Provides a historical survey of Greek cinema from its very beginning (1905) until today (2010). This title focuses on the attempts to establish a national cinema useful to social cohesion and national identity. It analyses the problems and the dilemmas that many Greek directors faced in order to establish a distinct Greek cinema language.
The book delves into Theo Angelopoulos's intricate cinematic language, tracing its evolution from his debut film, Reconstruction, in 1970. It critically examines his unique aesthetics and various styles that reflect Greece's contemporary history, identity, and themes of loss. Additionally, the work highlights his significant influence on both European and global cinema, offering a comprehensive analysis of how his films interrogate cultural and societal issues within a broader historical context.
Exploring contemporary conscience, this philosophical notebook offers a series of 'spiritual exercises' inspired by thinkers like Marcus Aurelius and Ignatius Loyola. It begins with an acknowledgment of disillusionment and delves into the interconnectedness of reality and imagination. The work emphasizes the importance of individual presence and the ethics that arise from it, ultimately leading to a vision of existential transparency that intertwines poetry, philosophy, and religion within the context of everyday life.
The history of Greek cinema post-1945 is best understood through the stories of its most internationally celebrated and influential directors. Focusing on the works of six major filmmakers active from just after WWII to the present day, with added consideration of many others, this book examines the development of cinema as an art form in the social and political contexts of Greece. Insights on gender in film, minority cinemas, stylistic richness and the representation of historical trauma are afforded by close readings of the work and life of such luminaries as Michael Cacoyannis, Nikos Koundouros, Yannis Dalianidis, Theo Angelopoulos, Antouanetta Angelidi, Yorgos Lanthimos, Athena-Rachel Tsangari and Costas Zapas. Throughout, the book examines how directors visually transmute reality to represent unstable societies, disrupted collective memories and national identity.
The cinema of Theo Angelopoulos is celebrated as challenging the status quo. From the political films of the 1970s through to the more existential works of his later career, Vrasidis Karalis argues for a coherent and nuanced philosophy underpinning Angelopoulos' work. The political force of his films, including the classic The Travelling Players (1975), gave way to more essayistic works exploring identity, love, loss, memory and, ultimately, mortality. This development of sensibilities is charted along with the key cultural moments informing Angelopoulos' shifting thinking. From Voyage to Cythera (1984) until his last film, The Dust of Time (2009), Angelopoulos' problematic heroes in search of meaning and purpose engaged with the thinking of Plato, Mark, Heidegger, Arendt and Luckacs, both implicitly and explicitly.Theo Angelopoulos also explores the rich visual language and 'ocular poetics' of Angelopopulos' oeuvre and his mastery of communicating profundity through the everyday. Karalis argues for a reading of his work that embraces contradiction and celebrates the unsettling questions at the heart of his work.