Medium is a portrait that does not rely so much on the dialogue and the plot, but rather on the trivial yet immense moments in life and the random encounters with people that may end up touching our lives in the most unique way.
Christina Ioakeimidi
To me, cinema is a cathartic attempt
Text: Yiorgos Papadimitriou
Her initiation in the world of cinema came while working in the short film Morning Fall by Dennis Iliadis. The first spark for cinema soon escalated to a love affair, the studies at London Film School came up next, followed by the assistant director post alongside Panos H. Koutras and her tenure in advertising. In 2003 time had come for her debut as a film director with the short film Home and seven years later Harisma introduced us to a solid directorial voice gifted with narrative mastery, well-tempered actors’ guidance and the ability to trigger the audience’s emotional empathy. Yet, a whole thirteen years went by for Christina Ioakeimidi to sit again in the director’s chair. Medium, selected at the International Competition section of the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is a low-key coming-of-age story, quirky and unconventional, but at the same time familiar and easily identifiable for each and every one of us. How did Christina Ioakeimidi experience this return to the field of cinema?
“I gave birth to my son just two days after Harisma’s premiere. I recall (and I instantly laugh about it) Orestis Andreadakis, artistic director of Premiere Nights – Athens International Film Festival back then, to be saying as we were on our way for the testing: “Let’s get it over with quickly, otherwise Christina will have her first child inside a movie theater”. Up until that time I had been working as an assistant director mostly in the advertising field, featuring really long and exhausting hours. I began to shoot TV documentaries, but I soon came to realize that I could not make a living out of this, especially after having started a family. Therefore, I decided to shift to a new direction that would offer me financial safety and the chance to spend time with my children in their first steps in life, while giving me enough free time to work on my own film. Before I knew it, thirteen years went by since the screening of Harisma.”
For most filmmakers in Greece the transition from short films to full-length films is experienced as an abrupt coming-of-age and a difficult task. For her, though, things came at a smoother pace: “For me it was nothing more than the natural course of things. I felt a longer duration suited best the films I wanted to shoot, allowing me to unravel the issues and topics I’m focusing on in a more detailed manner. To be honest, I did not find this change to be overwhelmingly demanding as I had previously worked as an assistant director in full-length films so I knew what to expect! It just takes better groundwork and a more thorough preparation. The only problem I dealt with was this thirteen-year gap between my debut and my sophomore full-length film: I had almost forgotten how to get this job done!”.
To me, cinema is a cathartic attempt; it’s almost an inner need. If it weren’t so, I don’t know if I would be into it, given the difficulties and the sacrifices it demands.
Our talk is then headed to the lack of support offered to Greek film productions. “We are unsupportive towards Greek film productions. The development of a project is time-consuming by nature, so it kind of beats the purpose of the whole thing if a filmmaker has to wait up for a whole and a half years for the approval of a financing request; when the green light is finally given, the filmmaker has almost forgotten what the initial plan was. The ones trying to shoot films nowadays have a hard time finding a proper crew. Most of the film industry professionals opt to work in international productions as assistants, earning more money than in Greek productions working as heads of departments. Most of them would rather work in Greek films, but the wages are way too low,” she explains.
Medium unfolds a coming-of-age story and a tale of emotional-sexual emancipation. Does cinema serve a similar purpose for her, as a mediator between our current self and the past seeking redemption or the healing of a trauma? “To me it surely does. I don’t mean to say that cinema only fits this purpose or to imply that other genres and types of films are less important. I take pleasure in watching all genres, maybe I get a little bored by fantasy films (something truly unforgivable by my son). To me, cinema is a cathartic attempt; it’s almost an inner need. If it weren’t so, I don’t know if I would be into it, given the difficulties and the sacrifices it demands,” she replies. She goes on to point out the crucial role played by the heat-stricken August Athens in film, serving as a non-place, mysterious and otherworldly, as if completely cut off from the pragmatic aspects of everyday life.
“I intended for Athens to be the third pole of the film, alluding to a non-place. I wanted the viewer to be able to identify with the scenery, without necessarily having personal references. In the same way I wanted for the setting to serve as a non-time capsule; the fact that the novel on which the screenplay is based is set in the 80s certainly had to do with it as well. The pervasive cinema ambiance in George Sympardis’ original work was among the reasons for choosing it in the first place. Eleftheria, the main character, is caught up in a limbo state: in-between the woman and the child inside of her, the mourning for the loss of her mother and the joy for the dawn of a new life ahead of her. Feeling almost forgotten by everyone, she roams around the streets of an unknown metropolis, while discovering the awakening of sexual desire. Somewhere along the way she manages to find and define herself, leaving behind once and for all the kid she used to be. Medium is a portrait that does not rely so much on the dialogue and the plot, but rather on the trivial yet immense moments in life and the random encounters with people that may end up touching our lives in the most unique way,” concludes Christina Ioakeimidi.
Photos
