“Angelopoulos can be counted
Andrew Horton
World-acclaimed film director, and ambassador of Greek cinema abroad, Theo Angelopoulos died on the 24th January, after being hit by a motorcycle, while filming in Drapetsona, near Pireaus. Winner of several international film awards, Angelopoulos had started shooting his latest film, The Other Sea, earlier this month. His untimely death hit headlines around the globe.
Angelopoulos was born in Athens in 1935. He studied Law at Athens University, and at the beginning of the ‘60s he moved to France where he followed courses in ethnography and studied film at the Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies in Paris. Upon returning to Greece, he initially worked as a film critic and in 1970 he completed his first feature film Anaparastassi (Reconstruction).
His next three films make up a trilogy on the history of contemporary Greece: Meres tou ’36 (Days of ’36, 1972), O Thiassos (Travelling Players, 1975) and Oi Kynighoi (The Hunters, 1977), followeed by Megalexandros in 1980.
With these films some of the thematic and stylistic constants of Angelopoulos’ cinema were established – the weight of history, a clinical examination of power, a Brechtian theatricality, wherein the individual has no importance with respect to the group, a rejection of conventional narration in favour of an intentionally broken one, in which stationary cameras and sequence-length shots create an alternative sense of time.
Taxidi sta Kithira (Voyage to Cythera), in 1984, won the Cannes Festival International Critics’ Award for best screenplay, followed by O Melissokomos (The Beekeeper), in 1986, starring Marcello Mastroianni. With Topio stin Omichli (Landscape in the Mist) in 1988 he won the Silver Lion at the Venice Mostra.
His filmography in the 90s included To meteoro vima tou pelargou (The Suspended Step of the Stork, 1991), followed by To vlemma toy Odyssea (Ulysses’ Gaze, 1995), starring Harvey Keitel – which won the Grand Jury Prize and the International Critics’ Prize at Cannes Festival.
Then in 1998, he won the Cannes Palme D’Or prize for Mia eoniotita kai mia mera (Eternity and a Day) with Bruno Ganz. In 2003, he began another trilogy with To livadi pou dakryzi (The Wheeping Meadow) followed by H skoni tou chronou (Dust of Time, 2009). The film The Other Sea that he was currently shooting was to complete the trilogy.
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)
Filed under: Art, Balkans, Cinema, culture, Greece, history, International Relations, Literature, Music | Tagged: Anaparastassi, Angelopoulos, Athens, Award, Bruno Ganz, cameras, Cannes Festival, Cannes Palme d`Or, Cinema, Cinematographic, Contemporary, culture, Current Affairs, death, Europe, feature film, Film, film awards, film critic, film director, filmmaker, filmography, France, Greek, headlines, history, I skoni tou chronou, Institute, International, πρωτοσέλιδα, πολιτισμός, σύγχρονη, σκηνοθέτης, τριλογία, φιλμογραφία, Έλληνας, Αγγελόπουλος, Αθήνα, Αναπαράσταση, Βραβείο, Γαλλία, Ελλάδα, Ελληνικός, Η σκόνη του χρόνου, Η Άλλη Θάλασσα, Θόδωρος, Ινστιτούτο Κινηματογραφικών Σπουδών, Μέρες του `38, Μία αιωνιότητα και μία μέρα, Μεγαλέξανδρος, Ο Θίασος, Ο Μελισσοκόμος, Οι Κυνηγοί, Παρίσι, Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα, Το βλέμμα του Οδυσσέα, Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει, Το μετέωρο βήμα του πελαργού, Τοπίο στην Ομίχλη, Φεστιβάλ Βενετίας, Φεστιβάλ Καννών, Χρυσός Φοίνικας, βραβευμένος, θάνατος, ιστορία, κινηματογράφος, κινηματογραφικά βραβεία, Marcello, Mastroianni, Megalexandros, Meres tou `36, Mia eoniotita kai mia mera, narration, O Melissokomos, O thiassos, Oi Kynighoi, Paris, power, shots, Silver Lion, studies, Taxidi sta Kithira, The Other Sea, Theo, To livadi pou dakryzi, To meteoro vima tou pelargou, To vlemma tou Odyssea, Topio stin omichli, trilogy, Venice Mostra | Comments Off on Last Voyage for Theo Angelopoulos
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