Dinner with Leoforos Patision

An interview with Thanasis Neofotistos, director of Leoforos Patision (Patision Avenue)

 Can you tell us, for those of us who don’t know, what happened on Patision Avenue? Why did you want to set the short there?
The story of Katerina, Yanni’s mother, takes place on Patision Avenue. A young, aspiring actress is on her way to a very important audition, when she learns that her son has been left home alone by the lady who was looking after him. In 10 minutes, she has to face her life’s most important dilemmas. Patision is a very emotionally powerful road of central Athens. It once was one of the most aristocratic districts and nowadays it has a completely different vibe. It is a road of fascinating diversity, where one moment you are at the extremely important archeological museum of Athens, the next you run into a riot in Exarchia and then you walk through a crowd of refugees gathered on Victoria square. I love this area.

 Why did you choose to film exclusively from the back of Yanni’s mum?
Back and one long take shot! This decision was mainly artistic. It first came to my mind because I’m really influenced from video-gaming and the kind of identification with the hero this style offers. I also wanted for everyone to put the face of “their” Katerina on my heroin. We had another option which was showing her face in the last scene but we discussed it with the artistic team of the film and we all agreed not to show it at all.

 What sorts of subjects and stories would you like to explore next?
The stories of people in their most vulnerable and life-changing moments. I’m really interested in people when they face extreme situations, negotiating their family roots and utterly themselves.

 Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
I wouldn’t be able to do a one-long-take shot movie if it wasn’t for a short film. This format offered me precious artistic freedom, to experiment with my cinematic language without any limits. I did that in Patision Avenue,I really let myself do what I really wanted, and I feel it was a completely justified choice!

Leoforos Patision (Patision Avenue) is being shown in International Competition I6.