Symbolism Over Facts: How a Poetic Monologue Became a Short Film: An Interview with Fanis Logothetis

Please start by telling us a little bit about yourself. How did you become interested in filmmaking?

I studied photography in the early 90s and the photography school I was attending had cinematography classes. We were watching movies endlessly trying to learn the cinematic language and also had technical lessons about frames, cameras etc. Soon I was introduced to video art and found it fascinating so i started making small experimental videos.

As a professional over the years i got involved in documentaries and worked in various positions, from camera to production. Twelve years ago I directed a feature documentary about music in cinema with my collaborator and soundtrack collector Spyros Andreadis. Our documentary screened in many festivals for a couple of years and also we were lucky to get some screens in theaters in Greece. My work includes making short videos for artists, galleries and art curators.

The idea for Till A Death is based on a play. Please tell us how you decided to work on this idea.

Well, with Konstantina Stathopoulou, who stars in our movie, had the play in our hands for some years, trying to decide what we want to do with it. The first idea was to do a theatrical monologue with elements of performance along with videos on stage but the covid era buried our will to do something about it. A couple of years ago we had this extreme idea to make this theatrical monologue a short movie ! My approach was to keep a low movement pace and work with spaces and locations in an effort to shed light to to the psychosynthesis of the main character rather than facts. I wanted to highlight the fragments of her soul and not give any information about time or place, its like a sneak peek in her mind in a very stressful moment. Most things we see in the movie are symbolic and we wanted to break the linear time narration sort of speak, kinda how thoughts coming to our minds after something traumatic happens. We couldn’t have done it without our editor G.Pavloudis.

Were you personally supervising the screenwriting process while it was being adapted into a screenplay?

That was a very difficult process because the monologue that Sabine Gruber wrote is a long one, and we had to strip it down to see what elements we could combine to tell the story of Irene. So on a first level we wanted to see what Konstantina feels and absorbs from the play and also what I wanted to say, then we sat down with Eplida Grilla, who did the adaptation and had many conversations about the road we want to take. It was so stressful that at moments I thought we couldn’t do it cause its a monologue and a poetic one if I may add, plus it is about a woman who is incarcerated for a murder, she only wants to be heard and I also wanted to have a specific atmosphere in the movie. So I wasn’t supervising really, after we concluded all the meetings and conversations, Elpida worked on the screenplay alone as we did pre-production preparations.

How long does it usually take to prepare a screenplay for production?

One thing I could say is that we were multitasking ! As an indie production with no funds or grants from somewhere, we had to be very careful with how time is spent. After we had the screenplay ready, we had a couple of months to work with and find locations that made sense because it was an important element of the movie. And then a couple of months to get things in order, find the crew that would love our crazy idea so we could make this movie. Production was a nightmare!

Please tell us how much rehearsal you did with Konstantina Stathopoulou to achieve her current acting performance.

Konstantina knew the play very well because we worked in various ideas with it as I said earlier, so she got the screenplay for I don’t know 2 months or so and came back ready for rehearsals, we did some rehearsals alone the two of us, record them and then discuss about them keeping notes etc and after that we did another round of rehearsals with Nikos Sklavounakos present who plays Mr Schett so we can study the movements, the eye contacts etc

What difficulties did you face during the production of the film?

There is always a factor that something could go wrong that you haven’t anticipated. We did have some moments that has disastrous, like when in the first day of filming we were so happy and smiling and then a camera and a recorder fell off a tripod and broke in to pieces! Then you have to find a solution or all day could be canceled and the crew leaves and goes home, in a small production you don’t have the luxury to do that . So you have to be creative and alert.

If you could go back in time today, what things would you not do during the making of this film?

Probably nothing, I mean we all did our best, we all tried so hard to do it in such a small time frame we had with the locations and with the budged so tight we didn't have a margin for many errors. Did i make any errors? yes many, did i made a wrong choice during the making? of course i did, but the crew and all the people that worked in post production were so talented and kind and resourceful and that makes me feel so proud for the result.

What problems do you think young filmmakers face these days? Specifically regarding short films, do you think the situation is easier now compared to the past?

Im not so sure what to say ! People in the short film world are so passioned and so into art and experimenting that makes em so special and independent. The struggle is there in any era, things maybe change or maybe re arranged and technology is there and the digital world is here in a reasonable price but there is always a difficulty cause short films aren’t about shooting in 4k or 6k or having a super cinematic camera, or having a big company supporting you, a short film is about telling a story and find likeminded people to work with and finally find a way to show your movie to the world without loosing your enthusiasm.

What kind of projects attract you the most? What challenges are you generally looking for?

Mainly projects that speak to me instantly, generally I think I am looking something to triggers my mind and my creativity. I am not attracted to happy ends and soppy stories.

Finally, please share any remaining points or notes you would like to mention.

Art, cinema, painting, poetry is all about expression. Its important to be able to make films to write poetry to dance to express and communicate with others, to tell stories, create and imagine, to feel and be felt. This movie is dedicated to all the people who were involved, they are dreamers.