48TH THESSALONIKI FILM FESTIVAL
November 16 - 25 2007
PRESS RELEASE
JUST TALKING 18/11
Ilian Simeonov from Bulgaria, director of Warden of the Dead, Mushon Salmona from Israel, director of Vasermil, Greek producer of the film Panic and paranoia through an illusion, Andreas Trifonopoulos, and film critic and blogger from Movies for the Masses Iosif Proimakis took part in the Just Talking discussion held on Sunday, November 18th at the Entefktirio at the Port (Building E).
What the three films have in common is that they all involve youngsters or children as their protagonists. Aggeliki Contis, coordinator of the discussion, opened the discussion saying that that is a challenge for filmmakers. Ilian Simeonov revealed that he selected his particular actor because he wasn’t playing his part, but living it. “It was easy to work with that kid. The hard part was working with his duck-friends”, he said jokingly and added that although the boy and the ducks were friends in the film, in reality they never got along. Andreas Trifonopoulos, the producer of the film Panic and paranoia through an illusion, claimed that it wasn’t hard working with children per se but rather, working with them in English, since film was shot in the English language, despite the actors being Greek.
Another feature the films share is their low budget. Mushon Salmona noted that the government of Israel financed his film, which was shot in 90 days on location. Ilian Simeonov mentioned that he managed to receive support form the Bulgarian government and television after 12 years of efforts.
On a different note and regarding the always-unpredictable audience, Iosif Proimakis supported that the audience prefers to watch films that are popular at the box office. Ilian Simeonov jokingly remarked: “I heard good things about my film, but...from friends”. He added that this happens in Bulgaria because people prefer American films rather than Bulgarian ones. According to Mushon Salmona, despite the fact that his film received favorable reviews by the critics, it didn’t do very well at the box office, since young people prefer to watch films from the Internet, as opposed to adults who are more used to going to the cinema. Iosif Proimakis disagreed, saying that young people in Greece enjoy going to the cinema and that films like his and the other panelists’ are hard to find on the Internet.
