An interview with Michael Monemvasiotis, noted down by Werner Busch.

First of all, could you please tell us something about yourself and how the movie project NOWHERE came to life?

I am 23 years old. I have studied for four years in the Aegean University in the department of Cultural Technology and Communication. NOWHERE was a part of my dissertation project at my university on “how to create a short film”. It is also the first part in my trilogy about different aspects of reality with the title “photographic reflections”. Last year I have attended the European Film College in Denmark in order to get more experience and to broaden my horizons.

Your movie is a truly sad love story that could tell us, that true love is only possible in our imagination. Do you think so, personally?

We live in a world full of possibilities. It would be absurd to exclude true love and love at first sight from these. The thing is that they are really hard to find. However, you need to keep looking. In some extreme cases imagination is going to fill the gap for you. In movies you are confronted with these themes way more often than real life. But isn't this what cinema is all about? Characters facing extraordinary situations, trying to overcome them?

I really liked the structure of your film, especially the fact that you didn’t use the first shot of the movie again at the end. There is just a “soft connection”, an imaginative connection, because of the butterfly. Was the structure of the movie, as it is in the finished product, always the same from scratch or did it develop during production, maybe especially in the editing-room?

I worked on the script for three months until I finally came up with the tenth draft which was the final draft. From the final draft to the final cut nothing really changed. That is mostly due to the crew's faith on the final draft, from the producer to the art director and the editor, everyone believed in this script.

Could you tell us about the technical issues you had during production?

The four of us created the main core on which the production was based. Then we all started to seek more friends keen to help. In NOWHERE everyone worked voluntarily and that is the reason why they deserve the whole credit. The actors are also personal friends. Half of them had previous experience and half of them had their first try. They all worked equally hard and I am more than satisfied with their performances. NOWHERE cost 3,000 euro including the equipment, the catering, a caravan and the props. I got sponsored mostly by a cafeteria called Flocafe at my home town Pefki. My father was kind enough to cover the rest. Both of them are still supporting me in my new projects. The production lasted seven days and includes six different locations. The main one, which is the abandoned house, is located at a distant and isolated place far away from fresh water, toilets and electricity. Furthermore, we started shooting in March when the temperature is still low and the wind is intense especially close to the sea during night time. Due to the strict deadline of my dissertation we had only one month to finish with the whole post-production. It was a race against time, but thanks to the good pre-production we had already taken our main creative decisions.

A question asked straight: Do you believe in reincarnation?

No, I don't believe in reincarnation. I do believe that we are all energy and energy doesn't disappear, it just being transferred into different forms. But reincarnation sounds to me as a fair procedure and I don't really perceive the world as a fair place where you will be judged by someone or something. In the end your conscience is the only judge you can't escape from. I still believe in people regardless of how much they disappoint me.

As already mentioned before, the butterfly is an important element of the whole plot-structure. Images like that could only be achieved by CGI and even films with a very small budget are now able to use these effects. When writing the script, were you already aware of these possibilities that would have been unthinkable for a student-film some years ago?

When I had finished the first draft of the script, it didn't include the butterfly. There were the two single-shot scenes, one in the beginning and one in the end, but they only involved camera movements. The truth is that I was looking for a soft bond to justify the long movements and link the two stories. We firstly thought about a firefly but then my art director came up with the idea of using a butterfly. It was an excellent idea because in Greek culture this type of butterfly, which is nocturnal, symbolises the souls of our beloved ones who have passed away, giving me the opportunity to link my stories the way I wanted. Technically, we were fortunate enough cause my art director knew one of the best Greek 3D Animators, Kostantinos Demis, who took care of the rest.

What are your plans for the future?

I have learned so far that in this field, your work/portfolio has the biggest value in order to get sponsored or even to get a job and the degrees come second. That is why I am trying to get involved in as many interesting projects as I can, in order to stay in shape and get more experience. At the time being I am in the post production process of a short film called ONLY INN WITHIN 2 DAYS WALK that I shot together with a Danish colleague and it is going to be ready in November. At the same time I am getting prepared to shoot the third part of my trilogy. As far as the future is concerned, I wish that one day I am going to get the chance to make a feature film and lead people's emotions to yet unknown roads. I don't know if that day is going to come but I do know that I am willing to work my way there.

Links

• NOWHERE (GR 2009. Michael Monemvasiotis)
• Crazy Little Thing Called Structure – Werner Busch about NOWHERE
• Like Phoenix Rising from the Ashes – Werner Busch about the Greek film market