BIG FEELINGS. SMALL SCREENS. 9.7.2020

Onassis Foundation Scholars take us to the cinema. From the globe’s festivals to our screens.

Press Kit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u2m8pk0boqqetw3/AABUEjDRX-gHxQ09tFspClYra?dl=0

The end of the world on a distant island, the life you let slip through your fingers, everyday moments of insanity, piñatas and drag shows on the “Day of the Dead”, the motto “if life gives you oranges, make marmalade”, Seferis’ leaf of poplar. Onassis Foundation Scholars make films. The cinematic journey continues.

The Big Feelings Small Screens program enters its second week of digital screenings on the Onassis Foundation YouTube Channel. Following a collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival on a tribute to Lebanese cinema, these screenings are now fading go black and are being replaced on screen by short films created by young Greek directors. In addition to being fellow Onassis Foundation Scholars, the selected directors have yet more in common: this week’s tribute will be presenting the shorts that made their names; all have travelled to festivals in Greece and around the world, wherever their films have screened; and most are currently preparing their first features.

For its second week of cinema in July, the Onassis Foundation YouTube Channel is hosting yet more films worth seeing. From July 9 to 15, Konstantinos Antonopoulos will be sending us his 2019 “Postcards from the End of the World” from an isolated island, before setting off on an impressive journey round the international festival circuit. Eirini Vianelli plunges us into the animated worlds of “Icebergs” – an existential black comedy selected for the qualifying round of the 2019 Oscars, and based on Efthimis Filippou’s book of short stories “Scenes” – and “The Leaf of Poplar”, inspired by the George Seferis poem of the same title. Araceli Lemos presents “Miguel Alvares Wears a Wig”, a comedy melodrama on the topic of borders that has screened at a series of festivals, from Drama in Greece all the way to Rio de Janeiro. Aristotelis Maragkos charges Christos Valavanidis with the role of a middle-aged man in modern-day Greece in his film short “Beatitudes”, that has been conquering festivals from Locarno to Athens. And Effie Pappa introduces us to an old lady who knows “magic” in her animated short “My Stuffed Granny”, which has garnered a total of twenty awards (at film festivals in Edinburgh, Tokyo, Palm Springs, New York, and elsewhere), as well as hundreds of major nominations.

The Onassis Foundation supports Greek cinema, unleashing the powers and talents of young filmmakers, and presenting the best that Greece has to offer around the world. We embrace the creative process, the research it entails, and artistic development, offering scholarships to people in the arts.

A screen, however small, is all you need to enjoy new experiences and moments as seen through the eyes of both accomplished and up-and-coming filmmakers. Big Feelings Small Screens onto the world of great cinema, with award-winning films, collaborations with major festivals in Greece and around the world, and rare films being shown for the first time online. Films from Lebanon are being premiered in collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival, along with short films created by Onassis Foundation Scholars. Collaborations with the Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights and the Drama International Short Film Festival will be bringing us award-winning Greek short films from 2019. And this cinematic experience doesn’t end there: talks on the seventh art by acclaimed directors such as Werner Herzog, as well as a series of original works each created by up-and-coming artists – such as Vasilis Kekatos, Yorgos Zois and Evi Kalogiropoulou – in 120 hours as part of the ENTER project make clear that cinema at the Onassis Foundation never stops surprising us, inspiring us, and carrying us away.

In brief

From 9-15 July

Konstantinos Antonopoulos, Postcards from the End of the World
Duration: 23΄

Trapped in a seemingly dull family vacation, Dimitra, Dimitris, and their two daughters will have to find a way out of a secluded island in the Mediterranean, when confronted with the unexpected end of the world.

Konstantinos Antonopoulos is a filmmaker based in Athens, Greece. He studied computer science at the Athens University of Business & Economics and received his MFA in filmmaking from Columbia University in New York, on an Onassis Foundation scholarship. While in the USA he directed several shorts, amongst them the award-winning “Without Glasses” (2009) and “Lea” (2013). Back in Athens he co-wrote the feature film “Symptom” (which premiered at Torino Film Festival 2015), edited the feature film “My First Kiss and the People Involved” (premiered at LA Film Festival 2016) and directed numerous documentary series for the TV and the web such as “Greeks Gone West” (2015) and “Insider’s Guide” (2016). His feature scripts have participated in international workshops such as Torino Film Lab and Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink. In 2019 he received the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship Award. He teaches filmmaking at the Onassis Cultural Center. He believes in patience.

Written & Directed by Konstantinos Antonopoulos Director οf Photography: Thodoris Mihopoulos GSC Editor: Livia Neroutsopoulou Production Designer: Chrissa Kourtoumi
Music: Larry Gus Sound Designer & Mixer: Giannis Giannakopoulos Production Manager: Maria Repousi Production Company: Either/Or Productions Financial Support: Greek Film Center, Cosmote TV, Onassis Culture, Cultural Department of South Aegean Region, Artcut
Festival Distribution: Varicoloured International Sales: Premium Films Produced by: Fani Skartouli

With: Giorgos Gallos, Angeliki Dimitrakopoulou, Isavella Anagnostopoulou, Magda Varda, Dimitris Bitos, Jason Bitter, Io Latousaki, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Tatiana Pitta, Giorgos Lignos, Giorgos Vasilenas, Giorgos Mihalakis, Elena Mirtchofksa
https://www.onassis.org/video/postcards-end-world-konstantinos-antonopoulos

Eirini Vianelli, Icebergs
Duration: 9΄22΄΄

Based on the book “Scenes” by award-winning screenwriter Efthymis Filippou (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”), “Icebergs” is an existential dark comedy consisting of 14 short vignettes, ranging from the mundane to the absurd.

Directed by Eirini Vianelli Written by Eirini Vianelli (based on the book “Scenes” by Efthymis Filippou) Producer: Eirini Vianelli Countries of Production: USA, Greece Cinematography: Eirini Vianelli Editing: Eirini Vianelli Production Design: Eirini Vianelli Costumes: Eirini Vianelli Make-up: Eirini Vianelli Music: audionetwork.com Sound: Eirini Vianelli Sound Mix: Pin-Hua Chen VFX: Eirini Vianelli Year of production: 2017

Voice cast Male Characters: Josh Shaffner Female Characters: Miranda Khan Child: Rachel Seistrop

https://www.onassis.org/video/icebergs-eirini-vianelli

Eirini Vianelli, The Leaf of Poplar
Duration: 03΄48΄΄

The last leaf of a poplar tree falls as a man sails alone out at sea. Inspired by the George Seferis poem of the same title.

Eirini Vianelli is a director, screenwriter, and animator. Born in Athens, Greece in 1985, she studied Graphic Design at the Camberwell College of Arts (BA Hons), and Experimental Animation at CalArts (MFA) in California on an Onassis Foundation scholarship. Her films have screened at international film and animation festivals around the world, where they have won major prizes. Her animated short “Icebergs” won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, was selected for the qualifying round of the 2019 Oscars, and received the Special Jury Mention at the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival. She lives and works in Athens.

Direction / animation / sound: Eirini Vianelli Music: Andreas Levisianos Man: Nick D’Agostino Sound mixing: Bethany Sparks

https://www.onassis.org/video/leaf-poplar-eirini-vianelli

Araceli Lemos, Miguel Alvarez Lleva Peluca

Duration: 16΄

A tragico-comedy about borders. Miguel Alvarez, a reliable and consistent middle-aged customs-officer at the border of Tijuana and San Diego is faced with the threat of having to cross the biggest border of all. He has cancer. Tijuana’s la Linea is the most crossed border in the world, and also one of the deadliest. Thousands have died trying to cross it illegally in search of a better life. However, Carlos, Miguel’s inventive coworker, has found another way of crossing over. Carlos invites Miguel to the DAY-OF-THE-DEAD Drag Show where he performs.

“Miguel Alvarez Lleva Peluca” is Araceli Lemos’s thesis film for the California Institute of the Arts.

Araceli is a writer, director, and editor, born in France, and raised in Greece. She studied International Economics in Athens and then moved to Los Angeles as a Fulbright and Onassis Foundation Scholar to pursue an MFA in Film Directing at the California Institute of the Arts. She is currently in post-production of her first feature film, titled “Holy Emy.” The film was inspired by her first feeling when moving to Los Angeles from Greece, of being free to redefine herself in a different cultural context. She said of her film: "’Miguel Alvarez Lleva Peluca’ was created as my attempt to take a peek at the other side."

Writer & Director: Araceli Lemos Producer: Giulia Caruso Cinematography: Ki Jin Kim Production Designer: Markos Keyto Editor: Gregory Rentis Cast: Felipe Cortes, Jose A. Solorio, Maria Carlton, Eva Walker, Pasqual Torres

https://www.onassis.org/video/miguel-alvarez-wears-wig-miguel-alvarez-lleva-peluca-araceli-lemos

Aristotelis Maragkos, Beatitudes
Duration: 15΄53΄΄

A retiring man in rioting Athens faces ghosts and memories from the past to make choices about the present. The film has been officially selected and has won awards in international film festivals including Locarno, Leeds, Drama, Athens among others.

Aristotelis Maragkos was born in Athens and studied architecture at NTUA and filmmaking at the London Film School. Now working as director for films and advertisement in Greece and the UK.

Director: Aristotelis Maragkos Script: Aristotelis Maragkos, Tom Floyd Cinematography: Giorgos Kokkalis Head of Production: Teta Apostolaki Line Production: Plays2Place productions Production Design: Rebecca E. Marshall Art Director: Evaggelia Therianou Costumes: Despoina Issaia, Ioulia Stavridou Makeup: Marianthi Papageorgiou, Georgia Apalodima, Tonia Moshovi Sound: Vasilis Demkas, Giorgos Papageorgiou Sound Design: Giorgos Ramantanis Editor: Aristotelis Maragkos Music: Kornilios Selamsis Produced by: Aristotelis Maragkos & LFS

With: Christos Valavanidis, Olga Damani, Maria Kallimani, Maria Katsandri, Thodoris Katsafados, Michalis Economou, Orestis Diamantopoulos

https://www.onassis.org/video/beatitudes-aristotelis-maragkos

Effie Pappa, MY STUFFED GRANNY

Duration: 10΄11΄΄

Little Sofía loves her grumpy granny; even though she is always hungry and eats what little food they can buy. Her pension is the only thing keeping her and her father alive. To what extremes will they go to once granny is no more?

Born in 1986, and raised in Thesprotia, Greece, Effie Pappa is an award-winning director and animator based in Athens and London. Her work explores characters, and discusses universal themes depicting human concerns through allegory, absurdism, and black humor. Her films have been screened and awarded internationally, and her stand out film “My Stuffed Granny” won twenty awards for best short film during 2014 (Edinburgh Film Festival, Tokyo Anime Awards, Palm Springs, New York, amongst others), and was nominated for many others. She also directs for commercials and music videos; “The Little Elephant” by George Hadjipieris, and “STAR” by Locomondo are considered the most popular ones.

Directed by Effie Pappa Produced by Miranda Ballesteros Based on a story by Nina Kouletakis

Voice-over written by Katerina Giannakou Director of Photography: Tristan Chenais

Production Designer: Thomas Antony Lowthion Editor: Sibila Estruch Animators: Joan Zhongas, Effie Pappa Composer: David Pearce Sound Editor: Marton Kristof VFX Supervisor, Online Editor & Colorist: Ram K. Tripathi Samaveda CG Supervisor: Daniel Neeson
https://www.onassis.org/video/my-stuffed-granny-effie-pappa