Cinema for me is…
Greece – Kontes Dimosthenis from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Dimosthenis in 23 Frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best Quality: I tend to surprise myself.
Worst Habit: I tend to surprise myself.
3. Your dream job?
A non-starving artist.
4. What do you like most about your country?
The fact that even at the most dystopian of its corners, you may find a certain kind of beauty.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Moussaka, of course. But only perfectly cooked.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
Του φευγάτου η μάνα δεν έκλαψε ποτέ. It is a widely used phrase from an 80s greek cult film that translates to: The mother of the one who flees, never cried.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
If you count out Athens, none. This will be my first time out of Greece actually.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Portugal. Even though I don’t understand a single word of Portuguese, I love how it sounds.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Unity. Cooperation. Sense of belonging.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Even though the memory of watching it for the first time is somewhat blurred, I think Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, US) must be it. Revisiting it a decade later kept me weeping for almost an hour. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967, US) and Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969, US) where also life changing experiences.
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
Cine Palas in Pagrati, Athens. It is the oldest film theatre in town, opening its doors for the first time in 1925 and is still being run solely by its 90-year-old owner and his sister, with much love and care. Watching a film in its auditorium feels like a journey through time.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Definitely Jean-Pierre Léaud. At the age of fourteen, he left his private boarding school, took the train to Paris and went to the audition for the lead role in The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959, FR). There, he stated that he is mischievous, not much of a thinker and when Truffaut commented that: “They won’t be happy you are missing school like this”, he answered: “It doesn’t matter as long as I’m happy”.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Paul Thomas Anderson or Kar-Wai Wong. Difficult choice though.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
There is a scene in Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012, US), where Greta Gerwig’s Frances, completely out of the blue and maybe a little intoxicated, confesses what she wants out of a relationship. Her detailed description and brutal honesty draws the attention of the group and when she finishes her monologue, gets up, says goodbye to everybody and decides to go to Paris, as you do.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017, SE)
You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017, UK)
The Other Side of Hope (Aki Kaurismäki, 2017, FI).
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Both Simon and James from The Double (Richard Ayoade, 2013, GB).
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Jon Brion’s “Little Person” for Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008, US) or Air’s “Playground Love” for The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999, US). I can’t decide, they both give me goosebumps.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965, FR), getting killed by Marianne Renoir with a pair of scissors or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986, US) singing and dancing ecstatically to The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” at the parade. Colorful moments.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
A young Dustin Hoffman.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could be able to express my inner idiot more often, without being judgmental of myself. I wish we could all do that actually.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My film theater tickets collection.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
This.
23. What is your motto?
Mottos are just clichés that eventually get debunked by life’s absurdity. Why bother having one in the first place?
