Discover the captivating journey behind the award-winning film MEDIUM as Greek Filmmaker/Director Christina Ioakeimidi shares insights in an exclusive interview. MEDIUM recently premiered at the esteemed 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 12, 2024.
Directed, co-produced, and written by Christina Ioakeimidi, MEDIUM is an Ekso Production that garnered acclaim at its World Premiere at the 2023 Sarajevo Film Festival, where it earned the prestigious Cineuropa Award.
Join us as we delve into the creative process and inspirations behind this remarkable cinematic experience. Don’t miss out on this behind-the-scenes look into one of the most talked-about films of the year!”
MEDIUM – Plot Summary: 16-year-old Eleftheria, a stranger in a strange world, meets mysterious neighbor Angelos who invites her into his fascinating grown up world. Roaming the streets of the scorching hot August city on his bike, she will embark on a journey to discover herself through the ferocity of first love.
Christina Born in Athens, Greece, Christina Ioakeimidi studied filmmaking at the London Film School, where she honed her skills in writing, directing and photography through the creation of short films. Ioakeimidi’s directorial debut “Harisma”, which she wrote, directed, and produced, premiered in Greece in 2010 and gained global recognition having been featured in numerous international film festivals. In addition to her work in feature films, Ioakeimidi has directed documentaries for Greek television networks.
Photo Credit – Gettyimages – Chelsea Guglielmino
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Christina thank you all for joining me today talk about your latest film medium thank you thank you for having me exciting times you know I just uh saw that it premiered at the Santa barbar International Film Festival and it’s an award-winning film first of all tell us
A little bit about that how did that make you feel when you first stepped up over there and you saw your film in the festival um well it it’s uh our us Premiere here in Santa Barbara uh the international Premiere was in Saro Film Festival um so we’ve been to um quite a
Few festivals up to now um I I this is the part that I enjoy the most from this whole process because I it’s the moment when I get to share it with the people you know and uh get the reactions and see uh what it’s uh doing to them so I
Was very curious to see how uh different the reactions would be to uh Europe and especially the Balkans who are more close to our mentality um and I must say I feel that the US audience is a little more shocked than than um the balcan or the Greek
Audience I think used to yeah yeah so I saw that the film has already like won some awards and it’s being recognized everywhere now for you like for like putting your work into this how does this make you feel um we won one award it is in a europ award it’s it was
In Saro Film Festival again um it felt great it was I I was very uh unsure at that moment as well it was the international Premiere so I have no idea IDE how the the the audience would react and what the the feeling would be so it was a great starting
Point to get an award and feel that that um people acknowledge the work that I put into it because it’s been many many years of struggle to make this film so it’s the moment where I enjoy the the reward of it yeah speaking of the film
Uh what inspired you to tell the story of medium and uh of course it’s if based off a book and now you turned the book into a film and you wrote it also like tell us a little bit about that um it’s it’s very interesting how I I read this
Book and I loved it and it’s um it’s it’s written in a very cinematic way and the the writer uh I mean it’s it’s very much about the atmosphere of asence during a heat wave and this is something that I like I like very much in the book
And I could imagine you know the the images of all of all that came to my mind straight away the interesting thing is is how um I felt that that I had a really strong relationship with this material and um because it has all these themes that I usually like to work with
Which are um like the unresolved trauma and difficult relationships with family members and things left unsaid and difficulty in communicating with people who are close to you and um so I felt like this is something that I could have written and uh this was written by in the 80s in
Greece by an older homosexual uh male lawyer so so it’s amazing how I can have this connection with this person and now that I’ve met him and we have um I feel that we have so many things in common and it’s so interesting and um beautiful
In a way you talk about Yos right y yes yeah did you uh when you were writing the script did you uh collaborate with him how like how you want if you wanted to change anything if you wanted to keep it just like the book he wanted to have
No collaboration he he said uh you take it I don’t want to read the script and I want to see it on screen I don’t want to know what you’re doing I don’t want don’t make me read the scripts so that at first was very you know liberating
But then it was very stressful for me because I was always very anxious of what he’s going to think and uh he’s going to be shocked in you know when he sees the final so that what I I was was very worried and but I I had um script
Writing mentors because I took part in several uh writing workshops and they were like this never almost never happens you’re so lucky that he’s given you all this Freedom so don’t don’t talk to him but at some point I did speak to him and I told him the changes and he
Was okay with them so I was Rel about them now the big question is when he saw the movie what was his reaction what did he say to you uh he he liked it a lot he liked it a lot and um um the the other interesting thing is that
In order to give me the rights we met and I gave him some of my previous work to see and I’ve had I’ve already made um feature film and a couple of shorts and one short is a five minute um um short that I’ve made in just a
Week shot it on Super Eight film and that’s the one that um convinced him that I could um do the film not the feature not the other like big Productions and um uh yeah he he he liked it a lot I mean he said that uh he
It’s it’s another view on his work and and that’s what he wanted he he said you know you you’re not going to try and do what I had in mind you’re going to do your thing and I believe that you can do it in a nice way so go ahead and do it
Which was wonderful so in the film now you have Lea nilos how did you like approach to create the these characters make him come alive um I casted them quite early uh Elia is first time acting she’s not an actress she’s a dancer she’s she was 18 when we
Shot the film and um agos nikolakis he’s um he’s a very upand cominging actor now in Greece um he’s he’s uh 35 in real life around so he’s a bit old but we we came together the three of us quite early on and we did a lot of rehearsals but they weren’t really
Rehearsals it was more like um getting to know each other and play games and we were playing a lot of um table Po and um we did karoke and they were dancing and they were um so they kind of physically let loose and they got to know each other and they trusted each
Other and uh I I think that was the the way that they could um you know let let go because for her I was very worried that the first time actress 18 years old she had to do sex scenes and uh I think she pulled through
Amazing so like so when the viewers tune in to watch this uh like what theme or message do you hope to get out of this film Um well I’m not good at this it it took me so many years because I I just cannot um uh say things with words so uh I I want people to watch this film and uh if it does something to them I’m uh very happy to that they take something and it
Touches them in whatever way I don’t want to be the way that I intended I want them to get out of the movie theater or after watching it and carry something that is Meaningful to them and uh this is the way I like to to watch
Films and um um it’s not important what I had in mind it’s an experience and I want them to if if it touches them in some way I’m um more than happy amazing now you’ve had a Premiere in Europe now you had a Premiere in the US what’s next are are
We gonna see it in the big movie theater screen are we’re gonna see it on streaming on platforms uh we’re we have a couple of festivals coming up in Sofia and Berlin for now and um the theater release in Greece is in June in the open
A theaters and uh I’m hoping for then there is some an art Tico Festival in Germany that goes around a little bit in European countries um and I’m hoping to we had some interest from um Hollywood based um Distribution Company so that would be amazing if it happen but I don’t know
Yet Chris uh last uh last question Christina what are you hoping for like what do you want to tell the Greek uh the Greek population the Greek people go see this what do you want to tell them oh I’m I’m I’m so I had such an amazing
Experience here it’s um I want to come back there’s the La Greek film festival and um I yeah I’m right now at my friend’s house in Silver Lake who she’s my high school friend so I feel very at home here and uh I’m hoping to come back
Soon and um we can all uh know meet more people and and uh and I think the Greek festival the Greek the Los Angeles Greek thing is in June or July right Jun amazing Christina I want to thank you for giv me a few minutes this was great
And let’s get you back on with future projects thank you so much thank you I know you I know you got a flight coming up too so you have I have a flight yes I have a flight