Greek filmmaker Angelos Frantzis, jury member of the 43rd Fajr International Film Festival, is a prominent director known for his distinctive cinematic voice and award-winning films. Born in Athens in 1970, he studied directing at the Brussels School of the Arts and began his career with short films, including “Short Stories of People and Oranges,” “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?,” “Nineteen,” and “Holey World.”
His feature debut, “Polaroid” (2000), was followed by acclaimed works such as “The Dog’s Dream” (2005), “Into the Woods” (2010), “Symptom” (2015), and “Still River” (2018), which earned him the Best Director award at the 2019 Hellenic Academy Awards. He later directed “Eftychia,” based on the life of poet Eftychia Papagiannopoulou. Having served as assistant to Theo Angelopoulos on “Ulysses’ Gaze,” Frantzis visited Iran for the first time, describing it as “a great opportunity.” In this exclusive interview, he reflects on the festival’s “Poetic Cinema” theme, the art of waiting in filmmaking, and the intense experience of watching four films daily.
The festival’s motto is Poetic Cinema. Have you felt or seen that poetic side in the films screened here?
Yes, absolutely. This is a major topic of discussion: what exactly makes a film poetic? My masterclass here focused on that – on what defines a truly poetic film. As I mentioned in the “Poetic Cinema of Greece” workshop, poetic cinema transcends words and conventional language. While poetry relies on text, poetic cinema combines music, imagery, and cinematic expression to convey emotions that cannot be fully captured in words. It is not limited to rural settings, slow pacing, or specific genres. Its essence lies in evoking a poetic sensibility through the way a film is crafted. Even outside traditional “poetic” categories, lyricism can emerge through the visual and emotional approach to storytelling, beyond clichés.
Theo Angelopoulos, a fellow Greek filmmaker and highly admired in Iran, is someone you worked with as his assistant on “Ulysses’ Gaze.” Could you share your experience and your relationship with him?
Yes, exactly. I was his assistant on “Ulysses’ Gaze” and many other projects. I knew him since I was a child because he was a close friend of my parents. I knew him very, very well.
Could you share a memory of Mr. Angelopoulos?
One thing that always struck me was how much he insisted on getting exactly the result he imagined. We could arrive on set ready to shoot, but if the weather or any other condition wasn’t exactly as he wanted – even if he wasn’t completely sure what he wanted – he would stop everything. We’d pack up and return the next day, and the next day, until the moment felt right. Waiting was the key to his cinema. That’s why the shooting of “Ulysses’ Gaze” lasted two full years.
Could you share your experience so far at the festival?
This is my first time at the Fajr Festival and my first time in Iran. It has been a wonderful opportunity, mainly because of my deep love for Iranian cinema. That was exactly why I decided to come: I wanted to meet Iranian filmmakers and see their latest work. We are still watching films, and we’re trying to see a bit of the city, though time is limited because we watch four films a day.
