__________

Athens Design Forum is pleased to present a rare screening of Gloria Olivae (1987) by Greek filmmaker Menelaos Karamaghiolis. The upcoming ADF season will investigate global design cultures through images and film archives of labor processes, collectively placing the complex choreography of making into a new, human-centric dialogue.

As our inaugural screening debut, Gloria Olivae is testimony to the craft of man amidst the idolization and consequent exhaustion of fertile cultural landscapes. Featuring documentary coverage of shipbuilders, olive press laborers (amongst other craftsmen), while safeguarding folk songs of the island, the film was described by M. Papadopoulou of the newspaper “TA NEA” (November, 1987) as a “requiem for a disappearing Greece.” Gloria Olivae enforces a memory of place that further reflects the mirroring challenges of our current era – seeing design elements and the community surrounding built structure as protagonists in the transformation of our environments.

This screening is made possible through the kind support of BIOS.

FILM SYNOPSIS

The film attempts a cinematic rendering of the idiosyncratic architectural boom of industrial buildings on Lesbos in the last century combined with the parallel economic development of the island. Through a historical review of the role of the olive tree, which was and is the main economic resource of Mytilene, the importance of these buildings becomes apparent, in which the olive fruit changes forms and uses and often becomes the driving force of their machines.

The grandfather tells his grandson - who lives in Australia - the story of a civilization based on the olive; when the grandson arrives in Lesvos he faces a completely different reality: The lens guided by the narratives of two different generations, the memories of a century and the synchronic view of a direct contact with reality, follows the chronological evolution of these buildings from their construction, equipment and operation to their decline in the 20th century and their recent conversions.

In a parallel presentation, historical events, letters, documents, personal testimonies and events of the residents themselves (even if only as echoes) give the impression of that special relationship between the island, the olive tree and the industrial "explosion", resulting in the peculiar lesbian culture of the beginnings of the century.

COEFFICIENTS

Script - Director: Menelaos Karamaghiolis

Photography: Andreas Sinanos

Editing: Takis Yiannopoulos

Sound Recording: Dimitris Athanasopoulos

Interpreters: Dimitris Karellis / Menelaos Karamaghiolis

Scientific Advisor: Nikos Sifounakis

Producer: Dimitris Mavrikos

Production Organization: Giovanna Tembou

Production: Dimitris Maurikios, Mirino Film Ltd - Tedc Of Lesvo County

For Inquiries:

Katerina Papanikolopoulos, Founder

info@athensdesignforum.com

RSVP —