We are very happy to present you now the Tribute Talk. We have this format for many years now and we are very happy that we have again a cooperation partner thank you very much for this cooperation and also our long-time partner dorf tv is today at back and we will provide a live stream and after the festival you will be able to rewatch the talk or if you want to tell somebody that you watched a nice tribute talk at Crossing Europe, please spread the word. Just one practical thing, there's drinks in the back, you can get one, maybe get one now before the actual talk starts and then maybe just really quick so this is the first time that crossing Europe dedicates its tribute program to an actor and we are impressed by her work since a long time so for us this is really a pleasure and well we welcome on stage we have someone doing the talk yes our colleague and dear friend Neil Young please join us will be the host of the afternoon welcome Neil and I will pass over the mic to him did we forget anything no no I don't think so please Neil the floor is yours thank you you, Sabina. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for coming today. It's a great honor to be on the stage today for the tribute talk. It's a historic tribute talk because it's the first time that we've celebrated acting in this way. Although our guest today is also a director, as we will discuss. Before I bring her on, I found a quote by a Greek journalist Theodorus Dimitropoulos which I thought sums this person up very well she always manages to do more than just fill the screen she makes you feel like you're watching a universe created around her I couldn't put it better please welcome our tribute guest today Angeliki Papulia thank you thank you so much so we have a chance to look back at your career we've had the pleasure of showing some of your films already and you've done some wonderful Q&A's I hear the one for Dogtooth was nearly an hour long so it's had the pleasure of showing some of your films already and you've done some wonderful q a's i hear the one for dog tooth was nearly an hour long so it's very good that the films are getting that response but you don't like to look at yourself on the screen is that true no not not as much as yeah no i don't i i mean yeah because when i look at myself, I always see what I didn't do right or what I could have done better, which is something that I don't want to go through that every time. So I just watch the film two or three times in the beginning, before the premiere, of course, and then during the premiere, and then one or two more times, and then I try not to watch it again. But when you go to these, you know, the red carpet, you have the world premiere at Venice and these big festivals, you will sit and watch it with the first audience. Of course. And nervous? Always. Always extremely nervous. And then, you know, the perception of time changes, as you know. Then you think everything is so slow and the film, all of a sudden, it is a totally different film because you're watching it with other people. So, yeah, it's strange. And then at the end, the applause and the standing ovation. So, you know, the standing ovation so you know the relief comes because you know we can list some of the films dog tooth alps a blast secret of the sargasso see the lobster uh and in the last year you seem to have gone into a overdrive with big films human flowers of flesh we've shown many of these films here so So we'll touch upon, obviously, those films. And this is a film festival, so we will emphasize film. But I think it would be unfair to you to just talk about films because your career on stage is equally illustrious. And I know you've spoken many times that for you, it's kind of all one thing. You don't make a distinction there maybe maybe just to begin sort of speak what is it about theater that that really inspires you particularly I think it's the repetition actually in the beginning I could not understand I mean I could not stand that you know that you had to go to the theater every day and perform the same kind of choreography, the same kind of structure. But then after some years, I realized that this is such a nice thing to do because you go there and you just follow a ritual. And then while repeating the same choreography, a ritual and then while repeating the same choreography then each time you are trying to invent a new quality or something new something that you haven't um something that you haven't done and this combination i i find it very very um. Because only theater can offer that. That you repeat a structure, and then all of a sudden, you are somehow trapped in this structure, and then something else occurs, something new. And with cinema, it's not like that. It's a totally different experience. But in theater, you can really experience that and and time expands and it's it's yeah this is what i like a lot and i was looking at when you have been in the theater also in austria you were here at the starish herbs in uh gratz exactly yes with the blitz group and you did a late night yeah which I think you co-founded the Blitz Group, I think in 2004. Four. Yeah. And had many successful plays and tours. And Late Night was one that took you all over the world. Yeah. You have memories of Austria and Graz in particular? Was that the highlight of your tour? I remember that the space was amazing and I remember a very nice wooden floor that it was extremely suitable to the performance because late night the original idea was that it was happening in a deserted ballroom. So in Graz it was as if it was designed for the specific place which was very, very nice for us, really. It seemed like an abandoned hotel lobby with wooden floors. It was a very, very nice place. I didn't unfortunately see the play in Graz. I very regret that. But there is a brief clip of it online. And I think it features you jumping over somebody. You're doing a very gymnastic... And then you do a little thing at the end. So the wooden floor is very good for that. Yeah, and there was also a carpet. So it was somehow protected. Because I think we will be talking a lot about physicality and movement and bodies and dance and all this kind of thing. And, you know, you seem to be drawn to roles which really involve a lot of physical activity. And when I look back at your very early years, because you're always described as being from Athens, Agios Dimitrios and Brahimi, your original home village, town. A friend of mine comes from there and I said to him, what is it like in Brahimi? What was it like in the 80s? And he said it was not so developed. And you've said that the roads were still some dirt roads and it was still, you know, things like that. And you talk about rolling and getting dirt on your, you know. So from a very early age, you were always a physical sort of child and movement was maybe speak a little bit about growing up in Brahimi, Brahami, sorry Brahami. It's like 20 minutes from the center of Athens but yeah back then there were a lot of roads that were full of dust and dirt and yeah I remember and there were also some meadows because they weren't built i mean now nowadays it's totally built but back then it wasn't built completely so we could just you know play and run a lot and we were yeah that generation that we were staying out till late and we were playing so many games with ball balls and running games and things like that and and I remember yeah back then yeah it's such a nice that you mention it because now I remember that I was always you know trying to be so heroic while playing and trying to be like an epic character I don't know why but yeah I had always this kind of feeling that I am I have a mission somehow during the game and the mission was either to win or to be very good or to support my team I had that kind of And if you lost it was a tragedy and you were screaming and crying no I wasn't screaming but I was crying yeah I was crying because of course in English we say playing for sports and also for you know playing on stage um but you said that you weren't you didn't dream of acting when you were when you were small you know you were maybe dreaming of dancing and painting and photography. What was your Ambition when you were I don't know eight years old or something like that. I was dreaming of Being a painter really because I like to do a lot of things with my hands still I like to do that so I was I remember that I was staying in my room for many many hours drawing alone painting throughout the whole night, listening to music. And I was like, I said to myself, yeah, this is something that I want to do. But then when I grew up, I mean, when I was a teenager, then I chose dancing and acting. Because I think I was so introvert, and I think that I had to find a way to communicate with people, with real people and not being, you know, isolated in my fantastic world of painting. So I think it was something like that. I think it was a need to be with more people and to exchange. And also, it has also to do with physicality. Like you're dancing with other people, you're talking to other people. And in the beginning, it was a bit tiring for me, like being all the time with so many people in the drama school and then, you know, theater or films, it's always so many people involved. But then I realized that, yeah, probably it was something that I really had to do, it was a need. And you haven't done, I think, a lot of sort of one person plays. I mean, most of the stuff you've done has been very group oriented and things like that. So for you, it's about the energy that you get from the other people. And the group and the collaboration of a group of artists and you know reacting and trying to communicate and find the better way to work all together. There was a word that you used in an interview where you were talking about theatre and it was translated as extroversion but the Greek word is exostrefia. Exostrefia or exostrefia? Exostrefia. Ah, exostrefia. Sorry, my Greek pronunciation is terrible. But it's extroversion was the way which isn't really a word in English. You can say you're an extrovert but to say extroversion is really strange but it's funny that you say there about you know that you knew you were kind of an inter introverted a little bit and theater was the way to not a little bit a lot i was a lot of introvert yeah so theater became the thing you study drama drama obviously at Athens, at Embrus. Embrus, yeah. And then that is developing. But also film is coming quite early, sort of 2000, 2001. You've done some short films before this and then there's the film Matchbox, Yanis Oikonomides. Which was a sort of, you know, important film for you. At that point were you thinking drama is, you know, theatre is coming along but film is maybe? Because at this point we've got to remember this was when Greek cinema was really not. I mean, Angelopoulos was still alive. Yeah, he was still alive. But, you know, for many people if you said Greek cinema they could just say Angelopoulos. I mean, that was kind of it. I mean, he was a giant figure but at that point there wasn't it didn't feel as though there was we didn't realise that around the corner was coming a whole generation so at that point you were thinking film maybe theater definitely what was your yeah exactly theater definitely because um somehow it was uh easier because you could do theater and still you can do theater I mean films it's not so easy because it takes time and takes a lot of money and you know always you have to wait well um when I graduated from my drama school immediately I was you know I was cast to play to a theater performance so for me it was something that somehow was like flowing more and then yeah at some point I said of course I will do some films but you know I didn't know what was going to happen yeah and things really seem to sort of explode or blast after you founded the Blitz group with Christos Pazalis who is a name that recurs many times. We see him in Dogtooth. He plays a very young-looking Christos in that film, playing the brother, and Yorgos Valais. You founded the Blitz in 2004. And then this kind of really seemed to be taking things to another level. And as you say, it was socially engaged, and you were dealing with sort of the issues in a time when already economically in Greece there were big problems, you know, and that was your, or was it just after that? Just before that, it was just before, it was the Olympic Games actually in 2004. So still things, at least they seemed to be okay and they seemed to be glooming, which was not true, of course. So was Blitz founded to sort of say, oh, we've got the Olympics, great, great. Or was it like Olympics, now here is the real stuff? The second. It was found because, you know, we weren't satisfied, let's say, from the theatrical reality that was surrounding us. And we wanted to create a collective and to work all together collectively and to try to somehow find a way to be equal and work with no hierarchy. That was our main concern and and also we wanted to somehow challenge the limits of of theater we were curious you know we wanted to to find a way to to somehow to see what we could do to be like artists but like like in every way, not only actors, because all of us, we had just studied acting. And then we realized that we want to take a responsibility, a bigger responsibility, like to create a universe, a theatrical universe, and to really test the limits in terms of theatrical form of the acting of texts also so we worked a lot on what we call devised theatre, you know, improvising taping the rehearsals, then writing down the text, then the next day improvising, taping the rehearsals, then writing down the text, then the next day improvising again, bringing to the rehearsal different kinds of texts and adding the texts to the final text of the performance. And we were also producing, directing. We were doing everything, which was very nice, of course. I was going to ask, is that when you sort of really started to become a director as well as an actor? Of course, yeah. And how did you, what was that transition like to be directing others? Yeah, in the beginning it was very, very difficult. But then we found a way. It was this duality, this thing that you have to step up to the stage, do something and then you have to come out and watch what the others are doing or then we would go home and then after so many hours of rehearsals then we would still have to watch the videotaped rehearsal every day and write down and this this was such a vivid process you know and this was I think I learned so many things from doing this double action it was a little bit schizophrenic at some point because then you say okay so now I'm in then now I'm out then I'm in I'm out but then after some time this in and out was something very useful when I was in I could understand sometimes when I was like on stage I could somehow understand ah maybe we have to do that and then when I was out I could do what I had somehow realized while being on stage. You know, it's... And vice versa. It's like an out-of-body experience. You're floating above yourself and seeing yourself in the room. Exactly. And we all did that. And it was really... Are you a tough director? No. No, because I'm also an actor so I know how hard it is and how difficult it is so I don't like I always try to find a very gentle way to push the actors or try to create a space where they can you, be trapped in a good way, like fall into the trap without even realizing it. So I'm always trying to find a subtle way to... And I know you've spoken a lot about, you know, being very careful not to work with directors who, you know, not even talking about sort of sexual impropriety, but, you know, kind of directors who go too far and things like that. And, you know, I think you've said in interviews that, you know, you're very careful that you never get yourself in that position. So that's always been the case. You've never had a really bad experience with a director and said, you know. You mean sexual harassment experience? No, no, I mean in any way a director's kind of going too far, either with sexual or with in any way crossing the line no I would either go away leave or not even getting to work with that kind of people because I think it's so easy it's so easy and that was the case of course like in Greece and also everywhere that you know a director has to be like you know very tough and blah blah blah blah blah because he's a drama queen or you know maybe it was like that yeah and maybe it's still I don't know but yeah that kind of working in that kind of toxic environment was something that I didn't want to do and really I tried to find a way to protect myself and the others and this was also another reason why we created the Blitz theater group try to work in an environment which is somehow healthy. At least the intention is healthier. I know you've said that even in the 90s and 2000s, the sort of patriarchy, sexist behavior, sexist systems, patriarchal structures, there was a quote, it's very difficult to remove the patriarchal gaze from the writing of certain female roles. Of course. So there, you know, you kind of, are you deliberately looking for women writers or are you looking for any writer who doesn't have that kind of old school, sort of patriarchal, maybe subconscious thing coming out in their roles? As soon as you read it, you know, aha, this is it, the red their roles as soon as you read it you know this is it, the red light goes yeah, I mean you know it you can really when you read the script you understand and it doesn't matter if it is written by a man or a woman for me the thing is that I always try to read the script and really get the essence of the script. And if I realize that it is something that is somehow reproducing the same gender stereotypes and all these boring stereotypes, then I say, OK, I don't want to do that. I think it's also some kind of my responsibility as well try not to you know choose that parts or reproduce with my work that old kind of you know models role models and that brings us quite neatly to Dogtooth, for which you shared the Best Actress Prize in Sarajevo. It was your first nomination from the Hellenic Film Academy for Best Actress. Yeah. Award which you would later win as older daughter, of course. And when we think of whatever we call it, the Greek weird wave, the Greek wave, whatever, your image in the swimming pool with the blindfold is kind of the image of that whole movement of cinema. So that makes you feel good? Of course. Yeah, it is very touching for me now, after all these years to see that picture again. And yeah, of course, back then we didn't realize and we weren't aware of what was going to happen. It was just August and we were shooting in this amazing big house outside of Athens. But then things happened. Of course, Yorgos Lanthimos, we have to mention, whose new film was just talked about today, Poor Things. And Efthymis Philippou, the writer, who is the sort of figure behind many films by different directors, has worked obviously often with Lanthimos, and created this very strange world in which you have to inhabit. And I'm sure many people have seen Dogtooth. It's about a father who keeps a rather patriarchal figure, who keeps his family kind of prisoners in a way. But they've been prisoners for so long that they don't feel like prisoners. Exactly. And within that, you play the older daughter. And again, this brings us back to physicality and dance. And there's this sort of already iconic dancing scene, where first of all, you're dancing with your sister in this very, I don't know, robotic kind of way, stiff. And then you do a solo dance, which I know sort of had a strange inspiration from Hollywood. From Flashdance. From Flashdance. Exactly. With a British director, of course, Adrian Lyne. And was that a big film for you growing up or this was in the script? Yes, actually it was. I had already watched the film during the 80s but it was also in the script because it was written that at some point the elder daughter watches the VHS and she watches Flashdance and then she's trying to recreate that final scene of the film and I was rehearsing alone and I was trying to imitate the choreography, of course I'm not a dancer so I did it in the best way I could but still I did it in a clumsy way but that was the intention as well because Jorgos didn't want this to look perfect, because of course the older daughter could not have done it in a very good way. And this was the intention, that she's trying somehow to liberate herself using, let's say, this choreography. And yeah, I was rehearsing a lot, and it was August and I was alone in my apartment in Athens. It was extremely hot and I kept doing the sequence. While watching the video? While watching the video. Wow, so you must be the biggest expert on flash dance. I am. Did you ever meet Jennifer Beals? No. Such a pity. Well, we have today with us... No. That would be amazing. Tonight at the Nightline, you have to do the flash dance with Jennifer. We're flying her in from Los Angeles at the moment. She's a really good actress. I saw her in some other stuff. She became a big star very quickly. And then I think that was damaging for her because she couldn't get out of this. But when you see her in other films, you think, wow, she's really got it. And this film for you also put you in the international spotlight. Blitz is continuing. And of course, is it a coincidence that Christos and you come from Blitz group and and of course is it a coincidence that Christos and you come from Blitz group and were both in Dogtooth? Had Yorgos seen you on stage and this was how it... Yeah he had seen me. He had already worked with Christos in a theater performance before Dogtooth and he had also seen me in a performance, not in a Blitz performance, in a performance that I've played before. And then he asked us to play the brother and sister. And he sent you the screenplay and you're reading it. And are you thinking this is a terrific role? Are you thinking, oh, strange? Oh, come on. I mean, we were out. We went for a coffee, the two of us. And he gave me the script. And he told me, I want you to play the elder daughter. And then, of course, I went home and I read the script. And it was mind-blowing because I've never read a script like that before in my life. So there was no doubt. I was like, of course I want to do it. It's a gift. I think you were 30? 33. 33. And you must have had an idea that my life is now going to change. No. No. But, you know, how could I know that? It could be another film that nobody would like to watch because it would be, I don't know, too experimental or too whatever. You never know. And then it gets nominated for the Oscar. Did you go to the Oscar? Yes, I went. Did you meet any of your idols? I saw many actors that I admire a lot. And they were all there. And it was strange for me. It was as if I had to dive into the TV. Another out-of-body experience. Another. But you were too nervous to go up to Meryl Streep or whoever? Yes, I was. I was too shy, basically. Not too nervous, too shy to go and say... I'm always shy to speak to actors that I admire. So I didn't speak to any of these actors. Was it your mother would take you to the cinema a lot? My mother. To the theatre a lot and to any of these actors. I know, was it your mother would take you to the cinema a lot? My mother. To the theatre a lot and to the cinema as well. And when you were watching films at that early age, men and women, who were the ones that inspired you? I'm trying to think so, we're talking late 80s, so Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close? Dead Poets Society, I would say. Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams? Yeah, Ethan Hawke also. No, yeah. And that kind of films. Karate Kid, I was also watching, of course. So who was the Karate Kid? Ralph? Ralph Macchio. Ralph Macchio, yeah. But he wasn't at the Oscars that year, I think. No. No. He was snubbed yet again. Do awards, I mean, actors always say, oh, awards, oh, meaningless. But, you know, when you get nominated by the Hellenic Film Academy, and you won the award for Sagas OC, and you've had three nominations, a part of you feels good about that? Or do you have to, is it for your family? They get very excited? Or do you feel a little bit that awards are good yes they are at some point you know of course my family is extremely excited and then everybody is calling you and my uncle and my aunt and my cousins and and it's nice because you realize that they are glad but also yeah I think sometimes it's nice to get an award it's not that you know okay awards are you know something that we shouldn't shouldn't you know get sometimes I mean it doesn't mean anything or it doesn't change anything at least in in my But yeah, sometimes it's nice to realize that, oh, okay, for this film I just got an award. Okay, that's good. But I will keep doing what I'm doing anyway. I had to double check because I thought she must have been nominated for a blast also. I wasn't. No. I think I was. Were you? Yeah, I think. Much deserved. No, no, I think I was. Were you? Yeah, I think. Much deserved. No, no, I think I was. We showed the film twice here and we were saying at the Q&A's that this film, in Greece this film was taken, was received with a certain, internationally very successful, but at home it was like, maybe this is too much. Maybe, yeah. Yeah, they I think they didn't like the character of Maria. It was something that they could not identify with. It was too much. It was too violent. I don't know exactly what happened. And then the next collaboration with Silas is The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea which is more violent and your character is more unpleasant of course it's Silas I know you said that you like to push limits and go beyond and things like that so having this reaction from a blast you go let's go further and that's the one they give you the award for you see sometimes you have to push the limits even further. I've skipped ahead a little bit here. We've missed out two little films, Alps and The Lobster. Again, your collaborations with Yorgos, Alps in which you play Monterosa. And The Lobster in which you play Heartless Woman. You can imagine, me as a heartless woman. So, yeah, maybe speak what is special about Yorgos, because there's something special about him, because he's able to, there's something about his films which you're not like. About his? About his films, about his work, which are really, as soon as you see a scene, you know it's Lantimos. And people are imitating him and trying to be like that. But as a person, what's he like? And as a director, what's he like? Well, I think he knows exactly what he wants to do each time. He's very, very well prepared. And he likes to take care of every detail of the whole picture, of course, of the whole film, but he's very persistent, and he's taking care, really, of every detail, and everything is equally important. But at the same time, he does that, and he's simple and full of humor, and he's simple and full of humor. And he's kind. And it's not like a director that is a control freak during the shooting. The atmosphere is always very nice and playful and simple. But at the same time, he knows exactly what he wants to do. And we developed a code, of course, because we've worked together in three films. But then from the first film, from Dogtooth, I realized that there is somehow a subtle way, that I developed a subtle way to understand him and to understand what he wants to do each time because he also doesn't like to explain a lot or to use any psychology or... We didn't, especially in Doctus, we didn't talk a lot about the characters. It's about the text. It should be, if it's in the text, that's it. The scene. It's about the scene. And it's about mostly doing the action and not try to analyze or talk a lot and analyze the character. This we don't do. We didn't do and we yeah we didn't do that so it's for me it was always very interesting to really try to find a way to without even speaking to to to fit into the world that he creates of course to the universe that he creates each time I was really trying to find a way to fit in. And it was always a subtle way, which is very rare for me. And obviously The Lobster, which was filmed in Ireland, I think it was. And this has this kind of amazing international cast. You have Colin Farrell, you have Olivia Colman, who went on to win the Oscar with Yorgos in The Favourite. And this, I mean obviously you traveled, you had a huge experience working all over Europe and all over the world, but to be then working with kind of international, you know, stars really, I mean, what was, was that as much fun as it looked like, Bea? I was a little bit terrified, of course, in the beginning. But then I realized that they were, all of them, extremely generous and extremely good people and good actors, of course. And then it felt like we were a team and we were collaborating. And I, of course, learned a lot, really a lot. It was like a seminar for me you know playing with these actors and like watching live what they were doing in each scene and how they changed or how they they would um you know do new things in every take i was like sometimes like wow yeah i was really i admired them a lot all of them. Because Olivia Colman had done a lot of British television. She was very well known in Britain. But it seemed to be she exploded in cinema. She really got so big so quickly with The Lobster and then The Favourite and things like this. And everybody that's worked with us keeps saying how lovely she is. She is. Nobody can really be that nice. Come on. No, she is really she is really she has that kind of empathy she's I remember it was the first day I arrived and I had to cut my hair and I had just arrived and in one hour you know because the next day I had to shoot and it was my first shooting day and then they cut my hair and I was you know and it was my first shooting day and they cut my hair and I was you know and she was there and we were eating together and she was so lovely and she could understand that you know and she was like telling me such nice words and it was the first time she had seen me in her life she's really amazing and I mentioned that, you know, theatre and you do films. Olivia Coleman has done a lot of television. The only television I could find for you was The Tunnel, which is obviously an international thing. You did a few episodes of that. Amazing actors have been in that. When you look at the guests, I mean, Jean Balibar and all these people have been in that. TV isn't your thing? Or you tried it and that was it? Or what's wrong with TV? No, there is nothing wrong. You know, TV, at least some years ago in Greece, was something that I wouldn't like to do because it was done in a way that I... It wasn't something that it was interesting for me to do. And now, of course, things have changed. And the quality of TV series is much better. For me, it was always a matter of, is there something for me there to learn and to evolve? And if it is, i will do it again if it's not then you know it's it was some i don't want to do something like like a job you know i always try to find a way to learn something new or you must have had offers from there's so much tv being made in europe at the moment i mean you know name can name 20, 30 shows which have amazing casts. We look at people who are in succession in Game of Thrones and things like this. You must have had those offers. And you must have said, oh, maybe next time. Yeah. So, yes, getting back to the film world and Lobster and sargasso sea um at this point you know you're kind of established as a as a as a film star really did your you know did your daily life change in that way do people in the street deal with you differently and and are you careful that you've got to keep your feet on the ground as an as an actor and theater has always been your way of doing that would that be fair to say so you know you have the red carpets and you have the huge film festivals and the magazine profiles and paparazzi chasing you i don't know but paparazzi are not chasing me but theatre is is the thing that keeps you sort of on the on the planet no everything i think both films and theater keep me in the planet but because if if still i mean when i am in all these festivals still i am grounded because it's of course it's it's a festive it's a great place to be all these amazing festivals but at the same time you know it's films we are all there and it's something that we know that it will end and then we will move on with our life you know I am somehow I like all that and I see it and at the same time I know it's you know simple and it is a nice way to see the world and I know that your thing is that you see how garbage is treated. You've said in an interview that it tells a lot about a society, how garbage is handled. In Scandinavian countries, it's sort of hidden under the ground. And in Greece, there are bags of it lying everywhere. How does Austria match on the... Have you been looking at the garbage in Austria? No, actually. I didn't have time. We don't have any garbage in Austria. Of course. Actually. I didn't have time. We don't have any garbage in Austria. Of course. Actually, I didn't have time. So I don't know. I mean, I didn't, yeah. But I know you still, do you still paint? Because I know you do take photography, you do a lot of photography. I take a lot of photos, yeah, analog photos. No, I don't paint that much. I wish I could paint more, but I don't have the time. In terms of photography, it's a pastime or it's something that you would like to develop? I mean, Jeff Bridges famously takes lots of huge, beautiful photographs on his sets. Yeah, I do the same. And publishes them in books. Yeah, I haven't published them in books. But yeah, when I am shooting and I have a lot of free time because, you know because you have some time when they are preparing the set and everything, I always walk around and I take a lot of photos. And I think it's... For me, it's connected to painting somehow, because it's as if you create a frame, a paint. I've got to ask, why have you never directed in film? Has this never been something you want to do? No, I really want to do that. But I haven't done it yet. Because you don't have time, because you're making so many films. But I will find time, because I want to do it. I think there were five films last year, including Silence, Five to Nine of Christos, which we're showing here, The City in the City with Silas, Human Flowers of Flesh, Helena Wittmann, which we're also showing here, Little Love Package, which you made in Vienna. In Vienna. Gaston Solnitsky, Cave Woman. Now, is this simply because pandemic held a lot of things up? So once pandemic changed and became easier to do things, you were rushing and doing as much as you could. No, actually I shot a lot of films during the pandemic because I could not do theatre because theatres were shut down. So all of a sudden films were easier to do. So we shot Human Flowers of Flesh and Silence 6 to 9 after the first quarantine. And then it was a little love package in Vienna in November, which was also in quarantine. And then it was, you know, all of a sudden I started doing more films. In Silence, I called it Silence 5 to 9, I think. 6 to 9. I was thinking of Dolly Parton, 9 to 5. In Silence, again, there you play a mysterious, enigmatic, damaged... Obviously, you have a huge range, and you've played many, many different types of characters, but it seems as though when directors think about these mysterious, heartless, enigmatic, strange... Women. Yeah, strange... Women. Yeah. It's me. You get them. I was actually looking through Twitter to see what people were saying about you. And somebody said, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, ideal casting. And it was all of the roles. And you were Death. Death. You were Death. But Death is very beautiful in Sandman. That would be amazing if I could play death you've never played death? that would be amazing I've played Alkestis in theatre she's dying and she's going to the underworld and then she's coming back but death would be really something that I would really like to do method acting you need to really get into the challenge of death. And Amulet is a fascinating film in your filmography, directed by Romola Garay, who's one of our leading actors. And I think it was her first film as director, second film as a director. Yes, yes, yes. And kind of a horror or, you know, some sort of supernatural, you're in the flashbacks, and again, mysterious, you know, genre stuff, because you love the physical activity and the physical actions. And, you know, maybe look at Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. And, you know, they embrace horror and stuff like this. Is this something that you're thrilled to? Yeah, I like it. Although I have to say, I'm not like, they don't offer me that kind of parts very often, but I would really like to do things like that. I mean, I like it a lot. Because it's something somehow, you know, you get into a dark area, dark space, which I always find interesting because it has to do with death, of course. And again, patchwork, amulet, human flowers, green sea, a lot of directors who are women. Is that something you're deliberately looking for now? Or it's just the way things are working is that more women are making films, therefore you're going to work with more women? Both. I think, yeah, both. Because nowadays it's... And I'm very happy for that, of course. More women are making films and it is easier to work with women. It wasn't like that even 10 years ago. It wasn't like that. So I'm happy that it has changed and there are more women. And of course I love working with women. And Helena Wittmann, it sounds as if there was a documentary made about this, the making of human flowers of flesh, this would be incredible because maybe speak a little bit about you were on this boat. We were on the boat. For how long? 15 days, at least, maybe more. Just literally sailing around in the Mediterranean? Yes Was this as much fun as it sounds or there were some challenges? We think Greek people are going to be the best sailors in the world. I'm not No I'm not. Because I get seasick very easily so it was some days it was really nice because there was no wind and it was calm and it was like you know a paradise and some other days it was extremely difficult because it was windy and I was puking and then I had to shoot a scene and then I was feeling dizzy but we were there so we had to keep shooting and but overall it was a very rare experience really and in every sense I loved doing this film because we were all together we were equal all different countries different people, we didn't know each other and all of a sudden we were together isolated from the outside world because it was after the first quarantine so we got tested and we got on the boat and we left and we were alone in the sea and we were you know getting to know each other and working with Elena has that kind of rare quality that you feel that, you know, we're all there and everything is equally important. Nature, you know, people, animals, the sea, everything. It's all merging. And at a certain point cameras appear and they start recording and sound and things like this. But it seems like an incredibly organic way of making a film which I'm sure is different from anything else you've experienced would that be fair to say yeah it was organic in a different way because I also think some other films that I've done are organic but in a totally different way this This time it was somehow as if we were there and that was the most important thing, that we were there. And there was this kind of continuity and fluidity that we were all into that state. Because you're kind of living in the set of the film, aren't you? Exactly. that state because you're kind of living in the set of the film aren't you? Exactly and this set was changing every day depending on the weather of course and on the sea and then I realized wow why do we need to be so stable in our lives because here everything is changing every moment you know. Did you buy a boat? No I will not buy a boat no I will not buy a boat because I like to swim a lot but then really I get a very seasick so I could not like to live on a boat and then you of course you do come to dry land at a certain point in the film and you meet a person played by Deni Lavon the incredible French actor isn't really the word for it. I mean, he's a performer, he's a presence. Exactly. And in terms of, again, physicality, I mean, there can be few people in the history of cinema with that physicality. Exactly. What was it like meeting and then working with Denis Lavant? Yeah, I could not believe it. It was something really, really crazy for me. And it's exactly what you said. It's like, it's like, I don't know, a master, a magician from the old times. It's from a different time. And at the same time he's so you know simple and he does what he does and he's full of energy and i was uh you know like wow yeah so you you got some energy from him he gave you yes yes i think i think that's the nice thing about acting is that you can give energy and still have all the energy that you have. You get more. The more you give, the more you have. Exactly. No, no. That's the way it works. It's reacting. And Denis, obviously French, and the film is based partly on Marguerite Duras. Sailor from Gibraltar is a big element in the film, which was previously filmed with Jeanne Moreau. Did you watch that film? And did you take a little bit of Jeanne Moreau. Did you watch that film? Did you take a little bit of Jeanne Moreau? No, because Elena... No, I didn't. Because Elena wanted to do something different because she didn't like the fact that she follows the guy. And she said, OK, now with Ida, I don't want Ida to be dependent at all and to have any close relationship with a man. So we tried somehow to create Ida in a sense that she doesn't belong to any country or to anyone. And she's always open to receive, and she's always curious, and she's always open to receive and she's always curious and she follows somehow the track of the sea. So in that sense I was like, we were trying to create Ida in a different way. It's interesting the way that you describe her because that's kind of a bit like Maria in a blast at the end of the film when she escapes and becomes completely free and she's lost. I mean, they're very different characters. You look completely different in all of the films that you do. But is a little bit, do you see a sort of connection between some of the people that you've played? And I'm not saying that you have parts of them in you, but there are similar energies in those characters, but they're different people, so they will manifest differently. Yeah, of course. There are women that are trying to find a way or to liberate themselves or to be open or in an open space or to have a choice or to create the choice. So in that sense, yes, I think there are similarities. And yeah, because I think there are similarities and yeah because I think sometimes it's suffocating you know to be a person or a woman so I am usually try to you know who represent that kind of women that always trying to find a way to be different or to be independent or to you know to live their life as they want to live as they have chosen to live and in terms of sort of your craft as an actor are you the kind of actor that needs and wants lots of rehearsal um and also when you're making a, are you one of those actors that likes doing 20, 30, 40 takes? Or are you more like Clint Eastwood and likes to get it in the first take? No, I always like to do a lot of takes. But because I feel more comfortable. And then I need a little bit of time to relax and feel somehow secure or safe. But it depends. You know, it depends on the director. And it depends on the wish of the director and on the specific film. Because every film is different. So in some films, I have rehearsed a lot. Let's say in A Blast, I have rehearsed a lot. But in say in A Blast I have rehearsed a lot, but in some others almost not at all, which is okay. I mean, I always try to find a way to, you know, to somehow do the best I can do in these circumstances that are very different and very specific each time. Have you ever taught acting or been tempted to go into that? I have given some seminars. I have, yeah. Basically film acting, not theatre acting. It's something that I don't have the time to do right now because you have to be in one place in order to go again and again and the last years I have been traveling a lot so you know I didn't have time to be in Athens or in another place for a very long time so at some point I want to do that But that means that I won't be traveling that much. As you say, I mean, there was five films that came out last year. There are, according to IMDB, three in production or post-production voices in The Deep, Strangest Case and The Last Hero. We can look forward to those films in the next months. Which of those three should we particularly look out for? All of them. I don't know. All of them. One of them is, I think, in Croatia? It was Slovenia? Slovenia. And you were working with Slovenians and speaking Slovenian? No, I was speaking English. And which one is that? That is the strangest case? No, it's... Last Hero. Yeah, Last Hero. What is that film? I cannot say. It's a Hero. What is that film? I cannot say. It's a secret. This is what we like, the secrets of things. But I know that you are about to start a very exciting project on the stage. A very huge project. Maybe you speak a little bit about this exciting thing that's going to be happening in Athens this summer. Yes, we have already started rehearsals. It's Medea by Euripides and by Heiner Müller. And it's going to be presented in the open-air ancient theatre of Epidaurus in July under the frame of the Athens and Epidaurus festival in Athens and it will be directed by Frank Kastorf the German director. And it's you as Medea? And it's five women Greek actresses that we are all going to play Medea. Have you ever played Medea before? No, I haven't. What is your take on this hugely fascinating but challenging character? I don't know yet because we have just started rehearsing but I like the fact that she is the granddaughter of Sun. The Sun in the sky? The Sun, yeah, of the Sun. So she's like a goddess in some way? Somehow, yes, like a wise goddess. And I like the last scene of the play where she's like elevated by the Sun in the sky. And it's very surreal and I don't know how you can do that in theatre I don't know, it's very difficult. It's for the director to worry about Of course. But as far as I know the story of Medea, the Argos is sailing and Jason and Hercules and all of these men are on this boat this very big boat and then they pick her up she comes onto the boat with them men are on this boat this very big boat and then they pick her up she's she gets she comes onto the boat with them she's the only woman that's kind of on the boat is it but is there a sort of backstory do we know what she was doing before she got on the boat yes she was in in her country in Georgia somewhere there in what in Georgian and when he asked on Jason she, she helped him and then they fell in love and then she followed him. And then she had to kill her brother and throw pieces of his body to his father, because his father was chasing them. And then the father started picking up the pieces of the body of his son and then they could leave and this is how they left from Georgia and they got back to Greece so actually she helped them a lot there are actually two actors from Georgia who were here in a wonderful film a room of my own and I said to them oh Georgia, Georgia. We were talking about Georgia. And I said, well, you know, the most famous person from Georgia was, you know, Stalin. And she said, no, no, Medea. So I was like, okay. And you begin the rehearsals soon? We have already started like two weeks already. How many nights will you be on this huge stage? Two nights. Two nights? 21st and 22nd of July. For many nights will you be on this huge stage? Two nights. 21st and 22nd of July. For two nights only in the baking heat. And your whole family will be there and everybody will be supportive? Yeah, I think so. We never actually talked about what your... Does your family have a theatrical or acting or artistic tradition? Background? No. But they like, especially no no but they like especially my mother they they like theatre a lot and arts in general so she would take us to museums you know to the Epidaurus theatre to many films and you know she would I mean she helped me a lot on that and she watches all of your films yes and she's she's trying to understand them she's she's saying I mean, she helped me a lot on that. And she watches all of your films? Yes. And she's... She's trying to understand them. She's saying, why can't you do more nice comedies? My father basically says that. My mother is more like, okay, I'm trying to understand that kind of films that you do. Because there is a lot of humor in your work. I mean, even like Miracle of the Sargasso Sea. I'm sure some people here have seen it. When she comes in and the poor guy's been beaten up and she's giving him sweets and she has this very... You know, it's a comic. There's a comedy element there. Of course. The film is not a comedy. No, no, no. But Elizabeth, the character, is really... She's funny. She's hilarious. I mean, that was the intention when we were working with Silas it was that you know she's so direct and she doesn't care that she's saying whatever comes to her mouth and this of course creates humor and she's like an a character that you know you don't know what she's going to do it's's really unpredictable. In that sense, she's very funny. And I like that in that character, that, you know, it's like whatever, she can do whatever. Is there an actual comedy film that you've made? I can't think of an actual... Actual comedy? No. No. I think it's... Although, yeah, I mean, the Orwell's films are also a little bit of, you know, comedy and tragedy. Alps also, Dogtooth also is a very funny film. Lobster has its... Lobster....funny moments. Yeah, yeah. It's nice to look back, you know, 20 years ago Blitz had not been formed. 2004, well, let's say 2004 when this festival started, Blitz was also founded and your collaborations with Yorgos were still around the corner. If you look forward in the next 20 years, directing films, different kinds of films, are there any ambitions that you still have that you think the next 10 years I'm going to do this whatever it is I don't know I really try to you know be somehow open to see what I will have or what I will get. I don't know. I don't know. But I think by the time, in 10 years, when you come back here many times, I hope, with the film that you've directed, this could be something. Maybe, maybe. I haven't done that yet. Maybe. I know it's not easy, but maybe I will try. And maybe coming to the close and allow the audience to ask some questions. Greek cinema has had a huge boom and very successful and things like that. It's difficult to make films in Greece, as we know, economically and things like this. You want to stay in Greece? You think there is optimism for Greek arts and cinema? Well, I do... I don't want to stay in Greece, but at the same time, I also do a lot of Greek films and Greek theatre production, but at the same time, I also do international films and theatre production. So I think I will continue to do what I already do, which is working also inside and outside of Greece as much as possible. Because I was also in Switzerland, in Luzern, for some time, because we were co-directing there theater performances. And I really like to work outside of Greece for a while and then go back. And then if I stay for a long time in Greece, then I need to get away. And I like to combine. I like the quote that you said about Athens. You have to fight to get out and to go to the theater. Yeah, you have to fight. Daily life is a fight and a struggle. It is a struggle. I was in Luton in Switzerland and it was totally the opposite because I would go out to walk to the theater and I could see the lake. And I was, where am I? Where am I all of a sudden, what happened? And then you go out in Athens and you have to it's like you have to fight and there's so much noise and but you know it's then you you create out of this chaos you take it and you transform it into something else and and it's it's always like and then when you are in Luton it's the same because you somehow absorb the environment and then you transform it Do you ever go back to Brahami and Aios Dimitrios or has it changed so much that it wouldn't be? No, my parents still live there so sometimes I go there to eat with them and visit them. It has changed of course, it's a little, no a lot better than it used to be. So there is, I thought you're going to say it's been destroyed by being overbuilt and things like this. No, no, no it is, I mean at least there is a square, there are some squares, it is a little bit more, you know, well done. Well, we are so honored that your journey from Brahmi has taken you to Athens and to around the world and finally to Linz. So yeah, it's been wonderful to look back at your career. And as I say, we also look forward because, as I say, I always say people in the opening, I said, nobody comes to Linz once, nobody comes to Crossing Europe once you'll have to come back you'll be back I have to come back but we do have a chance for the audience to ask uh ask a question about uh your career or your craft please don't be shy microphone oh we have our guest from Georgia hello maybe you want to maybe you should be playing the day question please Maybe you want to say something about Madea. Maybe you should be playing Madea. Question please. Somebody has a question? Yeah, here we are. Great, thank you. Do we have a microphone for the question? No? I will bring the microphone to you. For the live stream, that's what we need the microphone for. I'm just very curious, if you're working with a Heiner Müller version of an old Greek tragedy, what language? Greek. Is Heiner Müller translated into Greek? Yeah, yeah. Okay, that just surprised me very much. And I'm curious to hear, I would be very curious to hear more about what it feels like. Or is that, I don't know how to phrase this question. I don't know how to phrase this question. I ran into problems with Heine Merle translations five years ago before I retired as a translator. And that's why I was very curious about what it's like working with a version like that. So from Heine Merle, a version of a Greek tragedy seems to me a very strange loop to make but I don't know maybe well it is but at the same time I mean it's totally different in in terms of style and the translation the Greek translation of Heiner Müller is flowing The Greek translation of Heiner Miller is flowing, and it's really nice, and it's poetic. And I know, I mean, reading Euripides and then Miller, of course, there are some differences, but at the same time, for me, it's something very, very common. I mean, the core of Medea is there in a different way. I mean the core of Medea is there and in a different way maybe in Miller it's it's more aggressive or more dirty let's say but I like that that point of view and in Euripides it's a little bit more mythical or mysterious but the combination of these two ways of writing Medea, I think the contrast is, I think it will be really nice. I mean, for me now, it's very interesting to compare and read both these two texts, two different approaches. Like, yeah, because in Miller, it's like she has no gender almost she's a person with she's so distorted and so how do you say, destroyed which is something that I find very very nice while in Euripides somehow she keeps something of an old goddess, something of an old queen. And this combination, I think, is fantastic. One of the other casting suggestions that I found online was that somebody said they're going to do a biopic of Maria Callas and somebody said why not Angeliki Papoulia to play Maria Callas I cannot sing we can sort that out but of course she played Medea for Pasolini and then there is also the Lars von Trier version are you looking at those or are you avoiding? No, I did. I do, I do. I like both films very, very much. I like Trier's Medea. I watched it many, many years ago and I watched it again. And I like the fact, in Pasolini's Medea, I like the fact that there is no text at all. I mean, the text is not important, which is something that of course cinema can do in a very very brilliant way and pasolini of course does it and i like the fact that in pasolini he the myth starts from georgia because in the first half of the film we see what happens in georgia so we see the background which is very important for the plot and for what happens που συμβαίνει στην Γεωργία, οπότε βλέπουμε την πλευρά, η οποία είναι πολύ σημαντική για τον πλότο και για το τι συμβαίνει μετά. Και μου αρέσει το γεγονός ότι η Κάλλας μέσα στον ολόκληρο φιλμ, μείνει πολύ μυστική. Δεν έχει καταφέρει τίποτα σε αυτό το φιλμ και αυτό είναι κάτι που μου αρέσει πολύ, γιατί δεν χρειάζεται να εξηγείς τον χαράκτη, δεν χρειάζεται να εξηγείς γιατί κάνει αυτό, that I like a lot because you don't need to explain the character. You don't need to explain why she does what she does. And Pasolini, I think, of course, it's a masterpiece. And the five Medeiros, will they be sort of five different facets or you're going to be... This I don't know. You have to ask the director. I don't know because it's too early and really, I don't know. Another question? Don't be shy. Are there any particular directors that in the past, you know, you can't work with Pasolini, but you watch old films and think, oh, if only I could have worked with, maybe Pasolini is the answer. I don't know. Angelopoulos. Rossellini. Rossellini and Antonioni. Italian directors. They have some good directors at the moment in Italy. Yes, they do. Yes, he's one of my favorite directors and I like him a lot. Pasolini, Antonioni. Antonioni, I like a lot. I wish I could, I mean, because it's that kind of solitude and loneliness in his films that I think... The face of Monica Vitti looking at the sea, she could almost be, I mean, she kind of looks more Greek, one could say. Looking at the Greek islands does anybody have a question or a comment? no, I think maybe we've covered we were so exhausted with every possible angle so we have Alps coming up tonight that is the next film is there another screening of Human Flows? today it's Silent 6 to 9 and Alps maybe to wrap it up those two films Silent 6 to 9 Christos a special person for you? you've acted with him, he's directed you when we were also working together in Blitz Theatre Group for many many years we have been collaborating for almost 20 years. So it's like sometimes we don't need to speak at all. We just do what we need to do and we communicate without even speaking anymore. So it saves us a lot of time. I read an interview and they asked you what was it like making dogsooth and you said i mostly think about the time i've shared with the people that summer when we were in the house and and i think to be able to share this time with you with these people has been very nice today on this on this beautiful day thank you so. It's been lovely to talk to you, and I say on behalf of myself, on behalf of the festival, and our collaborators at the university, thank you very much for giving the time, for coming to Linz, and for talking about your career. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Angeliki Papoulia, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.