Alexis Bisticas short to be screened at Derek Jarman tribute in Athens
Derek Jarman – director, painter, designer and intellectual – lost his life to AIDS at the age of 52 in February 1994. In June 1993 he faced the movie camera for a short film made by Alexis Bisticas, who had just learnt that he was HIV positive. Bisticas vowed he would complete his master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, even if he had to go in and out of hospital, which is what happened. In order to get his degree he had to make a short film, produced by RCA. Surrounded by fellow students and his own technicians, including director of photography Ian Dodds, who worked on the nine films Bisticas left, he filmed the seven-minute «The Clearing» on Hampstead Heath, a dreamy summing-up and a farewell to life. Scriptwriter-director Alexis Bisticas died at the age of 31, on September 29, 1995. On the 10th anniversary of his death the Thessaloniki Film Festival awarded him an honorary Golden Alexander for his work. A musical theme for saxophone plays a leading role in «The Clearing» and was written for Bisticas by Manos Hadjidakis, who was in a hospital in London with heart problems at the time. The tribute to Jarman is organized by the British Council, the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Greek Film Library. «The Clearing» is being screened on May 5, with Jarman’s «Wittgenstein.» At the opening on May 4, Pasolini’s «Gospel According to Matthew» and Jarman’s «Caravaggio» will be shown. Bisticas’s «Dawn,» his first and last feature film, will be shown at 10 p.m.
