DAUGHTER/ 1/2 REVOLUTION/ FORTUNATE SON
A Press Conference in the framework of the 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival was held on Monday, March 12, 2012, with the directors Maria Paz Gonzalez (Daughter), Karim El Hakim (1/2 Revolution) and Tony Asimakopoulos (Fortunate Son), whose films participate in the festival’s International Program.
In her film Daughter, Maria Paz Gonzalez narrates her own personal story. In the story she and her mother cross Chile looking for a relative neither of them knows. The director explains: “Up to a point, presenting a personal story is rather complicated. However, I tried to overcome this element and ultimately create a universal narration. I needed to reach a point where my presentation would be more than my personal story, and that was the hardest part”. Referring to her double role, in front and behind the camera, the creator commended: “It’s complex to be the main character and the director at the same time. The difficulty lies in the fact that you should draw a line between the two roles, the heroine, on the one hand, and the directions you want to give to the film’s character on the other. It’s hard ‘battle’ and it has to do with understanding the two roles. You have to overcome the fiction in order to harmonize it with the backstage procedures. In general, what I’ve tried to achieve was to turn the film into a profound look into the general subject of searching for our origins”. She also commented on her specific directing choices and explained that: “Despite that, on a personal level, it was hard to deal with all the the emotions that kept rising in relation to my mother, I chose not to use either interviews or voice over in the film, and that made the whole procedure even more intense”.
Next followed Karim El Hakim who, along with Omar Shargawi, directed the documentary 1/2 Revolution. The documentary records their everyday life during the first days of the Egyptian revolution. Speaking about the two directors’ initial motive, Mr. Hakim said than the film came out almost by chance. “At first, we wanted to get out in the streets and record the events, hoping to maybe shoot stuff journalists wouldn’t find and then upload it on the internet. When internet access was denied, that was no longer an option. So, we kept on videotaping anonymous people in the streets, as well as our own discussions with family and friends”. The director pointed out that the narration was decided when, during videotaping the events, he realized that he should connect the different stories deriving from the family and the public life. “There were battles going on outside. Practically, we didn’t have the luxury to look for other film characters than ourselves” said Mr. Hakim and added: “I was trying to observe people’s reactions, the ambivalence, the emotions filling my house and the streets, but we had no clear picture of things until we gathered twenty to thirty hours of filming material. The film came out after the montage procedure during which we had to find out the connections among the most significant scenes filmed at home and in the streets”. The director stated that he is optimistic for Egypt’s future because, as he noticed, both the people and the state have changed radically. As for the film’s title, the director’s comment is that: “The title implies that the revolution is not over. Mubarak lost, but the regime is still standing. In a way, the title makes it clear to the western public that the revolution is not over, contrary to what the western mass media present. We try to sensitize the West and point out the need to support reformations, to start a dialogue for the relation between the West and Egypt”. Moreover, in the director’s opinion “foreign interference created Mubarak, in a way, and it has a share of responsibility. I think we need to move forward and think thoroughly about our country’s relations with the rest of the world, especially as far as the USA military aid is considered”.
Next followed Tony Asimakopoulos whose film, Fortunate Son, portrays his family story and is dedicated to his parents. Speaking about his decision to share something that personal, the director noticed: “At first, my intention was to honor my parents for the way they dealt with my drug addiction many years ago. I wanted to narrate this story and get over with it, however, once I started filming I realized I had to involve them in the whole situation and that I couldn’t be the one simply making the questions. In that way, a film came out about the three of us and, as the documentary proceeded and I was about to get married, the story changed a bit and moved towards the way my relation to my parents affected my relationship to my fiancee”. Mr. Asimakopoulos said also: “The transition from a documentary on the past to a sort of family drama-tragedy was hard. Two are the dominant elements in the film: the background story that includes interviews about the past and the family drama that unfolds around my marriage”. Commenting the film’s impact on his life, the director underlined: “This procedure brought me closer to my family and myself. My parents, like proper Greek parents, did their best to support me with filming my so desired documentary and they believed that watching the way they dealt with the situation could help other people too”. Mr. Asimakopolulos, however, didn’t forget to point out that the whole procedure was even more difficult for his wife: “Natalie suffered the most. For two years I’ve been walking around with a camera in my hand, recording phone calls, it was crazy. Our relationship was tested”. Finally, the director added: “The first time I watched my film on the big screen was at the premiere. At first I was worried about my parents’ reaction and the reaction of the people close to me who where there, but then, I was happy and relieved when I realized they enjoyed it. Then, I watched the film over and over again critically, and the most important, observing the audience’s reactions and the emotions the film triggered. That helped me moving forward”.
All films are categorized in sections co-financed, among other actions of the 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, by the European Union-European Regional Development Fund, in the frame of Regional Operational Program of Central Macedonia 2007-2013.
