Why would anyone wish to emigrate from a mythological paradise, the place of their dreams? Kythera mon Amour is a multifaceted Greek island comedy-drama which explores this exact motivation, brought on by Greece’s financial hardships which are mainly plaguing the country’s young.
With that in mind, Greek Australian filmmaker James Prineas wrote and directed Kythera mon Amour, an offbeat romantic comedy about Kytherian life and the decision to emigrate from Greece to Australia.
Like a time-lapse, the film does so by touching on both the past and present reasons that lead a young person to migration.
“The island of Kythera, apart from being the mythological birthplace of Aphrodite, was also the real birthplace of the Greek Australian café culture,” Prineas explains.
“The culture became a vital aspect of Australian life after the early 20th century, after thousands of Kytherians departed the island for New South Wales and Queensland, decimating the island’s population from 14,000 in 1900 to just a couple of thousand by the middle of that century.”
The director, who was born in Australia, now divides his time between Berlin and Kythera. Aside from his entrepreneurial business career, Prineas has studied script writing and photography, displaying his work in exhibitions as far back as 1997. A third generation Kytherian Australian, he visits the island each year, maintaining the cultural archive website www.kythera-family.net
After reigniting his passion for film and photography last year, Prineas wrote the script for Kythera Mon Amour while en route to the island for a holiday.
Fascinatingly enough, the scenes with actors were shot in just four days, with the remainder of the film captured and edited between holiday outings.
“I’m proud to have made a short film that tells of the current emigration dilemma and showcases the beauty of the island and its people,” he says.
“Trying to leave a utopia is the crux of the Kytherian dilemma: being driven by the head and drawn back by the heart. The island is harsh and lush, poor yet rich, lazy and dynamic at the same time.”
Maria, living every moment.
As the character of Myrto points out, Kythera is the easiest place to exist spiritually, and the hardest to survive economically.
As his main character, Prineas chose George, a young, ambitious man who also has a soft spot for the ladies. George has to make the hardest choice of his life and decide between his family and life in an economically troubled Greece or a promising future in Australia, on his own.
Within the tragic love-quadrangle he has created, George is held back from a new future, less by the physical attractions of the island, but more by the realisation he is losing hope in Kythera, represented by Elpida, his great love. On the other side of the island, another two Kytherians, Poppy and Georgios, solve the displacement dilemma of migration by taking with them what is most precious to them: each other and Georgios’ irreplaceable bees.
Meet Myrto, pure in her devotion to the island.
Choreographed to reflect the lethargic rhythm of Greek island life to the original music of composer Katya Sourikova, the film picks up speed as the departure of the protagonists grows near and the complexity of doomed relationships becomes apparent. Despite the array of captivating characters, the protagonist of the film is most certainly the island of Kythera itself, full of heroic landscapes and melancholic stories.
“The film was initially planned as a short art film with a twisted romantic story line,” says Prineas.
“But while editing I realised it had potential and that it needed some additions and a subplot. So we shot spent a few more days shooting.
“Although produced with a team of just three assistants and some talented islanders as the actors, the film nevertheless successfully reflects on the modern day woes of the Greek economy and the renewed desire for escape to a better life on the other side of the world.”
Poppy, the Big Voice of Kythera.
‘Kythera Mon Amour’ will screen for a one night only premiere at the Randwick Ritz Cinema, in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs at 6.00 pm on Sunday 23 October, 2016.
The film will also be shown in Brisbane at the New Farm Cinema in Brunswick St on Sunday 30 October.
James Prineas will attend the Australian premiere and will provide online access to the film to share with the many thousands of Greek Australians with Kytherian ancestry.
What: ‘Kythera Mon Amour’ film premiere
Where: Randwick Ritz Cinema, 45 St Pauls Street, Randwick, NSW
When: Sunday 23 October, 2016
Time: 6.00pm – 9.00pm
Tickets: $15, or $9 for children under 16