Theo Angelopoulos | |
|---|---|
 Angelopoulos in 2009 | |
| Born | Theodoros Angelopoulos (1935-04-27)27 April 1935 Athens, Greece |
| Died | 24 January 2012(2012-01-24) (aged 76) Piraeus, Greece |
| Resting place | First Cemetery of Athens |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1965–2012 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Palme d'Or (1998) |
| Website | Official website |
Theodoros "Theo"Angelopoulos (Greek:Θεόδωρος Αγγελόπουλος; (27 April 1935 – 24 January 2012) was a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. He dominated the Greek art film industry from 1975 on,[1] and Angelopoulos was one of the most influential and widely respected filmmakers in the world.[2][3][4] He started making films in 1967. In the 1970s he made a series of political films about modern Greece.
Angelopoulos' films, described byMartin Scorsese as that of "a masterful filmmaker", are characterized by the slightest movement, slightest change in distance,long takes, and complex, carefully composed scenes. His cinematic method is often described as "sweeping" and "hypnotic."[2][5] Angelopoulos has said that in his shots, “time becomes space and space becomes time.” The pauses between action or music are important to creating the total effect.[6]
In 1998 his filmEternity and a Day went on to win thePalme d'Or at the51st edition of theCannes Film Festival, and his films have been shown at many of the world's esteemedfilm festivals.[7]
Theodoros Angelopoulos was born in Athens on 27 April 1935. His father Spyros hailed from the town of Ampeliona,Messenia in thePeloponnese.[8] During theGreek Civil War, his father was taken hostage and returned when Angelopoulos was 9 years old; according to the director, the absence of his father and looking for him among the dead bodies (during the "Dekemvriana" in Athens) had a great impact on his cinematography.[9][8] He studied law at theNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens, but after his military service went to Paris to attend theSorbonne. He soon dropped out to study film at theInstitut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) before returning to Greece. There, he worked as a journalist and film critic. Angelopoulos began making films after the 1967 coup that began theRegime of the Colonels. He made his first short film in 1968 and in the 1970s he began making a series of political feature films about modern Greece:Days of '36 (Meres Tou 36, 1972),The Travelling Players (O Thiassos, 1975) andThe Hunters (I Kynighoi, 1977). In 1978, he was a member of the jury at the28th Berlin International Film Festival.[10]
Theo Angelopoulos is a masterful filmmaker. He really understands how to control the frame. There are sequences in his work—the wedding scene inThe Suspended Step of the Stork; the rape scene inLandscape in the Mist; or any given scene inThe Traveling Players—where the slightest movement, the slightest change in distance, sends reverberations through the film and through the viewer. The total effect is hypnotic, sweeping, and profoundly emotional. His sense of control is almost otherworldly.
He quickly established a characteristic style, marked by slow, episodic and ambiguous narrative structures as well aslong takes (The Travelling Players, for example, consists of only 80 shots in about four hours of film). These takes often include meticulously choreographed and complicated scenes involving many actors.
His regular collaborators include thecinematographerGiorgos Arvanitis, the screenwriterTonino Guerra and the composerEleni Karaindrou. One of the recurring themes of his work is immigration, the flight from homeland and the return, as well as the history of 20th century Greece. Angelopoulos was considered by British film criticsDerek Malcolm[3] andDavid Thomson[4] as one of the world's greatest directors. Famous film directors includingWerner Herzog[11]Emir Kusturica,[12]Akira Kurosawa,[13][14][15]Ingmar Bergman,[16]Wim Wenders,[17]Dušan Makavejev,[18]William Friedkin,[19]Manoel de Oliveira,[20]Michelangelo Antonioni among others,[21] were also admirers of his works.
While critics have speculated on how he developed his style, Angelopoulos made clear in one interview that "The only specific influences I acknowledge areOrson Welles for his use of plan-sequence anddeep focus, andMizoguchi, for his use of time and off-camera space."[22] He had also citedAndrei Tarkovsky's 1979 workStalker as an influence.[23]
Angelopoulos was awarded honorary doctorates by theUniversité libre de Bruxelles, Belgium in 1995, byParis West University Nanterre La Défense, France, by theUniversity of Essex, UK in July 2001,[24] by theUniversity of Western Macedonia, Greece in December 2008,[25] and by theUniversity of the Aegean, Greece in December 2009.[26]
Angelopoulos died late on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, several hours after being involved in a crash while shooting his latest film,The Other Sea in Athens.[27] On that evening, the filmmaker had been with his crew in the area ofDrapetsona, nearPiraeus when he was hit by a motorcycle, which unconfirmed reports suggested was ridden by an off-duty police officer. The crash occurred when Angelopoulos, 76, attempted to cross a busy road. He was taken to a hospital, where he was treated in an intensive care unit but succumbed to his serious injuries several hours later.[28][29] His funeral was a public expense, on 27 January at theFirst Cemetery of Athens.[30]
| Year | Original title | English title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Η εκπομπή (I Ekpombi) | Broadcast | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1970 | Αναπαράσταση (Anaparastasi) | Reconstitution | Yes | No | |
| 1972 | Μέρες του '36 (Meres tou '36) | Days of '36 | Yes | No | Part 1 of the "Trilogy of History" |
| 1975 | Ο Θίασος (O Thiassos) | The Travelling Players | Yes | Yes | Part 2 of the "Trilogy of History" |
| 1977 | Οι Κυνηγοί (I Kinighi) | The Hunters | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 3 of the "Trilogy of History" |
| 1980 | Ο Μεγαλέξανδρος (O Megalexandros) | Alexander the Great | Yes | No | |
| 1983 | Αθήνα, επιστροφή στην Ακρόπολη (Athina, epistrofi stin Akropoli) | Athens, Return to the Acropolis | Yes | Yes | Segment ofCapitali culturali d'Europa |
| 1984 | Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα (Taxidi sta Kythira) | Voyage to Cythera | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 1 of the "Trilogy of Silence" |
| 1986 | Ο Μελισσοκόμος (O Melissokomos) | The Beekeeper | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 2 of the "Trilogy of Silence" |
| 1988 | Τοπίο στην ομίχλη (Topio stin Omichli) | Landscape in the Mist | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 3 of the "Trilogy of Silence" European Film Award for Best Film 1989 |
| 1991 | Το Mετέωρο Bήμα Tου Πελαργού (To Meteoro Vima tou Pelargou) | The Suspended Step of the Stork | Yes | No | Part 1 of the "Trilogy of Borders" |
| 1995 | Το βλέμμα του Οδυσσέα (To Vlemma tou Odyssea) | Ulysses' Gaze | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 2 of the "Trilogy of Borders" |
| 1995 | Lumière et compagnie | Lumière and Company | Yes | Yes | Co-director/co-writer Segment:Up to 52 seconds |
| 1998 | Μια αιωνιότητα και μια μέρα (Mia aioniotita kai mia mera) | Eternity and a Day | Yes | Yes | Co-writer Part 3 of the "Trilogy of Borders" Palme d'Or 1998 |
| 2004 | Τριλογία: Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει (Trilogia I: To Livadi pou dakryzi) | Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow | Yes | No | Part 1 of the trilogy on modern Greece |
| 2007 | Chacun son cinéma | To Each His Own Cinema | Yes | Yes | Co-director/co-writer Segment:Trois minutes (Three Minutes) |
| 2008 | Η Σκόνη του Χρόνου (I skoni tou chronou) | The Dust of Time | Yes | No | Part 2 of the trilogy on modern Greece |
| 2011 | Mundo Invisivel | Invisible World | Yes | Yes | Co-director/co-writer Segment:Sky below |
| —[31] | I alli thalassa | The Other Sea | Yes | Yes | Part 3 of the trilogy on modern Greece |
Angelopoulos won numerous awards, including thePalme d'Or at the51st edition of theCannes Film Festival in 1998 forEternity and a Day (Mia aioniotita kai mia mera). His films have been shown at the most importantfilm festivals around the world.[7]
Theodoros Angelopoulos was also the recipient of many awards for his long standing career.[7]
| Year | Provider | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Université libre de Bruxelles | Honorary Doctorate |
| 1996 | Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists | European Silver Ribbon[61] |
| 2001 | University of Essex | Honorary Graduate[24] |
| 2003 | Copenhagen International Film Festival | Honorary Award[77][j] |
| 2003 | Flaiano Film Festival | Honorary Award[78] |
| 2004 | Montreal World Film Festival | Grand Prix Special des Amériques[79] |
| 2004 | Busan International Film Festival | Hand Printing[80] |
| 2008 | University of Western Macedonia | Honorary Graduate[25] |
| 2010 | Yerevan International Film Festival | Lifetime Achievement Award[81] |
| 2009 | University of the Aegean | Honorary Graduate[26] |
| 2010 | Dokuz Eylül University | Honorary Doctorate |
| — | Paris West University Nanterre La Défense | Honorary Doctorate |
We should realize, however, that Angelopoulos is an unusual paradox in the history of cinema: he is very clearly "Greek" as I have demonstrated, and yet he is an international filmmaker who has been influenced by filmmakers from around the globe. He has observed: "I draw techniques from everything I've seen .... I continue to love ... very much the films of Murnau, Mizoguchi, Antonioni. More recently: Tarkovsky's Stalker, Godard's Every Man for Himself and of course Ordet ....
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