The films the city starred in and the history of its relationship with cinema
In the White Tower, the emblematic landmark of Thessaloniki, Martha Karagiannis dances on the roof, to the rhythm of the band of Kostas Voutsas, in the well-known movie “Something to burn”.
Just behind, the Thessaloniki view of reciprocity emerges, in the introduction to “Teddy Boy my love”, while the orphaned boy from “Barefoot Order” spends the night on a boat moored in front of the White Tower.
“This specific area is one of the most filmed in Thessaloniki and appears in many films to signal that the film takes place in the city”, the deputy head of the Film Office of the Central Macedonia Region, film historian Lina Mylonaki, points out to APE-MPE.
Bringing to mind well-known images from Greek cinema, he recalls that Aristotelous Square is identified with the filming of the film “Atsidas”, in 1962, in which Stefanos Stratigos and Zoe Laskari are seen eating sweets in the square.
After all, scenes from Pantelis Voulgaris’ “Shirt with 9” and from films by Yiannis Dalianidis and Theodoros Angelopoulos were filmed there. However, Aristotle’s cinematic identity, as he says, had already begun to take shape earlier, when in 1947 the square already counted six summer cinemas. Cinema culture peaked in the 1960s, as by 1965 more than 102 theaters, winter and summer, were operating in the city.
Brilliant cinematic moments of the city include, among others, the Film Festival at Olympia, the hosting of Aliki Vougiouklakis in 1960, on the occasion of “Madalena”, at the Mediterranean Hotel and the floating cinema “Koursal” or Jerusalem which has been in operation since 1925 near the White Tower and in addition to movie screenings offered fine food and cool beer.
According to Mrs. Mylonaki, “Thessaloniki got to know the art of cinema for the first time in that historic first screening that took place in a beer bar, “Turkey”, in Vardari, in 1897. Since then, the city has been linked to cinema throughout time: the first cinema screenings in the city in 1903, the first Greek filmmakers led by the Manakia brothers after the liberation of 1912, cinematic events in Thessaloniki at the beginning of the 20th century, luxurious cinemas in the interwar period and much more”.
Fifteen points of cinematic interest in Cineperipatos
All of the above are presented in the book “Sine Thessaloniki – Stories from the city and the cinema”, edited by Linas Mylonakis and Yiannis Grosdanis. The publication gave rise to various ways of highlighting the city’s cinematic history, such as the Cineperipatos designed a few years ago for Thessaloniki Walking Tours, with the aim of highlighting the two-way relationship between cinema and urban space. “The walk starts from the White Tower and ends at the port, while including more than 15 points of cinematic interest in the center of Thessaloniki, connecting memories with streets, squares and corners of the city that “functioned as an open film studio and shaped its cinematic identity” , notes Ms. Mylonaki.
However, the impressions of the cinematic history of Thessaloniki have also been presented in other media, such as the digital application Cinemetro, created by a group of students from the Department of Informatics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, led by professor Athena Vakali, to navigate in cinematic Thessaloniki and the educational program of an experiential nature “Cinema Thessaloniki”, for primary and secondary school students, which was implemented as a pilot in schools in Thessaloniki.
In search of common ways of highlighting the city’s cinematic history
“Cine Thessaloniki has been operating for a decade as an open cultural proposal for a more comprehensive promotion of the cinematic history of Thessaloniki, which can be channeled through many media and in different ways, including all of the above”, characteristically points out Mrs. Mylonaki, with occasion of her recent presentation at the film literacy conference, held in Chania.
She characterizes the conference as an ideal occasion for a meeting of the film bodies of Thessaloniki (Cinema Museum, Film Festival – Film Museum, AUTH Film Department, Central Macedonia Region Film Office), which presented various aspects of the film culture of the city and the wider region. “The conditions are now ripe for us to move forward in joint ways of highlighting the cinematic history and the cinematic culture of Thessaloniki through new collaborations for the promotion of the distinct cinematic identity and heritage of our country,” noted Ms. Mylonaki.
Teens on the Green Screen
A typical example of such cooperation are the educational programs that are held for students of all levels of education from 2012 until today at the Cinema Museum. As Irini Delidaki, candidate for Dr. of Cultural Technology and Communication, which has the Scientific Curation of these programs at the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki, special emphasis is given to secondary education, while the program includes exercises in film literacy, theater play, screening of film clips and filming by the children themselves on the well-known green screen to make their own short film.
“The children see themselves there against a different background than what they usually find themselves in. Each group takes over a scene and makes a part of the film while we observe how the children, ‘unlocked’ through the audio-visual material, feel more comfortable, identify with the characters, learn in practice empathy because they get into roles, share feelings, release themselves, they work together and have fun”, he emphasizes characteristically.
What student diaries reveal
Along the same lines, a film pedagogy educational program has been taking place in schools in Thessaloniki for 13 years in collaboration with the Cinema Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Dimitris Papadopoulos, Dr. of Cinema Studies and documentary director, EDIP- Department of Cinema A.U.Th. and E.A.P., points out, speaking to APE-MPE, that from the qualitative analysis of the 121 diaries kept by the students of the department over the last five years, a very positive experience for the students emerges. These include his first experiences with lenses and camera, building relationships and working groups, making films and promoting learning through the representations they have from films and documentaries.
Source: RES-MPE
