21st THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL [1-10/3/2019]
Golden Alexander to Louie Psihoyos
In a special event that took place on Saturday March 2nd, 2019 at Olympion theater, the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival awarded Greek-American filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, the official guest of this year’s edition, with the Golden Alexander, for his contribution to cinema. The director came to Thessaloniki on the occasion of the carte blanche given to him this year by the TDF to select and present to the audience ten of his favorite documentaries. After the ceremony, the audience had the chance to watch in a special screening Louie Psihoyos’ Oscar-winning documentary The Cove (2009), which is recording mass dolphin killings in Japan. A discussion with the director followed.
In his welcoming speech, Artistic Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Orestis Andreadakis introduced the special guest speaking both about his work as a photographer with The Times and National Geographic and the foundation of the Oceanic Preservation Society, a non-profit organization whose goals are to inform, raise awareness and urge for change in our oceans. Mr Andreadakis did not omit to mention the Oscar for Best Documentary awarded to The Cove, as well as the 38 awards that this film has won in total worldwide. “Louie Psihoyos’ love for his subject and his devotion to artistic creation is an example for all of us”, Mr Andreadakis noted.
The TIFF’s Board of Directors President and cinematographer Yorgos Arvanitis took the stage afterwards and congratulated Louie Psihoyos saying: “It is a great joy and honor for us to have Louie Psihoyos in this year’s TDF edition. He is a multitasking artist who has contributed enormously to raising public awareness towards the environment via his documentary and his photographic work. We welcome him warmly in our Festival and we are awarding him the Golden Alexander for his contribution to cinema”.
The screening of the documentary The Cove followed, and then Louie Psihoyos discussed with the audience. He confided that he never felt the urge to make films until he actually did it; instead, he wanted to change the world. And he did so with this film. “Before The Cove screening, 23,000 dolphins were being killed in Taiji and were consumed by Japanese citizens. After the film, the dolphin meat consumption decreased by 93%. This is a powerful example of films changing the world”, he stressed.
Asked by the moderator, TIFF’s Head of International Programming Yorgos Krassakopoulos, what was the most overwhelming moment during the film’s production, Louie Psihoyos mentioned a particular incident, a “divine intervention”, as he called it. As he said, he once traveled for nine whole hours next to the president of Japan’s Fishery Commission, the person considered in the film as one of the main responsibles for the brutal dolphin killings. Speaking with him, and after citing evidence that dolphin meat is high in mercury, the Japanese official replied that his sole responsibility is to provide people with food and that food safety is not on his jurisdiction. Based on this story, Louie Psihoyos said that we cannot disclaim responsibility for the salvation of our own planet. “We are contaminating the oceans, we are overfishing and putting the blame on whales, we are leading Earth to destruction. Coral reefs are shrinking and that is a bad omen for mass extinction. Even then, we do not dare to look inside us and find our mistakes. What I want to do is make the viewer realize that we are all responsible for what is happening. Our role is to take care and look after this planet. We were named ‘Homo Sapiens’ for a reason. We have to justify the title”, he said.
Consequently, Louie Psihoyos noted that he is still an environmental activist. As he said, 100,000 sharks get killed every year for their fins, which are used in Oriental medicine. However, his and other directors’ fight as well as the collection of signatures convinced the multinational delivery company FedEx to stop shipping shark fins, which led to a dramatic fall of their trade. Mr Psihoyos added that The Cove‘s impact was so big that managed to cause uproar in Japanese society, reaching all the way to the Prime Minister himself. “We continue to work hard for these causes. We have the Oceanic Preservation Society and try to trigger small social movements. We will also make a six episode series on orca captivity industry in Japan. On the other hand, the security measures in Taiji were enhanced and mass killings keep happening. However, activism is stronger. Change can happen, I deeply believe it. We are all very strong, we just don’t know it. I, on my part, do not just want to make films, I want to trigger social movements. Movements that will change our minds and conscience. That will change the world”, he noted.
In the last part of the conversation, Mr Psihoyos replied to the audience’s questions. First, he stated his view on vegetarianism and veganism. After claiming that the man does not need to consume animal products, since they do not make him stronger of more vigorous -”it is a myth created for commercial reasons”-, he spoke about his film Game Changers, which deals with a similar subject, and concluded that each one of us can save 5,200 animals by not eating meat. “If you want to change the world, start from your own plate”, Mr Psihoyos noted.
Speaking about the difficulties he met at the shootings of The Cove, Mr Psihoyos said that he was scared, of course, but at the same time he felt a deeper need to do what he did. “Filming means taking 24 pictures/second, but this time it had to be a collective and not an individual work, as was the case when I used to work as a photographer for National Geographic. We had to make a film which would be shocking, exciting, and even funny. However, our ultimate goal was to make people’s conscience change. This, for us, means success. When the film was ready, we sent 3,444 copies to all Taiji residents. I don’t know how many of them actually saw the documentary, but even if two people did, it’s enough. As British poet William Blake had said, ‘see a world in a grain of sand’. So, even with two people you can change the world”, Mr Psihoyos concluded.
