CULTURE

‘Safe Sex’ a nice memory as Reppas, Papathanasiou cry ‘Silicon Tears’

Without any signs of stress and simply referring to last year’s blockbuster Safe Sex as a nice memory, Michalis Reppas and Thanassis Papathanasiou presented their new and ambitious film, Silicon Tears (To Klam Vgike apo ton Paradiso) at a recent press conference. Avoiding any speculation on how this film will fare at the box office – screenings begin tonight – the writing/directing duo did stress, however, that they do expect some kind of recognition at the State Awards. They also took the opportunity to discuss their volatile relationship with Greek films from the 1960s, which Silicon Tears satirizes. We grew up with that kind of Greek cinema, said Reppas. Once you grow up, however, you have a different perspective and you come to realize that the bulk of those films completely ignored the political and social daily reality of the ’60s. Reppas discarded any possibility of members of the audience being unhappy with this kind of satire. On the contrary, I believe that as a nation we accept satire, we have a sense of humor and we have the ability to laugh even at things that we have loved, he said. As for the similarities between characters and scenes, Reppas noted that it was important to bring together the aesthetics and the leading ideology of the era, and ultimately satirize the period’s populism. We were not interested in characters, with the exception of Anna Panagiotopoulou’s character, which points to the pain-stricken mother, often portrayed by actress Eleni Zafiriou. There is no direct equivalent and none of the actors used the mannerisms of the older actors and directors. We were interested in the era’s role models, said Reppas. I came to the script lovingly, and I had absolutely no desire to cannibalize it, said Anna Panagiotopoulou, one of the film’s principal actresses. My method was to play a dramatic role and a few times I was moved, just like in the days when we used to watch those movies.

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