Choursoglou Interview - Clip 2
Dia Philippides:
Can you tell us something about the reception of your four full-length feature films in Greece?
Periklis Choursoglou:
The first film was received well when it was released, and there is a symbolic photo taken at an award ceremony — I don’t remember which Festival it was, [probably] in 1993; it was the last year that Melina Mercouri was still Minister [of Culture for Greece] and attended the [Thessaloniki Film] Festival. There were two films that did well, one directed by Sotiris Goritsas, From the Snow, and Lefteris Dimakopoulos (Choursoglou’s own film). She came down, she was always very impressive, she took us by the hand, took us around the Festival, through the audience that was applauding — they had liked our films. We left the hall and we kept hearing the applause from inside, but we were outside. I then asked the Minister, “What’s going to happen now?” and she says, “That’s all”. But I wanted to go back inside, to the people who were applauding. But this “That’s all” was a wise statement, because it meant “Look ahead to what you will do as your next film. Applause is fine, but all of this is so that you can do something better hereafter”. The film had success in the movie theaters. Greek films in 1993-1994 sold very few tickets — namely 2,000-3,000 tickets per movie. And finally two films were then released then — I am referring to these two: From the Snow and Lefteris Dimakopoulos — that sold, in their first projection (in the major cities) around 40,000 tickets, and about double that in their second and third projections, namely in the provinces.
The next film was well received too; it is called The Man in Grey. It is a film about a person who, having spent approximately 30 years wearing a sober well-tailored suit to his job at the Public Waterworks Company, finally decides to search high and low for the colors of his youth that he has neglected for 30 or so years.
And then, four or five years later, in 2003, we released the third feature film, called Eyes of Night. It is a story about three people: a truck driver, a woman that has a relationship with him, and one young woman, Valia, who inserts herself in the story of the two people. A film about people who, you might say, are looking for love and affection. If you asked me why I wanted to make this film, the first image that came to my mind were two people — two women, one older and one younger — across from each other and it seems that one is very angry at the other. She raises her hand to hit her but, instead of hitting her, she gives her a hug. And this is what I believe: that Eyes of Night is a film about a hug.
And after five or six years, we released, in 2008, The Building Manager. This film originates from my experience as building manager (or ‘Trustee’) in the apartment house that contains my office. In brief, the film concerns a man who tries to bring order to a block of flats, to manage the chaos around him, precisely because he cannot manage the chaos within himself. Now that he is approaching his mid-50s, he is going through what we call a mid-life crisis.
And the next film began as Adolescence — a title proposed by my son, my eldest son, Constantine. I don’t know if we will keep this title, Adolescence, or if the film will be called Light-year. But it is still rather early to decide.
Can you tell us something about the reception of your four full-length feature films in Greece?
Periklis Choursoglou:
The first film was received well when it was released, and there is a symbolic photo taken at an award ceremony — I don’t remember which Festival it was, [probably] in 1993; it was the last year that Melina Mercouri was still Minister [of Culture for Greece] and attended the [Thessaloniki Film] Festival. There were two films that did well, one directed by Sotiris Goritsas, From the Snow, and Lefteris Dimakopoulos (Choursoglou’s own film). She came down, she was always very impressive, she took us by the hand, took us around the Festival, through the audience that was applauding — they had liked our films. We left the hall and we kept hearing the applause from inside, but we were outside. I then asked the Minister, “What’s going to happen now?” and she says, “That’s all”. But I wanted to go back inside, to the people who were applauding. But this “That’s all” was a wise statement, because it meant “Look ahead to what you will do as your next film. Applause is fine, but all of this is so that you can do something better hereafter”. The film had success in the movie theaters. Greek films in 1993-1994 sold very few tickets — namely 2,000-3,000 tickets per movie. And finally two films were then released then — I am referring to these two: From the Snow and Lefteris Dimakopoulos — that sold, in their first projection (in the major cities) around 40,000 tickets, and about double that in their second and third projections, namely in the provinces.
The next film was well received too; it is called The Man in Grey. It is a film about a person who, having spent approximately 30 years wearing a sober well-tailored suit to his job at the Public Waterworks Company, finally decides to search high and low for the colors of his youth that he has neglected for 30 or so years.
And then, four or five years later, in 2003, we released the third feature film, called Eyes of Night. It is a story about three people: a truck driver, a woman that has a relationship with him, and one young woman, Valia, who inserts herself in the story of the two people. A film about people who, you might say, are looking for love and affection. If you asked me why I wanted to make this film, the first image that came to my mind were two people — two women, one older and one younger — across from each other and it seems that one is very angry at the other. She raises her hand to hit her but, instead of hitting her, she gives her a hug. And this is what I believe: that Eyes of Night is a film about a hug.
And after five or six years, we released, in 2008, The Building Manager. This film originates from my experience as building manager (or ‘Trustee’) in the apartment house that contains my office. In brief, the film concerns a man who tries to bring order to a block of flats, to manage the chaos around him, precisely because he cannot manage the chaos within himself. Now that he is approaching his mid-50s, he is going through what we call a mid-life crisis.
And the next film began as Adolescence — a title proposed by my son, my eldest son, Constantine. I don’t know if we will keep this title, Adolescence, or if the film will be called Light-year. But it is still rather early to decide.