PRESS CONFERENCE
Shungu: The Resilience Of A People – Radio Egnatia - Odysseas
On Wednesday, March 17 a press conference was given by the directors Saki Mafundikwa (Shungu: The Resilience Of A People), Davide Barletti (Radio Egnatia) and Vahag Karapetian (Odysseas), whose films are participating in the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century.
Saki Mafundikwa spoke first, about filming the daily lives of his countrymen in Zimbabwe while the country was going through a serious political and economic crisis. He made a spontaneous decision to make the film three years ago, when the signs of the crisis first became evident. “This is my first film and it wasn’t planned. My wife is a filmmaker and when events broke out in our country I took a camera and began to record the crisis and what people said about their daily lives. Only natives could honestly tell the story, and in one voice. I am one of them and they spoke to me freely”.
He spoke about his life before going to his homeland. He studied and lived for many years in the United States, but his love for his country made him come home. “While I was away I had an idealized picture of Zimbabwe. When I came back I understood that nothing was the same as I had imagined it. It’s good when someone travels and acquires knowledge and experience, for him to go home and share it all. You must never remain distant and passive, because that makes you just as guilty. My answer to what is happening in Zimbabwe is this film”. The documentary has not yet screened in Zimbabwe and the artist is anxious about what will happen. “It’s true that I was afraid to screen my film in my country at first, but I thought that there’s no point in making a film about a place and not have it screen there. So, we are waiting for the premiere at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival this coming August and I hope nothing happens to me afterwards, because I want to continue living there.”
Saki Mafundikwa has already begun gathering material for his second documentary, hoping that the government won’t ban it: “I want to be able to continue my work, to make films and to come back to the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 25-30 years, old and using a cane, to say that I got my start here”.
Then Italian director Davide Barletti spoke about his film Radio Egnatia. In the film, a Neapolitan nomadic artist takes the viewer on a trip from Duratzo to Istanbul, following the Egnatia road, the ancient road that was an extension of the Appian Way in the Balkans. “It all began for emotional reasons. I come from Salento, in Italy, where they use a dialect that has much in common with Greek. So starting in Italy we began a fascinating voyage, during which we traveled through many countries and met many people who each have made their own journey. It was a chance for me to get to know Greece, which is not just ancient ruins or the sea. It is a mixture of different people”, Barletti said.
He also spoke about the strong relationships that developed between the filmmakers and the film’s participants, saying that the real star is not the Egnatia road, but the people. “The film is the result of five years work, during which strong friendships were forged. We met people, shared experiences and lived intense moments. I remember the simplicity of the people of Southern Italy, how we were warmly embraced by the Komotini Muslim community” he said.
Finally Vahag Karapetian spoke about his film Odysseas. The film is essentially a part of his own life as a student at the Odysseas School for Immigrants in Thessaloniki. Students and teachers from the school speak in the film about how a comon language can free people from the constraints of borders, prejudice and fear. “I’ve been in Greece for three years and when they told me about this school I wanted to go there to study as a camera operator, I decided to make a film about the school so that the world could learn about the important thing these people are doing”, he said.
He also noted that the differernt cultural backgrounds of the people attending the school is not an obstacle. “We’re all there from different countries, but aside from language there are no essential differences among us. Racism is outside the school, in there we are all equal” he stressed.
Asked if he is going to use the documentary in order to secure financing for his school “Odysseas”, the director noted: “I hadn’t thought of such a thing yet. The school runs as a Non-Governmental Organization and perhaps it would be a good initiative to support this effort through the film”.
