10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival –
Images of the 21st Century
March 7-16, 2008
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS CONFERENCE
STONE SILENCE –– HAIR LET THE SUN SHINE IN
AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES - THE LAST CARD
On Tuesday, March 11, in the Olympion’s “Green Room”, a press conference was held in the context of the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The participants were Krzysztof Kopczynski, director of the film Stone silence, Pola Rapaport, director of the film Hair, let the sun shine in, Sylvain Biegeleisen, director of the film Τhe last card and Hilary Helstein, director of the film As seen through these eyes.
Krzysztof Kopczynski, speaking about his documentary Stone Silence – which deals with the stoning to death of a woman accused of adultery in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan – noted: “I wanted to get to the truth. But while shooting in the area, I discovered that everyone has their own truth. So I decided to simply approach people and ask them my questions. I believe it is obvious that the heroine was murdered, but this is something that no one talks about.” When Krzysztof Kopczynski was asked about the difficulties he faced in Afghanistan, he noted: “When I first traveled to Afghanistan, I had to inform the men of the village about what I wanted to do. It wasn’t easy at all. I explained that I am Polish, but they had no idea even where Poland was. Then I told them that I am European, but they didn’t know anything about Europe either. It was incredibly difficult for a foreigner to understand the Muslim world.”
Sylvain Biegeleisen, director of the film Τhe last card explained in his turn that his film is a very personal journey, a very internal film, with himself and his 90 year old mother as the heroes. “I began making the film in order to repair my relationship with my mother, a relationship that had been disturbed because of all that had happened – and she lived through – during World War II. The documentary is my last ‘card’ – as the title explains – in order to reconcile with my mother”.
Referring to her own film, As seen through these eyes, Hilary Helstein stressed that “it’s about the survivors of the Holocaust, artists who resisted brutality with their art. It took me 10 years to make this film, which gave me the opportunity to make a valuable journey”, she said. υπογράμμισε ότι «αφορά στους επιζώντες του Ολοκαυτώματος, καλλιτέχνες που αντιστάθηκαν στη θηριωδία με την τέχνη τους. Μου πήρε 10 χρόνια να δημιουργήσω αυτή την ταινία, η οποία μου έδωσε την ευκαιρία για ένα πολύτιμο ταξίδι», επεσήμανε μεταξύ άλλων.
Finally, Pola Rapaport, director of the film Hair, let the sun shine in spoke about the timeless messages of the musical Hair, which is both the starting point and the nucleus of her work: “When Hair was first staged in the USA at the end of the ‘60s, inspired many generations with its messages of love, peace and freedom. This film has a very nostalgic nature, but it also presens the timeless quality of Hair. At that time people were against the war in Vietnam, now we are against the war in Iraq. Hair is topical once again, just as its messages continue to be topical.”
