Projects
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra
Today, Jo gets shot by a cop, out of the blue. She is undeniably killed, yet is she entirely dead?
Mesmeric shots of unprecedented beauty: Jo, 15, wild and melancholic, dreams of the cosmos. She wakes up in angst however – the honking bus, is now gone. The dream is gone too, yet glimpses of it will appear through the day, even though she won’t notice. Sofia, her moody mom, won’t give her a ride, resulting in an outraged Jo – it’s not any other day, it’s the choir auditions! Jo does not participate (yet), but Phaedra is, and everyone knows that her voice is angelic. Indeed, the performance is jaw-dropping. Excitement fills Jo’s heart – finally something meaningful! She asks Phaedra out under a sunlit library corner. She timidly says yes, offering more music. They will meet tonight, in downtown Athens – a place foreign to her. Alexis, her forever friend, offers to help her navigate, yet she won’t make it. Jo gets shot dead by a cop, out of the blue. The unspeakable shock turns Sofia into a wreck, yet a seemingly random Phaedra visit may show her that Jo was killed, but she is not dead.
Life, rather ironically, has given me numerous direct experiences to let me know that death might not be the absolute end. Initially perplexed and skeptical of my own insights, yet currently confident in a – probably unsettling to many – worldview, I shyly attempt to make a simple film about existence’s greater question, using as a vehicle an acutely shocking murder, that of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos. The slogan ‘he was killed, but is not dead’ is a lush portal of philosophical associations and a grand point for heightened cinematic inspiration. The film oscillates like a pendulum: unbroken flux. It begins as a-coming-of -age cut short, becomes a coming-of- death, ends up as a mystical experience. From haptic to pop: grandiose bird’s eye view shots give way to rough handheld mixed with teen authentic nuances, while 16mm film rad experimentations with light and texture may show that the invisible field is not entirely empty. An elegy for life made with the code of dream and music.
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