Cinema for me is…
Bulgaria – Paraskevi Karageorgu from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Paraskevi Karageorgu in 25 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words
I am a cinephile and a curious and open-minded citizen of the world.
2. What are your 3 best qualities and your 3 worst habits?
Best: I like to help others, I’m curious about other cultures and I’m a quick learner.
Worst: I don’t have much patience, I’m too self-critical and I overthink.
3. What is your dream job?
A job that allows me to enhance intercultural understanding.
4. What do you like most about your country?
People’s hospitality.
5. What is your favorite dish in your country?
Banitsa.
6. What is the word or the expression in your native language that you like the most and what does it mean?
Това са бели кахъри (These are ‘white worries’). It means that you are worrying about something insignificant, it helps you look at life into perspective.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Brussels.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Slovenia.
9. What does Europe mean to you?
Europe means to me endless richness of cultural diversity. We have so many distinct cultures in such a small geographic area – it is amazing how much you can explore and discover in a short distance.
10. What are the European values that you share?
Unity, tolerance, social solidarity.
11. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Таралежите се раждат без бодли, Porcupines Are Born Without Bristles by Dimitar Petrov.
12. What is your favorite cinema theatre and what do you like about it?
I have two favourite cinemas, in my hometown Sofia is Cultural center G8, it is a renovated cinema with quality Bulgarian and other European films, it has a cinema museum and a café indoors and outdoors. In the summer they organize screenings outside, which is great. My other favourite cinema is Kinodvor in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I love this kind of small and cozy cinemas, where you can feel at home.
13. Where do you like to watch movies and on which platform (DVD, online, cinema, mobile phone, etc.)?
I like to watch films everywhere. I prefer watching films at the cinema, but if I’m on the road, or on the couch at home, for me it’s always a good time to watch a film.
14. Who is your movie hero?
Naming only one is just impossible.
15. If you were a movie director which one would you like to be?
Michelangelo Antonioni.
16. Briefly describe your favorite scene
Inthe Bulgarian film The Peach Thief by Vulo Radev, the scene in which Elisaveta and Ivo meet for the first time. The scene is very emotionally charged, as the chemistry between the characters is mesmerizing, while the thief evokes Elisaveta’s compassion, that makes him fall in love with her.
17. What are the 5 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2015) FR
The Judgment (Stephan Komandarev, 2014) BG
Rams (Grímur Hákonarson, 2015) IS
Three Windows and a Hanging (Isa Qosja, 2014) KO
Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015) HU
18. Which is the film character that you most identify with?
I don’t identify entirely with any character – I find a piece of me in the film itself.
19. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
I really enjoy the soundtrack of my favourite French film Jeux d’Enfant themed around La Vie en Rose and the version by Zazie. Also, I really enjoy the song Sagapo (Ti einai afto pou to lene agapi) sung by Sophia Loren and Tony Maroudas in Boy on a Dolphin by Jean Negulesco. I also liked how this song was used in The Lobster.
20. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini.
21. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Penelope Cruz.
22. Which talent would you most like to have?
I think talents rely heavily on hard work and the will to learn and this has always been guiding me, so I wish to never give up discovering new talents.
23. What is your most treasured possession?
My curiosity and my drawing tools.
24. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Every step that has taken me towards where I am today.
25. What is your motto?
If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. (W. Somerset Maugham)
