In Kirki, an almost uninhabited village of Evros, rocks and hills alternate, mountains and slopes keep well the secrets of the ancient Thracian tribe of Kikon, while the mines that flourished in the post-war period star in many myths about the deposits of the area. In this amazing landscape, in the green and the vastness of nature, they were made the shooting of the film “Branch in Fire”, by Konstantinos Mouratidis and Genovefas Ktenidouwhile the result managed to bring to the viewers’ minds images from the British north and scenes that dominated the literary works of English, Scottish and Irish authors.
«Indeed, when the film and these shots are seen on the mountain, one dares to be in the north of England. Many say that the style of an English film is obvious“, Says Maria Karavia, actress and director, who stars in the film, to APE-MPE. She emphasizes that the producers of the production chose the specific area for the shooting as almost all of them come from Alexandroupolis, live in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and recognized the powerful shots that reserve to the cinematographers the wild and deceptive landscapes in Alexandroupolis, and Mount Paggaio.
Apart from Kirki, shooting also took place on the river Evros and in Alexandroupolis, while the local communities reserved a very good reception for the production.
“Excellent simulations can be done there …”
«Excellent simulations can be made there, with landscapes reminiscent of other areas, while the green is combined with the terrain in all seasons. Thus, the resulting images are stunning, while at the same time, the close distances between mountains and sea offer a variety of shooting opportunities. All of these can play a very important role in a movie. These places are virgin, they have not been shown again and the advantage of the film is exactly this landscape and the atmosphere that is createdHe adds.
The landscape, after all, stars in the film itself as, according to the script, mother and daughter start a new life in the town of Kallithea (as the village of Kirki is called in the movie) in the distant Evros. However, a scandal of the past bears their name. The sabotage of their ancestor in the mine facilities caused disasters that left indelible marks on the local community and the memories of the inhabitants. Twenty-five years later, a secret passage, the diary of an ancestor, the fugitive butler and a cruel woman will reveal unknown aspects of the crime.
In this spirit, Ms. Karavia points out that the director Konstantinos Mouratidis managed to combine the thriller with the agony and the landscape, a fact that is worthwhile for the projection of this wonderful area. He appreciates, after all, that all of which are behind the distinctions the film has managed to win, winning the first Newcomer Director Award at the HODU International Film Festival of India and the Best Picture Award at the Prague International Film Festival (2021).
The possibilities of the Region
Mrs. Karavia, who comes from Kavalapoints out that after long periods during which he worked in Athens and Wuppertal in Germany where he founded the Greek Wuppertal Theater, he believes that “there are artistic values ​​in cities that are not capitals». She created a theatrical workshop in Kavala and believes that although the conditions for artists living outside the center are not so ideal, the region provides the advantage of not being influenced by other situations and being able to create what one dreams of.
At the same time, he emphasizes that the conditions are now being created in Greece for the industry to flourish, there are more opportunities than in previous years and local actors express the will for such collaborations. In this context, after the screening of the film in Kavala, such a proposal was formulated that is promoted with interest in order to be implemented.
The film “Branch in the Fire”, starring Spyros Bibilas, Maria Karavia, Genovefa Ktenidou and George Poulis will be screened on Monday, May 9, at 9:00 pm, at the Colosseum cinema in Thessaloniki. Argyris Mantzanidis, Giannis Chrysakis, Melina Kolyrioti and Costas Mouratidis also participate in it.
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