Cinematic Xanthi

The hunt is on for the settings for Greek-Australian production 'The Journey'

Director Nadia Tass

"I HAVE a very clear image of the film," director Nadia Tass explains while in Xanthi, in northeastern Greece, looking for locations for The Journey. She adds: "I'm looking for the things I had imagined. If I can't find them in Xanthi, I'll look elsewhere. But I think we're doing OK."

Together with Alexandra Lazaridou, the film's screenwriter, Tass was in the multicultural city and its environs for a few days starting July 19, looking for crumbling houses and old-style streets, as well as contemporary settings.

The Journey, which is to start shooting this spring, unfolds in both today's Greece and that of World War Two. Based on the true story of cabaret dancer Madalena Hadzopoulou, it's about a young Greek-American (to be played by Lazaridou, also an actress) who uncovers the story of how Madalena aided the Resistance while entertaining the German military. Irish actress Fiona Shaw, known for films from The Butcher Boy to the Harry Potter series, and Greek-American actress Olympia Dukakis (Away from Her) are on board the project - and CSI star Melina Kanakaredes may be, too.

"Forever I've been looking for a story that can bring me back to Greece and work as a film director," says Tass. Born in northern Greece's Florina, she emigrated to Australia before her eighth birthday. A self-described "actor's director", Tass has directed acclaimed feature films like Amy (1998) and, before that, Malcolm (1986), as well as half-a-dozen TV movies. Her theatre work most recently includes a well-received original musical of CS Lewis' story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The director was attracted to Lazaridou's script for the way it brings women from three worlds together. She explains: "They are all searching for the same concept, a sense of belonging and an ideology they can all belong to."

During the location hunt, the petite director with curly blond hair is a quiet, focussed presence. "Write 'Xanthi House, old'," she tells an assistant keeping notes on locations. When not working, Tass is curious about Greece, discussing her efforts to transmit the culture to her teenage sons and inquiring about the Macedonian name dispute.

Actress/writer Lazaridou hopes the production will show the world another side of Greece. She notes: "They don't know who we really are."

Multicultural Xanthi is full of beautiful, decaying architecture

At a press conference on July 18, Irish actress Shaw wondered why she's the perfect Aunt Nouli, the aunt of Lazaridou's character in the film. "I'm surprised [Lazaridou] wants me in the film. I wouldn't want me in the film," Shaw noted, adding: "I have no credentials, except for my enthusiasm."

The Irish actress, who will have to learn some Greek for the part (the film will be in English and Greek) visits regularly and most recently starred in play Happy Days at Epidavros a few weeks ago. "It's a pleasure to be part of something that I've been visiting for so long," she said at the conference. Shaw hazarded that if ancient Greek culture was responsible for "discovering the essence of women", maybe the new film "will now find the essence of modern Greek women and the essence of European women".

Meanwhile, the search for locations continues through Xanthi's urban gardens and its closed but still-fragrant tobacco factories. ("The faces here are innocent, without deceit," Tass muses to Lazaridou.) The team visits verdant Pomak towns with their under-construction mosques. Their bus stops in villages that would make great backdrops for a Western - if it weren't for the massive stork nests and nouveau-riche, Alpine-inspired dream homes.

The work is slow-going. Tass explains: "From the whole weekend, maybe we'll end up with the location of a house or a basement."

Before The Journey shooting begins, Tass will complete another film in Australia (a drama about an ill child and a failed marriage) and continue work on her documentary about the fallacy of the global bottled water industry. But she is excited about her impending Greek homecoming and maybe a little nervous, too. "Am I anxious about this big move? Yes, just like every new venture," she admits with a laugh. But, Tass adds: "I trust and believe in the Greek ethos of work.... And I do think there have been some wonderful movies that have come out of Greece."

Photos by Angelike Contis

ATHENS NEWS , 25/07/2008, page: A34
Article code: C13297A341