A film by Antoinetta Angelidi

(1997)

DESCRIPTION

A documentary-collage of fragments from Greek films from 1967 to 1997. It composes and juxtaposes, traces similarities and differences, constructing a dialogue between the films. Fragments was created in 1997, as part of the activist intervention of the Greek Film Directors-Producers Association – ESPEK “Greek Cinema is Here!”, during the 38th Thessaloniki Film Festival. It includes at least one film fragment by each member of the association.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTS

An anthology from Greek films.

Excerpts, nuggets, fragments, breaths, silences and rhythms.

The main principle of composition is the tracing of gazes. Each director’s specific gaze. The director’s position. Free association of gazes.

And then: What is left when the first-level narrative departs?

I let myself listen to the films. To trace different kinds of condensations. To be led to the world organization they pre-suppose. To the soul of the films, immersion and condensation. Guided by the moment of each film. And these moments attract others. And thus, an inner dialogue began between the films. A new narrative was founded between the different narratives. A new narrative beyond and through the narratives. A multiple meaning emerged. The acceptance of the multiplicity of voices tended to form a new entity. A dialogue between the films, and between the directors.

While there is no additional commentary to the films’ material, an inner commentary is created, a self-commentary.

While there is no thematic organisation, themes are re-created through a constant re-infiltration, without assertation. The themes and time move back-and-forth, revealing an entity: the inner expression of an era.

Antoinetta Angelidi 26/11/1997
(from the leaflet that accompanied the film)

The anthology is not organised chronologically or thematically. It constitutes a dialogue between the films of the different directors. The principle of composition is what is left when the first-level narrative leaves. It is composed from nuggets, like breaths, silences and rhythms, that usually pass unobserved.

Antoinetta Angelidi, November 1997 (interview to Katia Arfara, Βήμα)

CREDITS

SCREENINGS

• Design Museum of Thessaloniki, in the frame of the activist intervention of the Greek Film Directors-Producers Association – ESPEK, “Greek Cinema is Here!”, during the 38th Thessaloniki Film Festival (1997)
• 1st Mediterranean Documentary Festival, Samos (first period – 1998)

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

“Rather than a historical retrospective, I would describe the film as an experiment proving that we [the film directors] are all united.” Vassilis Vafeas, then president of ESPEK,
in an interview to Katia Arfara, Βήμα Νοέμβριος 1997