Thessaloniki 2025
Country Focus: Greece
Cinematic perspectives on the Greek summer and climate change explored at the Evia Film Project
- Participants in the symposium held in Limni discussed filming Greek summers amid climate challenges and the storyteller’s role in depicting the environmental crisis
A symposium titled “Filming the Greek Summer: Light and Myths, Stereotypes and Challenges” took place in the Greek town of Limni on 20 June on the occasion of the fourth edition of the Evia Film Project. The discussion was opened by Konstantinos Kartalis, professor of Environmental and Climate Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and a member of the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Climate Change, who introduced the audience to the kinds of climate changes that Greek summers are facing. The lengthening of summer may seem like a positive change to some, but it poses serious environmental concerns, especially when looking to the future. Wildfires and floods, although not new phenomena, are becoming increasingly intense, while heatwaves and droughts are growing more frequent and severe. Kartalis urged filmmakers to harness the power of storytelling to raise awareness, stating: “Talking to politicians is not enough, and films can bring this issue to life. Stories on screen can carry these messages further and raise awareness on the topic. This is a call for your help.”
The event continued with a debate between filmmakers Sofia Exarchou and Argyris Papadimitropoulos, and cinematographer Simos Sarketzis, moderated by film critic Christos Mitsis from Athinorama magazine. Exarchou discussed her own approach to Greece while shooting Animal [+see also:
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interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile], which premiered in 2023 at Locarno, competing for the Golden Leopard: “The intention of the film was to follow the darkness of people’s souls, and as it’s hard to get permits during the summer, we shot from mid-October onwards.” When asked about how the Greek summer can be “advertised” in order to attract more filmmakers, she said: “We are not here to sell the brand or image of the country; we are here to tell stories,” explaining how budgets can make a big difference in the storytelling. As an example, the director recalled the Greek set of How to Have Sex [+see also:
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film profile] by Molly Manning Walker, when extras were brought across directly from England.
Papadimitropoulos, the director of the 2016 film Suntan [+see also:
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interview: Argyris Papadimitropoulos
film profile], presented at IFFR, also talked about the extras for his film: “We shot in the summertime; we needed thousands of extras and couldn’t pay for them, so we went to bars and beaches, and convinced people to take part in the film for free, with the excuse that they could later see themselves on screen. I usually don’t like party scenes that are artificial and seem fake, so we had proper parties, and that would have been impossible if it had been out of season.” The reason why he chose to make a film on the Greek summer is because he admitted to feeling happier in the summertime: “The heat can make people go crazy. In that sense, the heat of love is riskier in the summer as well, opening up a lot of narrative possibilities.”
Cinematographer Simos Sarketzis suggested that what makes the Greek summer different, in terms of photography, is the blend of “blue, green and red” in its palette. He then joked about the fact that “people love the Greek summer, but how long can they really stay outside in the heat? Very soon, you’ll have to look for shade. Nonetheless, we are all a little bit masochistic in this industry, and we yearn for the summertime, even if it’s a difficult period. In the end, while filming, you have to put ice cubes around the camera to keep it from shutting down!” In his view, the fact that the summertime in Greece doesn't last only until September, but keeps going until November, makes it easier to find the right time for a shoot. However, there can be significant issues that are often overlooked by filmmakers: “[The teams behind] productions with high budgets think that they’ll be able to come and shoot over short periods of time without understanding that it takes time to go from one place to another,” he added.
The symposium ended with a presentation of the poem “The Land as a Skylight, the Gaze as a Bind” by poet Yannis Antiochou.
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