THEO ANGELOPOULOS PRESS CONFERENCE
Renowned auteur Theo Angelopoulos held a press conference on Saturday, November 22nd, at the Warehouse C, a few hours before the avant-premiere of his long-awaited film The Dust of Time. The film’s leading actor Willem Dafoe and the co-producer Amedeo Pagani accompanied the director.
TIFF director Despina Mouzaki welcomed the guests and noted that she is honored to host Theo Angelopoulos and his avant-premiere screening. ‘Theo Angelopoulos’ cinema is appreciated worldwide for the poetry of his scenes and the way he delves into the world of ideas’, she noted.
TIFF president George Corraface mentioned: ‘I can sense that people here are moved. Every film Theo Angelopoulos makes is a pillar that supports the temple of Greece’s civilization’.
Time, a basic element of Angelopoulos’ film was the most touched upon topic during the press conference. ‘Dust of Time is a film that treats the past as if it were in the present’, commented Theo Angelopoulos when asked to what extend the film involves contemporary Greece and went on by saying: ‘In Western philosophy we accept that past and present are separate ideas. In the East they consider time as one. We are past and present at the same time. History is not something that happened once and was lost forever after. When we ignore it we are incapable of understanding the present. How can someone comment on what’s happening today without relating it to what has happened yesterday or many years ago?’
The director explained that in his film we find ‘History written in capital letters and history written in small print. A love story that might turn out to be stronger than the big story’. To the question whether there is in his film a shift from History to a more personal reading, Theo Angelopoulos answered affirmatively. ‘During the times when everyone used to be political, we would look up toward the sky and feel like its conquerors. We could not realize then how much a personal story could affect the world. We used to think of ourselves as the subjects of history. Nowadays I can’t say if we are its subjects or objects’.
‘Dust of Time’ will be screened out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival. ’When I was there in the past participating in the competition section, I didn’t win because the jury placed an emphasis to the younger filmmakers. It may sound selfish but I won’t take part in any contest if I ‘m not winning an award’, he explained.
‘Theo has made it difficult for us with his travels all around the world. However, if you’re set on making a film, you just do it’, claimed Amedeo Pagani, co-producer of the film.
‘I’m not interested in people’s nationality, but in whether they’re interesting or nor. I’m not interested in roles, but in human stories’, commented Willem Dafoe in relation to how he came to work with a European filmmaker. The actor was also asked about Barack Obama’s win at the U.S. elections: ‘I don’t want to be naive but I have a good feeling. There is hope in the world’.
