The obsessed photojournalist, who was present at the Olympic Games eight times and steadily captured on film crucial events in politics and sports in post war Greece.
Cinematography:
Dimitris Kordelas
Sound:
Dimitris Vasileiadis
Screenplay & Directed by
Elias Giannakakis
This “Paraskinio” focused on the legendary, veteran photojournalist Andreas Kalogeropoulos, who between the early postwar era and until the time the documentary was made, had covered all sports events but also numerous political and social stories. He was present at every one of the Olympic Games between 1968 and 2004, as well as at the sudden demise of Sofoklis Venizelos and at Aristotle Onassis’ funeral.
I have a vivid recollection of his darkroom/archival office; a hole in the wall, up on some floor in a building on Themistokleous street. It was like a dollhouse, with photographs lining the walls and even more photographs arranged in stacks by the thousands, film boxes, cameras and tripods everywhere, photographic filters, chemistry trays, prizes and distinctions awarded to him over the course of his long career, etc.
He unfolded his adventurous life, hovering between myth and reality, and revealed a handful of secrets of the trade.
It was a documentary focusing exclusively on him, without third party interviews, as I believe that when we have the subject of the movie itself on camera, all other testimonies are superfluous.
The picture, although it is nothing special, is clean-cut and has the character of powerful evidence of an era that is now lost.
Kathimerini
