JUST TALKING 15-3-2010
The second “Just Talking” took place on Monday, March 15, 2010 at the Excelsior room of the Electra Palace hotel, as part of the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Present were directors Evdoxia Mpra, Gregory Markopoulos and Temenos: Radiating with One’s Own Light and Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine, director and producer of Good Fortune. The talk was coordinated by the Canadian director, producer and political activist Peter Wintonick, friend of the Festival.
What connects the two documentaries is the fact that in one way or another they are about artists. This reference, in the case of Gregory Markopoulos and Temenos: Radiating with One’s Own Light is obviously immediate, since the film follows the life of the great avant-garde filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos. In its turn, the film Good Fortune, examining the controversial impact of “foreign aid” for the eradication of poverty in Africa, also refers to the artists who give charity concerts in collaboration with various organizations to serve this aim. Using the recent catastrophic earthquake in Haiti as an example, Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine were asked why such efforts continue when “everyone knows the money doesn’t go where its supposed to”. Their answer was simple and direct: “That’s exactly what we wanted to show in the film!” The director said: “My interest was more personal and less political. We always hear of Bono’s concerts, for instance, or other famous artists who, through the UN or other organizations raise money to give to the poor. However, perhaps the aid given by the developed world has a bad impact on the lives of these people. Perhaps sometimes help is not only not possible on a practical level, but there can be negative consequences for them.” He stressed that doors shut in his face at various organizations when he wanted to hear their opinion on the specific subject, and he underlined that he is already expecting the UN’s negative reaction when the documentary will be officially screened in Nairobi in June. On the other hand, he said: “ Naturally we also had problems with the people in Africa. Maybe I was very enthusiastic that I would work there and spent a lot of time preparing, but people were still hesitant. You see, they don’t trust foreigners. On the one hand they see the UN, in collaboration with the government of Kenya, tearing down their houses with bulldozers to put up building blocks with no respect for tradition. But on the other hand, as is also shown in the film, something similar is happening in the case of an American investor who gave 25 million dollars in order to build infrastructures in the area, but which are not approved of by the local community”.
According to director Landon Van Soest, the feelings of the filmmaker who can’t avoid taking sides during events, are not only present during the documentary’s shooting. “During editing, I felt as if I represented these people, at leas in part”. Producer Jeremy Levine, when asked whether he as ever discussed these issues with artists who do these concerts, he jokingly asked if anyone has Bono’s telephone number. He admitted that “the issue raised by the film wasn’t very helpful in finding financing”. At this point, Peter Wintonick commented on the human interest in Haiti, speaking about the aid that was given so that it could be handed out in turn to western companies who will “reshape” the country.
Greek-American director Evdoxia Mpra’s film Gregory Markopoulos and Temenos: Radiating with One’s Own Light is about Gregory Markopoulos, an important representative of experimental film. He was also Greek-American, and stayed away from the public eye throughout his life. Evdoxia Mpra learned about him by accident, while studying experimental cinema at University. “Gregory Markopoulos worked in an age when video cameras were very different and his work, from an artistic standpoint, is truly unique. Sometimes he didn’t even need to screen his work – which he always completed by himself – since he had the whole thing visualized in his mind. I had the chance to come into contact with his work during some special screenings in the Peloponnese, and I realized the greatness of his genius. I believe he was not recognized enough, but he was also an eccentric person. He didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone and essentially his only social contact was his colleague and companion Robert Beevers. Today, although having a different artistic style from that of his mentor, Robert Beevers is following his own, valid artistic journey”.
Speaking about the relationship Gregory Markopoulos had with Greece, she inevitably referred to her own relationship with our country. “The truth is that we have a common love of Greece. And perhaps Gregory Markopoulos left America because he thought it didn’t appreciate his work and then went to Switzerland, while I came to Greece in spite of all those who told me ‘don’t go, it’s nothing like what you know in the USA, etc. But here I met smiling people, who always wanted to help me complete my work”. The young director’s documentary might be broadcast by Greek television if negotiations work out, however her goal is to complete the film exactly the way she imagines it, since the print she brought to Thessaloniki for the 12th Documentary Festival is a first draft of the film. “I would very much like to convince Robert Beevers to give me more archival material of Gregory Markopoulos. I have many photos and written material about him, but I have very little that was film by him. Up to now the material I used has been free, but I’m afraid that for any more I’ll have to pay, but this is money that Robert Beevers needs anyway in order to preserve the Markopoulos archive”. In closing, she joked about the reception of her work: “One of the best lines I heard about the film is my father’s, who when he say the documentary told me: I thought it would be boring, but finally its interesting”.
