Cinema for me is…
Cyprus – Nafsika Hadjichristou from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Nafsika in 23 Frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Creative, curious, indecisive, intuitive, imaginative, restless open-minded, flexible, ambivert, passionate.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
I never lose hope and try to keep an overall positive attitude, but I’m very indecisive at points- I have trouble deciding on my priorities.
3. Your dream job?
Director of Photography in Art House films.
4. What do you like most about your country?
Its variety; the fact that you can go from a city to a mountain, from the sea to the woods all on the same day.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Lentils with rice (mujendra).
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
‘Οι άππαρον (Oi apparon), literally translates as ‘no horse’, meaning ‘what you are saying is nonsense’.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Sarajevo, Bosnia.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
I think I would love to live in either Sweden or the Netherlands.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Cooperation, multiculturalism, open-mindedness.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Kieslowski’ Dekalog (1987, PL), teaching me to appreciate the mundane everyday through the infinite possibilities of filmmaking- as I was amazed by how a low-budget television production could be such a masterpiece.
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
Zena Palace in Nicosia. I used to go as a child when it still worked more regularly, and it has always been connected to happy memories. Now it’s only used for Cyprus Film Days once a year, and going there has become even more special. I just love its vintage feel and the way they transform it with the use of different lights during the Festival.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Daniel Blake from Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake (2016, GB).
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Aspiring to be a specific movie director would remove the potential originality and freshness of one’s work, but if I had to choose I’d love to have David Lynch’s spontaneous thinking and processing of ideas.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
The ending of Petzold’s Phoenix (2014, DE) is one of the most powerful in recent film history, giving a balanced closure to a plot. It reaches a long-awaited climax in a masterful way. The delivery of the song ‘Speak Low’ by the main character Nelly is hypnotising, while the change in her husband’s glimpse while watching her is painfully moving; the film attempts to resolve the entire conflict of the plot in a few seconds, and successfully does so.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016), GB
I Still Hide to Smoke (Rayhana Obermeyer, 2016), FR
My Life as a Courgette (Claude Barras, 2016), CH.
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
When I watch films I do not watch them as me. Instead, I try to empathise with any character, get in their shoes, and understand them; therefore it’s rather challenging to look at it in retrospect and choose a specific character.
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack; it sends shivers down my spine whenever I hear it, in any context.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
I cannot think of a specific movie, but I wouldn’t mind my life having the cinematography of Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015, US) – inspired by the photography of Saul Leiter, one of my favourite photographers.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Helena Bonham Carter; I used to identify with her when I was little and I want to do my younger self justice.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
Singing or playing an instrument.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My notebooks/scrapbooks, which include everything from drawing to writing, to tickets to notes from strangers, and most importantly, everyday appreciation.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being able to find beauty in the every day, every single day.
23. What is your motto?
If not us, who? If not now, when?
