Lasting Impressions

Though excited to be in the city for the first time,sleeplessness and the journey from Sao Paulo-Athens-Mumbai have left the 73-year-old filmmaker tired. Yet,taking a gulp from his glass whisky,Angelopoulos says,“It’s only when I’m not making a film that I feel tired.” However,it’s not just films that are integral to his life and career.

The myth,history and society of Greece have always fascinated the director. In fact the history of contemporary Greece is premise for his trilogy. “I’m obsessed with history because I have lived through wars,civil war and dictatorship—just like my family and all the Greeks. These experiences are like wounds. I’m relieved when I tell stories based on them. It’s more like a psycho-analysis,” reveals filmmaker,who bagged the Palm D’Or in Cannes for Eternity and a Day in 1998. The maker of acclaimed world cinema titles like The Travelling Players and The Hunters describes his films as political in nature with a very personal touch.

Like most international filmmakers,Angelopoulos is impressed with the works Satyajit Ray. He had met Ray once and used to correspond with him. “Two-three years before Ray passed away,he had invited me to be on the jury of a film festival in Delhi. At that point,I couldn’t accept the invitation. I regret that till date,” says Angelopoulos,who finds Ray’s Apu trilogy brilliant. He admits being an ardent admirer of French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard during his days in Paris.

Angelopoulos chose to direct a trilogy when he realised that one film wasn’t enough to accommodate the story he wants to tell. The shooting of its third part will start after the script is ready and the finances are taken care of. “Thankfully,I don’t have to worry about money. It’s my wife’s headache as she is the producer,” he says. The filmmaker remembers his early days when he had to struggle for funds. Yet,he feels that small-budget projects give a lot of liberty. “You can stop working and restart when you feel like when less money is involved. Big commercial projects bring in a kind of censorship.”

The master director feels that he doesn’t have much time left to tell all the stories he has in mind. “I have reached the end of my career. I want to narrate a few soulful tales about my country,family and daughter now.” Acknowledging that India is as rich as Greece in history,mythology and culture,Angelopoulos says he needs another life to make films on the subcontinent.

Top picks
Days of 36 (1972)
Athens,Return to Acropolis (1983)
The Beekeepers (1986)
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
Ulysses’ Gaze (1995)