Greece this Month January 2017

Greece This month

In this issue:

• Geneva conference outcome positive • Ant. Tajani next President of the European Parliament • Stamatis Kraounakis’ Exclusive Interview • EMST of Athens among Guardian’s Top Museums 2017 • Candid, Α Greek Female Friendship on London stage • Hellas FilmBox Berlin Festival

Cyprus reunification talks in Geneva (12-13 Jan 2017): The outcome of the conference positive Calmness and maturity in the negotiations on the Cyprus issue, the Alternate Foreign Minister George Katrougalos underlined in an interview with Athens Macedonian News Agency. Katrougalos who participated with Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and the Greek delegation in the discussions behind closed doors in Geneva underlined the importance of European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker’s stance in Geneva conference that reaffirmed “EU’s readiness to support a united Cyprus with clarity and calmness despite the provocations”.

Mr. Katrougalos called the outcome of the Geneva conference positive, noting that it allows the continuation of the negotiation and the effort for a viable and fair solution for the Cyprus issue on which are focused 1

both the Greek and Cyprus’ Republic.

Moreover, on Greece’s stance during the negotiations he said that we insisted on the position that the Cyprus issue is not only an issue of two communities but an issue of international law and that’s the way we should face it, with the recognition of the fact that Cyprus’ Republic is a EU member state. He confirmed articles

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referring to moments of tension during the conference and underlined that they were not provoked by the Greek or the Cypriot side.

“prepared to take part in the talks, provided that conditions had sufficiently mature as to create a window for an agreement.” He outlined: “The Greek side does not want the talks on Cyprus to end with failure,” before stressing that “channels of communication with Turkey must be kept open, even at the most difficult moments.”Kotzias concluded his comments on the Cyprus Problem by saying: “Greece wants to solve problems with its neighbours on the basis of European and international law.

Regarding the Cyprus issue, Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias, told Greek TV station ERT1 recently that “a solution to the Cyprus Problem is a sovereign Cyprus, and at its core it must involve the Turkish occupation troops’ departure and an end to its intervention rights.” Kotzias added: “The fact that this ‘core’ of the Cyprus issue had surfaced from the depths and became the object of talks was a major success during the negotiations,” in reference to this month’s Conference on Cyprus negotiations. The Greek Foreign Minister outlined that his country “forced” Turkey to discuss the issue and recognise that “this was the main problem.” During the interview, Kotzias also referred to three main elements that the Greek side have proposed for the departure of occupation troops on the island, namely: ensuring a constant departing flow of soldiers, having a final completion date and the monitoring of the flow by an international organisation. The FM suggested the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a possible international body to monitor the troop withdrawal, “so there could be direct control of the real number of troops, a register of weapons and of departure flows,” he said. Kotzias also stressed the importance of keeping the negotiation “open-ended”, also noting that “Turkey had not wanted this.” The Foreign Minister said that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was

European Parliament’s Presidential Elections Italian MEP Antonio Tajani was elected president of the European Parliament Tuesday. Mr. Tajani won 351 votes in a fourth and final round of voting. While, Gianni Pittella, his Socialist group rival, came second, winning 282 votes in the run-off.

Mr. Tajani replaces Martin Schulz, who is heading to German politics. The agenda of the newly-elected president of the European Parliament includes Brexit negotiations, new migration rules and rescuing EU trade policy are just some of the headlines in his crowded inbox. But Tajani has already signaled he’ll take a backseat when it comes to legislative discussions.

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Stamatis Kraounakis and “All as One.. Kiss Me”

Exclusive Interview just before his performance in London The unique, nostalgic, musical theatre show “All as One.. Kiss me” of the Greek composer, writer, lyrist and producer Stamatis Kraounakis, together with Speira Speira, is taking place in London, for one and only performance, at the Union Chapel, this Friday, January 27, an event organized by the newly established events organizing company, Prosopa Events and supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Press and Communication Office of the Embassy of Greece in London.

Just before the magical Friday evening he promises to deliver in London, during which he will present three generations of Greek songs, the unique performer Stamatis Kraounakis gave an exclusive interview to our Newsletter ‘Greece this Month’, inviting our readers to his performance: “ALL AS ONE ... Kiss me’’, is a musical theatre show that has been praised both by the audience and the critics. What was the key for its success?

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The truth and frugality of the show. There is an intense relationship between the audience and the performer, since, playing his piano before them, he sort of directs gradually the emotions. The Circle of Life, through songs that have united friends, couples and lovers. The people have also embraced and expressed swiftly what they have felt. That was it.

The performance is characterized as an ode to music and love of the last three decades.

What inspired you to create it?

My main purpose was to encompass in a narrative all those things that united me with the society throughout my life and career. Moreover, I wanted to introduce myself to those who have never heard my songs before. This was, if you wish, an answer to the question: Who is Kraounakis anyway?

“ALL AS ONE.. kiss me’’, what does that mean to you and what would you like to communicate with this title?

Let us all be as one and... kiss me. I do believe in the power of the union and of the kiss. That’s it. Simple as that. Normal as that. The normality that we all miss.

The performance has been praised not only by the Athenian audience but by audience throughout Greece. You will now introduce it in London. Why did you chose London

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and could you please tell us a few words about your cooperation with the newly established London based company, Prosopa Events?

You see... I was never really coordinated with the ‘career’ concept. I was always trying to work. The one and only thing I was interested in, was the creation, the communication. To find the thread that will unite our feelings. To feel something together with the audience. I, therefore, wanted my narrative to be able to be heard everywhere, without any obstacles. There are texts that have defined people’s lives for centuries, sounding today as timely as ever. There are songs that kept company to whole groups of friends. Life! London was my ‘school’. It’s the city where I ‘studied’, going from one theatre to the other with my beloved friend George Mantaropoulos, who ‘’left’’ a few days ago and I owe him my whole musical theatre journey. In the early 80’s, we studied together the language of musical theatre, whilst he also introduced me to great personalities, such as Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Weber. London is also the city where I met the incredible Tiger Lillies, while I was creating ‘’Speira- Speira’’. It is worth mentioning my cooperation and friendship with the Greek scenographer Takis, as well as Stephanos Lazaridis. I really wanted to present my work in London, the city that educated me, in order to proudly say: ‘’Here you are my friends, a Greek representative of that school.’’ From the very beginning, Prosopa Events appeared to be what we were looking for. Three enthusiastic, young Greeks, who live in London and do an excellent work in promoting the cultural image of Greece. Katia Dandoulaki introduced me to them and after

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inviting them to my performance, we decided to organise here this event, in a place that perfectly suits us. A church, since our performance has a very ecclesiastical outset as well!

How do you feel presenting your play in London?

Blessed! I would also like to mention at this point that the play’s libretto has been subtitled into English by my friend, Michalis Germanos. Therefore, even our British friends will be able to follow the excellent work of my beloved poet Lina Nikolakopoulou, whose work I have composed all these years.

What should we wait to watch at the Union Chapel?

The liturgy of Stamatis, the Greek.

What do you expect from London’s audience?

Your attention, please. Dionysos and his friends are in the house.

What are your plans for the future?

A few days after our performance here, the emblematic work of Roger Vitrac ‘Victor, or Power to the Children’ premieres in the Greek Art Theatre ‘Karolos Koun’ as a musical. I have written he libretto and composed the music. Marianna Kalmparis, the 4

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director of the Art Theatre, is also our stage director. Many brilliant performances will take place this year at the Art Theatre, featuring amazing people that were educated there. That’s the next step and I really feel very honoured about it.

Last but not least. What inspires you?

People and their passions.

Thank you Stamatis!

achieve their aim and accomplish their vision. All the above are also proven by the last cultural event they organised with the famous Greek actress, Mrs Katia Dandoulaki at the London Mermaid Theatre in October 2015, when the theatrical play ‘Guess who is going to die tonight’ had a successful London premiere, to continue in Greece for the 4th season.

*Vasilis Kritikakis, Marian Pissaridi and Vasiliki Tseperka are the Greek young professionals behind Prosopa Events. Prosopa’s vision is to create a cultural hub, embracing not only the Greek and Cypriot audience, but also the international lovers of the Greek culture, mainly through theatrical shows. The aim is to re-introduce and celebrate the achievements of the contemporary Greek culture and spirit, inspiring more people to do the same. Building a cultural bridge among countries has become the starting point of offering high quality experiences to the UK audience. They have been working tirelessly to

The National Museum of Contemporary Art of Athens (EMST) among the top museums for 2017

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The National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), founded in 1997 with a nonprofit character, supervised and financed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, twenty years later appears to be in the limelight of artistic scene, recently featured among the top museums for 2017 in The Guardian and The New York Times. The

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highly anticipated opening of this “massive new museum of art”, as characterized

by The Spaces digital magazine, appears to have been mainly received by foreign press as an encouraging and inspiring initiative, within the Greek post-crisis urban landscape. Established in October 2000, with its founding director being Dr. Anna Kafetsi, former curator of the 20th century collection at the National Gallery of Athens, the Museum’s collections are exhibited in its permanent home, the former Fix brewery on Syngrou Avenue in Athens.

EMST seems to be a national institution of unique value, aiming at collecting contemporary Hellenic and international art with experimental artistic tendencies, familiarizing a diverse audience with contemporary art through dialogue, educational activities and research. Indeed, fruitful exchange of ideas seems to be one of the fundamental principles of EMST, as one of the Museum’s current exhibitions, entitled Urgent Conversations: Athens – Antwerp stresses. This exhibition, that together with the Program EMST in the World marked the commencement of the temporary presentation spaces of EMST, involves more than 70 works, structured in 22 thematic units, encouraging visual and theoretical “dialogue” between the collections of both Museums, concerning important local and global matters. As the director of the Mu-

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seum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) that co-produced Urgent Conversations: Athens – Antwerp with EMST, Bart De Baere, stressed in his speech at a press conference of EMST, the importance of exhibition’s location, associating Athens with the birth of the notion of “διάλογος”. Those “Urgent Conversations” curated by Bart De Baere and the well known art historianmuseologist and director of EMST Katerina Koskina will run until 29 of January and are sided by a series of parallel activities.

Particularly, the screening program Focus on Belgium, curated by Ingo Starz and Konstantinos Kardakaris in collaboration with Andrea Cinel, Curator and Programme Coordinator at Argos – Centre for Art and Media, familiarizes the audience with Belgian Media art. The specially selected short videos and films seem to share common points of reference, but also challenge each other, creating in this way fertile ground for the production of new meanings. Our correspondent for ‘Greece this Month’ Newsletter, Ariana Rapti, attended the first of the two screenings of the film Doctor Fabre Will Cure You (2013), scheduled for the 19th and 21st of January, in the presence of Ms Koskina and the artistic director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Mr Orestis Andreadakis, respectively.

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The film Doctor Fabre Will Cure You, presented for the first time to the Greek audience, as Ms Koskina revealed at the film’s introductory presentation, is directed by the filmmaker and visual artist Pierre Coulibeuf, awarded Knight of the Arts and Literature’s Order by the French Ministry of Culture (2001), among others. Already well-established for his subversive work, projecting artist’s mental universe through experimental fiction that contain mainly the concepts of repetition and metamorphosis, Coulibeuf manages to reinterprete Belgian artist’s Jan Fabre performances and diary as cinematic “actions”. During the post-screening discussion, however, audience’s attention appeared to have shifted mainly towards elements that revealed Fabre’s strong artistic influence from Greek mythology, as portrayed on the landscape of Antwerp (Belgium), underlying a cultural “dialogue” between the two countries.

According to the official website of the Museum, guided tours will be held every Thursday, Sunday (in Greek) and Tuesday (in English), before the partial travel of the exhibition to Belgium in April 2017. Αpart from those tours, worth mentioning are also educational programs, particularly designed for students and special groups, opening the path for the materialization of Ms Koskina’s vision, as stated in her interview at in.gr, regarding the Museum’s identification with its diverse audience; an audience looking forward to exploring the forthcoming events and exhibitions, of one of the most cutting-edge contemporary art scenes.

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“Candid”: Greek Female Friendship in 21st Century In London Drama Stage Commonly, according to psychology, honesty and sympathy are considered integral features of ideal, lifelong friendships. But what happens when everyday scenes of jealousy and competitiveness occur? How could stereotypical images of female rivalry be subverted? And what could be the role of friendship in the century of online communication, “selfie” practices and fastpaced city life, in particular?

A “candid” character appears to be one possible answer for the two, equally talented, actors and writers of the homonymous “performance-ritual”, Tania Batzoglou and Vanio Papadelli. Indeed, as they suggested in their exclusive interview to Ariana Rapti, reporter for our monthly Newsletter ‘Greece this Month’: “Friendship today is relatively underestimated or dwindled partly due to social media’s quick befriending system. Especially in large urban environments, the lack of time affects the degree and quality of commitment that a friendship requires. What we propose is that friendship can be radical and revolutionary when it is rooted in candour, strength, mutual support and humour”.

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Both performers managed to portray a case of Greek female friendship in their work, built through a decade of living in the vast city of London, intertwined with experiences of other women they have met in their journey. The play took place on December 14, at Blue Elephant Theatre in South London, and was supported by the artistic team of Moi Tran (Visual Design), Yiannis Katsaris (Lighting Design / Documentation) and Mary-Ann Hushlak (Dramaturgical Advice). The carefully designed interactive installation at the theatre’s foyer gave to more than fifty people the chance to get acquainted with each other prior to the performance, at several meeting “stations”, including video art and craftmaking.

Entering the performance space, the audience was welcomed by an introductory speech, followed by a “what if…” type of a self-knowledge game, with the two women identifying with various types of entities, such as elements of nature, revealing different aspects of their multifaceted personality. The game became sharper, taking the form of “Truth or dare”, as the pair started swearing at each other in a childish manner, using both Greek and English phrases that added originality to their scene. During the enactment of a traditional Greek courtyard game, natural intimacy between the two women became apparent, a situation described by Tania as one of her favorite acting parts: “the liveness of those unexpected non-scripted interactions between us; our eye contact and playfulness in the present moment are what makes CANDID a real live “game/ritual” for me.”

Pair’s playfulness took the form of a symbolic challenge over eating naked the same apple, before leaving the stage to continue

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their fight behind a closed door, letting us project our own memories of childhood type of conflicts on stage. This disappearance was contrasted with the following acting moment of encountering the audience, with “The parallel monologues on the microphones where we expose our inner bitter and often unspoken thoughts”, distinguished as special by both actors, during the interview.

The deconstruction of stereotypical behaviors of female friends continued through a literal “spitting” of truths that followed, as a part of common, everyday dialogues among women, recognized as one of the most powerful acting moments for Vanio: “The darkness and emptiness that I experienced when shouting cynically how ‘miraculously, unexpectedly, inevitably, marvelously happy I am with your happiness’ amidst audience’s laughter.”

The intense outburst of the characters appeared to create a climax, incarnating on stage ancient Greek drama’s closely allied powers of love and hate.

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This was followed by a cathartic effect for the spectator, caused mainly by the pairs’ closing attempt to reconcile, expressed through passionate body language. Audience’s enthusiastic response seemed to be also identified by both Vanio and Tania, when asked to describe their post-performance feelings: “Really satisfied with the audience’s warm responses. Happy that our collaboration with the rest of the team, Moi Tran (http:// www.moitran.co.uk/ , http://www.moitran. com/ ) and Yiannis Katsaris (http://www. yianniskatsaris.net/ ) took place smoothly and ‘fruitfully’! Deeply encouraged that our promise, to repeat the project at least once every year, can happen under any circumstances. Vanio’s pregnancy gave us creative challenges that enriched our performance material and relationship.”

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“Forgive”, “remind”, “congratulate” were some of the strongest verbs mentioned as keys of long-lasting female friendship by the end of a performance, which we hope will continue to take the form of an annual “ritual”, reflecting the development of human relationships over time.

Further information: www.projectcandid.co.uk

Berlin’s First Hellas Filmbox Festival (18-22 January)

The First Hellas Filmox Festival, took place at the historic Babylon cinema in east Berlin, between 18-22 January, hosted by the Greek- German Cultural Association, which was founded in Berlin in 2015 with the aim to promote culIndeed, at the end of the play, actors shared tural ties between the two countries. their commitment to present the project at least once a year, adopting content according to real-life changes: “We envision our piece as a palimpsest of past iterations continuously accumulated, distilled and refreshed by our evolving experiences and relationship. We’re aware that for many this sounds utopian but we’re very committed to the idea of creating a lifelong durational ritual. Our main difficulty is funding that can support the production and the fulfillment of our commitment. We also wish to transform our concept through other artistic mediums such as video installation, a female-only collaborative production, a verbatim piece, creating an online book etc. We hope that the group of people who already follow our CANDID steps will keep growing as integral part of our ongoing process.”

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The opening ceremony (Jan 18) was attended by the Greek Culture Minister as well as from Lydia Koniordou and the internationally awarded Greek- French film director and producer Costa Gavras along with the famous Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris who presented his film “Little England”, receiving a warm welcome by the Greek-German audience.

“We would like to start a constructive dialogue between Greece and Germany by highlighting the current emotional and political cracks between the two,” the Festival’S director and founder of the GermanGreek Cultural Association Asteris Kutulas stated during his speech. “Films in general trigger a range of opinions which is the best starting point for any discussion.

Greek films have far more to say about the crisis happening in Greece than daily German newspapers”.

While, Sandra von Ruffin, actress and director of the Festival, added:” Film is a universal, connecting and at the same time disputable medium. It affects the dreams, longings and fears of the people. It is highly effective. This applies to Greek films as well as to all others. With our festival program, we want to reach the German audience and reveal the viewers’ own view of the Greek film maker to the human soul. “ The award for best documentary was given to Marianna Economou’s, The Longest Run. The story of Jasim and Alsaleh, two underage refugees from Syria and Iraq detained in a Greek juvenile prison, touches on a number of underreported issues in contemporary Greek, European and world politics. Strong in visuals and narratives the film takes on the perspective of the most vulnerable – unaccompanied minor 10

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refugees from war-torn countries stranded Greece. Marianna Economou has created an extraordinary documentary full of suspense by following her young protagonists closely in detention, during and after trial with an ending that offers the viewer a glimpse of an uncertain future.

Other best awarded films of the festival included “Notias” by Tassos Boulmetis (best fiction film), “Interruption” George Zois (best New Vision movie) and “The Seed” Iphigenia Kotsoni (best short film).

Further information: http://www.hellasfilmbox.de/en/ Follow us :

A Pint of Greece Greek Embassy in UK @GreeceinUK @greece_in_uk