I fotografia (1987)

Director:

Nikos Papatakis

Writer:

Nikos Papatakis

Release Date:

28 October 1987 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ilias Apostolou, a young furrier who has had a hard time under the dictatorship, leaves Castoria in 1971 to emigrate to France...

Plot Keywords:

Photograph | Paris France | Friendship | Lie | Politics

Cast

Christos Tsagas	...	Gerasimos Tzivas
Aris Retsos	...	Ilias Apostolou
Zozo Zarpa	...	Ilias' Mother
Despina Tomazani	...	Adonis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Metaxia Deliou
Marina Delivoria
Yiorgos Kalantzis
Kostas Markopoulos
Stratos Pahis
Yannis Totsikas
Orestis Tsanakis
Hristos Valavanidis
André Wilms

Directed by
Nikos Papatakis

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nikos Papatakis

Produced by
Nikos Giannopoulos	....	executive producer
Nikos Papatakis	....	producer

Original Music by
Chris Hallaris		(as Hristodoulos Halaris)

Cinematography by
Arnaud Desplechin
Aris Stavrou

Film Editing by
Delphine Desfons

Production Design by
Nikos Meletopoulos

Costume Design by
Nikos Meletopoulos

Production Management
Nikos Giannopoulos	....	production manager

Sound Department
Pascal Armant	....	boom operator
Thanasis Georgiadis	....	sound dubbing
Jonathan Liebling	....	foley artist
Alexis Pezas	....	sound

Production Companies

• Greek Film Center
• Ikones France (Paris)

Distributors

• Argos Films (1987) (worldwide) (all media)

Also Known As:

"La photo" - , France (imdb display title)
"The Photograph" - Australia (festival title)
"Fotografia" - Poland

Runtime:

102 min | Greece:110 min

Country:

France | Greece

Language:

Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Greece

Company:

Greek Film Center

A story about obsession, framed by the sad events of the military dictatorship in Greece

I fotografia (The Photograph) is one of the most highly acclaimed Greek films but very few people have actually heard of the movie (even in its country of origin). What I enjoyed in Papatakis' film is the representation of the Greek society during the time when the Junta (Military dictatorship) was already governing the country (1971-1974). Except from the obvious focus on human obsessions and the psychological thriller turn of the film, we could clearly see the political comment on how hard it was to survive in Greek circles (within the country and abroad) if you were considered to be a communist.In Kastoria, the city where the story begins, all these banners in favour of the regime had "Greece of Greek Christians" or "Country, Religion, Family" written on them. These were the main slogans of the dictators. I found the storyline about the protagonist's (Yerasimos) love of an idea (a photograph)quite metaphorical and parallel to the Greek population's blindness towards the Junta.As Ilias characteristically says to his mother towards the end of the film "what we love about someone is their lie".