“Violence is… democratic,” says Italian sociology professor Sveva Magaraggia in the documentary Femicidio, stressing that violence has nothing to do with color, financial status or education.
“We see in the murders of women in Greece different nationalities, ages and social classes”, points out to the Athenian / Macedonian News Agency the director of the film Nina Maria Paschalidou, who with her film participates in the International Competition of the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (10-20 March 2022).
This is her third film – after “Kismet” and “Snake charmer” – which deals with women’s rights. The protagonist this time is Laura Roveri, who on April 12, 2014 was stabbed 16 times by her ex-boyfriend.
“Do not go on the ‘last’ date,” advises yoga teacher Laura, who introduces herself as an independent woman who has allowed a man to take over her daily life, with a “trap” behavior and herself imprisoned in an invisible prison.
In this “last” date that her boyfriend asked her to “find them”, he stabbed her outside the disco she was having fun with her friends. Through “Femicidio”, Laura pulls the curtain on the dark world of gender-based violence in Italy and transforms into a living example of courage.
They consider women their “property”
Nina Maria Paschalidou started working on the film four years ago, when she learned that Italy had the highest homicide rates in Europe with one woman being murdered every 2.5 days. She found a co-producer in Italy and collaborated with an Italian journalist, who has studied the subject of gynecology a lot, while as in all her films in recent years, she has the support of Al Jazeera.
He believes that in Italy, Greece and other Mediterranean countries “there is a background of a culture, which is very difficult to change. “The main problem in Italy is that men consider women their ‘property’ and in fact the phenomenon is not limited to the North or the South,” he said.
The documentary, without unnecessary dramatization – “I wanted to keep the balance”, the director notes – refers to the effort to deal with the phenomenon of feminicide and in this effort are written and spoken in the film besides Laura and the families and friends of three women who were murdered by their partners, Nunzia Maiorano, Alba Chiara Baroni and Lorena Quaranta.
The direction of photography is signed by Michalis Aristomenopoulos, the editing by Stavros Symeonidis, the sound by Francesco Morosini and the music by Tiago Benzigho and Ernesto Nobili. Producers are: Nina Maria Paschalidou, Forest Troop, Lorenzo Cioffi, ladoc, and Lorenzo Cioffi and co-producers Al Jazeera, Sky Italia, Italian Film Fund and Veneto Fund.
The approach of victims and families
Nina Maria Paschalidou emphasizes that approaching the people who star is not easy. “As you can understand, such an incident breaks up a family,” he explains. He slowly gained their trust, going to Italy many times.
The film premiered worldwide on February 14, 2022 on the co-production channel Sky Italia and the response from those involved was very positive. “After the screening, they contacted her and” felt that their story had been told correctly, “notes Ms. Paschalidou.
The role of awards and bitterness for Greece
Nina Maria Paschalidou’s films have been awarded with many distinctions including: Finalist Picture of the Year Awards, Webby Award (2012) for “The Prism 2011”, www.theprism.tv, IDFA 2013 nominee for “Kismet” and a Gold Medal in International Television Awards (2019) and a jury award for “The Snake Charmer” at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
“The awards are important for all collaborators, but also to find co-producers”, she emphasizes and expresses her sadness for the lack of support for documentarians in Greece. “I think that every Greek who has lived abroad has the misfortune that his homeland does not support him. Unfortunately, me too. I go to foreign festivals, I am a candidate, I am awarded and I do not have my country by my side, when I see the French, the Italian, the German always having his country and the channel of his country by their side. “The documentaries are supported mainly by state channels and the support they have abroad is great at all levels”, underlines Ms. Paschalidou.
After “Femicidio”, Nina Maria Paschalidou completes a series of six episodes for Europe for the French channel ARTE. This is a Franco-German production, “Europe Revealed” which has been working for two and a half years and she is one of the six directors who worked for her.
Hailing from Veria, the director has lived abroad for many years, collaborating mainly with foreign channels and her orientation is on international issues. Even when she does some work in Greece, as she plans for her next project, she always targets a wider audience.
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