Space #1

In April 2020, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival invited 8 Greek directors to create a short film at home, making their own comment on the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The project was inspired by the book Species of Spaces by Georges Perec. Perec’s non-fictional work offers an inquiry into the idea of space and provides various readings of it. Infused with layers of psychoanalysis of memories of spaces and objects, Perec attempts to reassess the space around us. During lockdown, with restrictions, caution, and constraint, one’s relationship with space shifts, disintegrates, and reconstructs. This thematic inspiration enables cinematic improvisation, which is eventually presented as the short film series Space #1. The films are directed by: Giorgos Georgopoulos (Vacationers in Pompeii), Rinio Dragasaki (Incredible thoughts of a woman on a tier), Zacharias Mavroeidis (Me, my home), Minos Nikolakakis (31/3/20 8.00), Marianna Economou (My other lives), Stavros Pamballis (Cleo and her daddy make a movie), Syllas Tzoumerkas (Foghorn), Stavros Psillakis (My photograph). All the directors are award-nominees of the Hellenic Film Academy in the categories of best film, best director, best newcomer, and documentary feature.

The anthology collectively demonstrates aspects of quarantine, while interrogating the space that we occupy or used to occupy. Some focus on reimagined domesticity: Mavroeidis’ Me, my home anthromorphizes the home, turning it into a cohabiting subject. His narration documents a typical household routine and describes the spatial disillusionment of lockdown, where reality no longer aligns with perception. Meanwhile, both Econmou and Psillakis use the motif of book to account for their lockdown life, a life of introspection and domestic stillness. Some also focus on the parent-child dynamic of a lockdown environment: Pamballis’ Cleo and her daddy make a movie filmed through a child’s eyes, capturing the whimsical moments of familial intimacy that reclaim joy. The time and memory are also prominent themes: Dragasaki’s Incredible thoughts of a woman on a tier incorporates many personal archival footage, evoking a haunting nostalgia for pre-pandemic life as the voice over says “I remember my life. I remember the world. As it was” (05:02–05:11). Tzumerkas’ Foghorn uses similar technique of including past images to create a sense of temporal disorientation, but they are also merged with new reflections in photographs, quotes, and nature fragments, enabling a visual poem of intersectionality. Without access to full production crews or professional equipment, these directors all lean into personal narrative, domestic surroundings, and DIY aesthetics—but differ in styles and creative techniques, in each of their idiosyncratic way, they tell a COVID story of their own and narrate a changed relationship with space during lockdown.