Greek actress heads for Berlin
Then you are caught up in a situation, you don’t realize what is easier and what is more difficult, you are only interested in moving on…» The first impression upon meeting actress Alexia Kaltsiki is not only her sweet and clear voice, but also the high respect with which she views her work. This year, Kaltsiki has every reason to feel proud. After her first international experience in September at the Venice Film Festival (which she attended because of her participation in Nikos Panayiotopoulos’s «Delivery» and Ektoras Lygizos’s short «Pure Youth»), European Film Promotion recently announced her candidacy for Shooting Stars, the program for the presentation of young and talented actors from all over Europe who will come into contact with renowned international film producers, journalists and film experts on February 12 and 13 within the context of the 55th Berlinale. «I feel happy mostly because I will meet colleagues from other countries. Getting in touch with the wider cinema scene broadens your mind; you get a grasp of reality. I am glad I am being given the chance to meet people of my age and find out how they work,» said Kaltsiki to Kathimerini. «I owe my trip to Berlin to ‘Delivery.’ It was definitely a very important role, although results are directly related to the director,» she said commenting on her first full-length film in which she played a young drug addict. The darkness of the role did not scare her. «Being an actor has beautiful and dangerous parts. Sometimes you have to accept the parts of you that you are afraid to deal with in real life.» Alexia Kaltsiki was born in Athens and graduated with top marks from the National Theater drama school in 1998. Her first appearance on stage was that same year in «Tuko-Tuko!» A few years ago, she played in the much-discussed production of Sarah Kane’s «Cleansed,» directed by Lefteris Voyiatzis (at the Roes Theater) and more recently at Jasunari Kawabata’s «House of Sleeping Beauties» (at the Amore Theater), as well as in Michel Fais’s «Couples» (at the Metaxourgeio Theater). «I feel lucky to be working with people who have different starting points,» she said. «One of the differences between theater and cinema is how time works. But theater and cinema help each other.» Equipped with three films this year («Delivery,» «Pure Youth» and Stergios Niziris’s full-length film «Is God a Cook?») Kaltsiki says that she has met young directors who are very promising. «The problem with Greek cinema is scriptwriting. Abroad, the role of scriptwriters is something special.» When asked whether the new generation of actors is different, Kaltsiki replied that they are more based on teamwork, «although I cannot make comparisons because I do not have the previous generation’s experience. That change needed to happen.» She pointed out the simplicity of the people at the Venice Festival. «They had no haughty attitude, even those who have done very important things. I liked that feeling of cleanliness…»
