Clean Cities − 2021
An Onassis Culture production. Directed by Marina Danezi, Kostas Mandilas, Constantinos Hadzinikolaou, and Christos Sarris
Four directors, four city stops. “Clean City” – the Onassis Stegi production that has toured the world most widely – has given rise to an anthology film honoring the women who clean the cities of the world.
Who cleans the world’s cities? And why are they mainly women and immigrants? Onassis Stegi’s well-traveled production “Clean City” has prompted a hybrid film. Four different directors follow the work as it tours four cities: Skopje, Sarajevo, Montpellier, and Istanbul. Female immigrants and cleaners – the work’s lead performers, and other women too – tell their life stories, and talk about the prejudice inherent in notions of cleanliness and purity, and the dangers of fascism, about women’s migration, and sexual assault. An anthology film on the border between documentary and fiction that springs from the filmed theater production by Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris.
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Clean Cities premieres at Athens International Film Festival "Opening Nights" 2021. Discover more
Still: Marina Danezi
Part One – Skopje
Directed by Marina Danezi
“Clean City” makes a stop in North Macedonia. There, award-winning documentary filmmaker Marina Danezi meets the theater production’s five lead performers: Mabel, Rositsa, Fredalyn, Drita, and Valentina. With Skopje as a backdrop, Danezi’s camera sensitively brings their personal stories to the fore. What was life like before they left their home countries? What circumstances led them to Greece? How did they arrive there and what did they imagine they’d find there? How long did they think they’d stay and what kept them there? And what did they find difficult? These five women recollect and reminisce, laugh and grow emotional, and in the process weave a common narrative that takes in memory and hope, homelands and being uprooted, prejudice and diversity – a narrative that talks about women and the world of work, about dignity and respect.
Recollection only matters if its experience helps us be better in future.
Still: Kostas Mandilas
Part Two – Sarajevo
Directed by Kostas Mandilas
The “Clean City” tour makes a stop in Bosnia and Herzegovina to appear at the International Theater Festival MESS. Filmmaker Kostas Mandilas enters into conversation with one of the production’s two directors – Prodromos Tsinikoris – with Sarajevo as a backdrop, a city still visibly scarred by the civil war. Tsinikoris sets out the idea behind the production, talks about documentary theater, and explains what it’s like working with non-professional actors.
I love you. Love. That’s the word. But where’s the action?
Still: Constantinos Hatzinikolaou
Part Three – Montpellier
Directed by Constantinos Hadzinikolaou
The production’s five lead performers now find themselves in France. They’re staying together in a large house with a garden for a few days, and in their moments of rest and relaxation before going on stage, they remember moments from their lives. One question keeps coming to the fore, in various ways. What is love? Shot on Super 8, this third part of the documentary – directed by Constantinos Hadzinikolaou – explores the lead performers’ stories by means of short takes and fleeting glimpses, capturing the prevailing atmosphere backstage a little before the lights go up.
Still: Christos Sarris
Part Four – Istanbul
Directed by Christos Sarris
Last stop: Istanbul. Director Christos Sarris delineates the portrait of a cleaning lady, an internal migrant who moved to Istanbul from a provincial Turkish town. Her story is like that of the production’s leads, and her life is in danger of passing over into an endless repetition of the same movements. Until the moment when the woman there to do the housework becomes a Woman, with a capital “w”.
Discover the performance "Clean City"
SKOPJE
Script & Director: Marina Danezi
Director of Photography: Claudio Bolivar
2nd Camera Assistant: Dimitris Zivopoulos
Sound Recording: Lefteris Kabalonis
Editor: Andreas Yannakopoulos
Sound Mix: Dimitris Miyakis
Production Manager: Tasos Koronakis
Line Production: Laika Productions
SARAJEVO
Director: Kostas Mandilas
Camera: Panagiotis Manolitsis, Kostas Mandilas
Sound: Alekos Sakellariou
Super 8 Film: Kostas Mandilas
Executive Producer: Anastasia Moumtzaki
Production: Production House Greece
MONTPELLIER
Script, Camera & Director: Konstantinos Chatzinikolaou
Executive Producer: Aggeliki Aristomenopoulou
Editor: Artemis Anastasiadou
Sound Design & Mix: Persefoni Miliou
Camera Assistant: Stelios Moraitidis
Line Producer: Irilena Tsami
Editor: Massive Productions
Video & Interviews: Aggeliki Aristomenopoulou
Featuring:
Mabel Mosana
Rositsa Pandalieva
Fredalyn Resurreccion
Drita Shehi
Valentina Ursache
Special thanks to:
Anestis Azas
Christos Sarris
Prodromos Tsinikoris
Théâtre des 13 vents
The script is based on the interviews of Mabel Mosana, Rositsa Pandalieva, Fredalyn Resurreccion, Drita Shehi, Valentina Ursache
The filming was held in film Super 8 at Montpellier, France, in November of 2019, occasioned by the performance of Clean City, directed by Anestis Azas & Prodromos Tsinikoris at Théâtre des 13 vents
ISTANBUL
Director: Christos Sarris
Director of Photography: Alexander Asplint
1st Camera Assistant: Dimitris Zivopoulos
Sound Recording & Mix: Panagiotis Papagiannopoulos
Production Manager: Despina Sifniadou
Editor: Dimitris Zivopoulos
Script: Melpomeni Maragkidou
Translation: Giannis Panourgias
Colorist: Manthos Sardis
Post-production Coordinators: Elena Choremi, Smaragda Dogani
Fixer: Mert Gürel
Casting Agent: Giovanni Ajans
Film Equipment Rental Companies: RentPhotoVideo, DK Video Productions
Special thanks to:
Larsa Larsson
Gamze Larsson
Savaş Tan
Zorlu Performing Arts Center (Zorlu Performans Sanatları Merkezi)
Featuring:
Arife Göksu
Selma Kodon
Edanur Göksu
Mithatcan Göksu
Mabel Mosana
Rositsa Pandalieva
Fredalyn Resurreccion
Drita Shehi
Valentina Ursache
Music: Alexis Kalofolias
Recorded and Produced by: Buildings at Night
“CLEAN CITY” THEATER PRODUCTION CREDITS
Direction & Dramaturgy: Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris
Dramaturgy Consultant & Research: Margarita Tsomou
Set Design & Costumes: Eleni Stroulia
Assistant to the Set & Costume Designer: Zaira Falirea
Lighting: Eliza Alexandropoulou
Music: Panagiotis Manouilidis
Video: Nikos Pastras
Assistant Directors: Ioanna Valsamidou, Liana Taousiani
Production Management: Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos
Video appearance: Nelly Kambouri
Puppet Construction: Yiannis Katranitsas
With: Mabel Mosana, Rositsa Pandalieva, Fredalyn Resurreccion, Drita Shehi, Valentina Ursache
Surtitles Translation: Memi Katsoni
Produced by Onassis Stegi
Co-produced by Goethe-Institut, in the context of EUROPOLY project (EUROPOLY is a project of the Goethe-Institutes in Europe in cooperation with the Münchner Kammerspiele, Onassis Stegi-Athens, Sirenos – Vilnius International Theatre Festival, Teatro Maria Matos Lisbon and Tiger Dublin Fringe)
Video recording: Dotmov
ONASSIS CULTURE
Director of Culture: Afroditi Panagiotakou
Deputy Director of Culture: Dimitris Theodoropoulos
Head of Content: Alexandros Roukoutakis
Content Writer: Elizampetta Georgiadou
Campaign Manager: Elisavet Pantazi
Onassis Creative Studio
Head of Creative: Christos Sarris
Motion Graphics: Konstantinos Chaidalis
Video Production Coordinators: Elena Choremi, Smaragda Dogani
Editor: Tryphon Karatzinas
Sound Mix: Panagiotis Papagiannopoulos