευματοποιημένη» ;
3. Τι σημαίνει για σένα, ως δημιουργός ταινιών, η καταγραφή της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και του πολιτισμού μεσα από τη τέχνη του κινηματoγράφου;
Το ντοκιμαντέρ αρχικά συμβάλλει στην καταγραφή της ιστορίας και του πολιτισμού, στην αποτύπωση και τη διαφύλαξη γεγονότων.
Όμως πέρα από αυτό, με την έρευνα και τις μαρτυρίες των ηρώων του, μπορούμε να διεισδύσουμε στο θέμα και να αναδείξουμε πτυχές που δεν είναι ορατές με την πρώτη ματιά. Μπορούμε να βρούμε διαδρομές και συνδέσεις με το γενικότερο ιστορικό πλαίσιο όπως και να θέσουμε ερωτήματα στους θεατές.
4. Πόσο σημαντικό πιστεύεις ότι είναι ο θεσμός ενός φεστιβάλ εθνογραφικού, αρχαιολογικού και ιστορικού ντοκιμαντέρ στην Κύπρο;
Η ύπαρξη ενός φεστιβάλ εθνογραφικού, αρχαιολογικού και ιστορικού ντοκιμαντέρ, ενθαρρύνει τη δημιουργία ντοκιμαντέρ, προβάλλει και αναδεικνύει σημαντικά γεγονότα, δίνει τη δυνατότητα για συζητήσεις και ανταλλαγή εμπειριών και πληροφοριών, διαχέει τον πολιτισμό της Κύπρου σε όλο τον κόσμο και φυσικά ενισχύει τα πολιτιστικά δρώμενα στην Κύπρο.
5. Την δική σου ευχή για την επιτυχία του 1ου διεθνούς φεστιβαλ αρχαιολογικού, εθνογραφικού και ιστορικού ντοκιμαντέρ Κύπρου.
Είμαι σίγουρος ότι το φεστιβάλ θα έχει επιτυχία, γιατί προσφέρει ενδιαφέροντα ντοκιμαντέρ. Τα επόμενα χρόνια θα έχει ανοδική πορεία και σίγουρα θα καθιερωθείσαν θεσμός όχι μόνο στην Κύπρο αλλά και ευρύτερα.
