A full life, I suppose.
Director: Alexandros Pissourios
Cyprus, 2023, 25 min
Shooting Format:16mm, Super 16, Super 8, VHS
Festival Year:2024
Category:Experimental
Email:alexi.pissourios@gmail.com
Synopsis
A full life, I suppose is a filmic portrait of the time shared between the filmmaker and his mother, Androulla, combining new 16mm material shot during his recurring visits to Cyprus with Super 8mm footage shot by his father in the 1970s to chronicle the evolution of bodies and the desires that mark a life. Attempting to balance between observation and construction, the film captures dailiness and domesticity while transfiguring Androulla's body and inhabited space through close-ups, double exposures and time-lapses. As segments of conversations between filmmaker and mother about her life wander mostly sync-free over the images, encounters with light and darkness in the nooks and furnishings of her otherwise ordinary dwelling arouse a sense of unreality.
About the director
Born in 1982 in Limassol, Cyprus, Alexandros Pissourios currently divides his time between London and Cyprus. He received his MA in Communication Art and Design from the Royal College of Art. Pissourios explores the possibilities inherent in 16mm cameras and film, blending ethnographic approaches with experimental cinema. Selected screenings/exhibitions of his films include London Short Film Festival (2024), FilmDairy NYC (2024), Lemesos International Documentary Festival (2023/2020), Cubitt Gallery London (2023), Queerwave festival (2023), Supernormal Festival (2017), International Ankara Film Festival (2016) ICA/Lux Moving image Biennial (2012), Fringe! Film Festival (2012), London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (2011)
Filmmaker's note
Androulla Pissouriou: The first reaction is shock. Seeing yourself at 18-19 years old, and you are now 70, it’s a bit of a shock. Then you evaluate how you feel. How you felt back then. What you used to do… What frame of mind you were in, I guess, compared to now. But then you say, “This is how life is”. You go through it… You mature, you grow old, and you should appreciate every stage of your lifetime. You needn’t feel sad that you once were young… You should take a look at how you were and be glad that you existed like that—beautiful. I’m not regretful I existed like this… Joyful, beautiful, well-dressed, with my babies. I feel satisfied.
Alexandros Pissourios: So you wouldn’t want to be someone else.
Androulla Pissouriou: No. Someone else, no. Maybe I would have wanted to have a different life. Admittedly, I would’ve liked another partner. Someone else, I guess, someone different. But I like who I was. I wouldn’t want to be someone else. Have I answered ok?
Alexandros Pissourios: Yes.