Monica Bellucci, symbol of timeless beauty, one of the most glamorous stars of world cinema and an official guest of this year's Thessaloniki Film Festival, attended the screening of the film Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs, at the packed Olympion theater. Directed by Tom Volf and Yannis Dimolitsas, the film features Bellucci in a starring role. The actress will receive the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander Award on Thursday, November 9th, before the special screening of Giuseppe Tornatore’s, Malèna (2000).
"I am extremely touched. Thank you sincerely for this invitation. As you know, I hold Greece very close to my heart. I would rather not explain the film, you will discover it for yourselves. I hope you enjoy the screening and thank you once again," Monica Bellucci stated on the stage of Olympion before the start of the screening.
The famous Italian actress was welcomed by the Festival's artistic director, Orestis Andreadakis. "Good evening, buona sera signora Bellucci! The film we are about to watch today, Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs, captures single fragment of the enormous personality of Maria Callas, featuring another dazzling figure, Monica Bellucci," initially said Orestis Andreadakis before inviting Giannis Dimolitsas onto the stage, who presented the film to the audience.
The director of the film thanked the Festival for the honorary invitation and spoke about the idea and the film's journey to date. "What we will be watching today is definitely not a simple documentary about Maria Callas. In fact, today we are going to watch a documentary about Monica Bellucci, or Monica if you prefer, who embodies Maria through the latter's letters. It is a theatrical performance that started about two and a half years ago and made its way around the world. As far as cinematography is concerned, we decided to film it in as simple and beautiful a manner as possible," noted Yannis Dimolitsas.
The director explained to the audience that the film emerged after an extensive study of Maria Callas's letters and a rich archival material, where a camera continuously followed the great soprano at a close distance, capturing various stages of her life. It was from this that the idea of a camera that would follow Monica Bellucci in her preparation to play Maria Callas, as well as the idea of filming dramatic scenes in Callas' home came about. A key reference point was Roberto Rossellini's film L'Amore, especially its first part, which is based on Jean Cocteau's play The Human Voice. In this film, Anna Maniani embodies a woman talking on the phone throughout the film, attempting to salvage her love. This particular motif was highly influential to the creators of Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs, since they intended to showcase Maria Callas' letters addressed to Aristotle Onassis. Concluding, Yannis Dimolitsas also expressed his gratitude to the producers Samy Boudiaf and Stanislas Wicker of (SIC) Pictures, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos and Andreas Zoupanos Kritikos of Faliro House Productions, as well as George Lykiardopoulos.
The film Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs is an invaluable testament to the international tour of the theatrical production of the same name, starring Monica Bellucci as the great opera diva. Through the chronicle of the tour, spanning from November 2019 to January 2023, two different eras unfold - the current one and the one in which Callas was at her peak. Simultaneously, a dialogue opens between the brilliant contemporary Italian actress and the leading soprano who defined the 20th century.
