A VERY CERTAIN DEFIANCE

Syllas Tzoumerkas’ European Film Promotion “Future Frames” masterclass at Karlovy Vary IFF

by Leo Barraclough – for Variety

Syllas Tzoumerkas, one of the filmmakers who formed part of the Greek New Wave, believes young filmmakers should remain defiant against norms and conformity when developing a film language unique to themselves.

Speaking during a masterclass at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival entitled “A Very Certain Defiance,” Tzoumerkas told his young audience, participants of European Film Promotion’s Future Frames program, “The word ‘defiance’ can create a path for you in surviving the film industry.”

The director, whose films include 2010 Venice Critics’ Week pic “Homeland,” 2014 Locarno competition film “A Blast,” and this year’s Berlin Panorama player “The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea,” advised them: “You are going to have to create a core – an inner strength – that is non-negotiable because this is what is going to feed you; this what is going to create content.”

He added: “Be defiant against all the sea of opinion, norms, conformity… be defiant against yourself. Question yourself as much as you can. Be defiant against your own insecurities and non-exposure to things. Dare to speak to people, to be extrovert. Be defiant against your own timidity.”

[…]

Tzoumerkas compared the filmmaker to a troubadour in the Middle Ages, who ran the risk that eventually their master would tire of them, and cut off their head. “This troubadour’s body is going to be me, you, everybody. That’s fine because before [we die] we will sing as much as we can, and for as long as we can.”

Read full article by Leo Barraclough @Variety

Read more for EFP and Future Frames, here.