VARIOUS: Berlinale competition entry 'Meteora' examines the search for answers in the spiritual and secular world as a nun and monk struggle to understand their feelings for each other

Record ID: 217195

  • Title: VARIOUS: Berlinale competition entry 'Meteora' examines the search for answers in the spiritual and secular world as a nun and monk struggle to understand their feelings for each other
  • Date: 15th February 2012
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 12, 2012) (REUTERS) AUDIENCE COMING OUT OF BERLINALE FILM SCREENING DIRECTOR OF 'METEORA' SPIROS STATHOULOPOULOS, TALKING TO MEDIA STATHOULOPOULOS TALKING SEEN THROUGH CAMERA VIEWFINDER (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF 'METEORA' SPIROS STATHOULOPOULOS, SAYING: "During winter time the fog eclipses the monoliths and what happens is that the mo
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2012 12:00
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  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5J22K6SE1BKSO6NLE00OG197
  • Story Text: In the hot plains of central Greece, the Orthodox monasteries of Meteora are perched atop sandstone pillars, suspended between heaven and earth.
    One of the two monasteries is so removed from earth the only way in and out is to be lowered or pulled up in a rope basket.
    These lofty refuges are the setting for Greek festival entry, Meteora' by Colombian-Greek director, Spiros Stathoulopoulos.
    Over 80 minutes of cimematic landscapes and sparse dialogue, Stathoulopoulos follows the spiritual and physical emotions of a Russian nun and a Greek orthodox monk.
    "During winter time the fog eclipses the monoliths and what happens is that the monasteries seem as if they were suspended on top of the clouds. So I found that this is analogical to the state of the human soul, which is suspended between the existence of secularity and between the existence of communion, of living in Communion," Stathoulopoulos told Reuters TV.
    The film, competing in the 62nd Berlinale intercuts the camera's love affair with the monolithic landscape with animations in the style of Orthodox iconography. A means to allow the characters to meet and move the story forward.
    "The animations, the purpose of the animations is to talk about feelings of the characters, the psychology of the characters and also to provide a space in which the characters can meet," Stathoulopoulos said.
    It is perhaps timely, given the huge success of silent movie, The Artist, that the Berlinale 2012 has a lot of films on offer easy on dialogue.
    "I think most of the time we talk to cover the truth. So I had to really commit to communicating with people with no words and understanding how people... in our saddest or our happiest moments we cannot talk. We either stay silent or sing. Talking is almost irrelevant.," Athens-born actor Theo Alexander said.
    The nun is played by Tamila Koulieva, Russian-born and living in Greece for the last 20 years. A fact, which she said helped her project the idea of the many different aspects of one person's character.
    "I was intrigued by the topic because these are questions that all people carry internally. This need to explain our relationship with God and our relationship with the world," Koulieva said about the film's spiritual element.
    The main theme of the film is the idea of 'choices'. Orthodoxy is not a religion of punishment, so nun and monk both, must decide whether to choose each other or God for themselves.
    Although Stathoulopoulos said his film did not intend to provoke there is bound to be some response to scenes where the characters masturbate and have sex.
    Stathoulopoulos also allowed the film to take place in its natural setting, with the only professional actors being Alexander and Koulieva.
    "That was also what was very seductive in the film, when Spiros said we were going to combine the style of documentary and fictional characters and we were going to do this movie. This real way of shooting. And working with real people, you can't top them: they are real and you are an actor, you try to be in the moment. They are always present. And especially when you talk with the people. They are from Meteora, they are form the land, they are connected with nature and the rhythms of the land so it was one of the most exciting things I have ever done," Alexander said.
    Meteora is a Greek-German coproduction and the second of Stathoulopoulos' films to deal with the claustrophobia of entrapment. In this film though he also shows that art between two countries can flourish, even in a political crisis.
    "The Berlinale has so far done a lot. By the simple of fact of having been welcomed in the official selection it has been a great window for Greece, especially on the situation of Europe right now. Especially because it is a Greek-German production so I think that it is symbolically positive that a Greek-German coproduction flourishes in a time of crisis."
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