Tina Chulo

Coming from the Balkans, we both immigrated to Western Europe for a “better life”, like many other people from the Balkans peninsula. We wanted to explore how the young people of Thessaloniki feel about leaving their country, the ones that left, and the prospects of staying here. A common thread seems to be seemingly unsurmountable economic and political difficulties that aren’t leaving much space for growth and life that many of us dream of. Despite this, there is a shared appreciation for the warmth of people, strong community, and warm climate, which many will miss once they leave. We agreed that people here are generous and loving, and interactions are often shared with food around the dining table. With this work, we wanted to create an echo of feelings that seemed to linger among many of us.

Today’s governments and policymakers devise their laws and policies by adopting the paternalistic approach. Acting paternalistically assumes that people can’t make reasonable judgments and decide for their best interest, so they need authority to make them do it. I experienced this type of rule throughout my entire life. Still, the questioning about it started during my childhood, and it remained with me in my memories of war and the consequences people endured due to government paternal decisions and approaches. Following Derrida’s’ deconstruction, this work tries to reverse the giving system of paternalism and its values embodied in the masculine archetype by visually establishing the oppositional system of maternalism and the feminine archetype principle. By doing so, we are led to bypass rigid conceptual oppositions and create a neutralizing effect in which we give rise to an overlook in which we understand that both aspects need one another to exist.

Based on the legendary story of the “Seven Sleepers” in Ephesus, we visualize an attitude and a way of dealing with oppression. By adopting the state of no-action we acknowledge that nothing lasts forever and that sometimes the only resistance is in changing the inner state and approach to the external situation. We transformed the act of sleeping hidden in the cave into performance art. Covered with sheets in front of the symbols of power in Izmir we created a metaphor for the story. Under the gaze and interference of passers-by and the eyes of power, our act could hardly last more than a few minutes. During that time, we, as acters were at peace as we were protected by sheets. Alongside video, we juxtaposed images of the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus with images of the power-related landscape in the present-day city of Izmir. In this way we are trying to emphasise the change that is evident with the passage of time. Power has a tendency to control everything, even the passage of time. But it always ends up the other way round - the eternity it desires is never attainable and it is only preserved symbolically in images.

An experimental visual exploration of an archetype.

No one seems to recognise Eloisa as she is going back home after her play in the theatre. Directior, Screenwriter & Producer: Tina Iris Chulo as Iris Lunatock Cinematographer: Srdan Kovacevic Editor: Ivan Zivalj Acting: Eloisa: Judita Frankovic Barmen: Nenad Cvetko Hobo: Darko Dautovic Kolega1: Igor Kovac Kolega2: Adrian pezdirc Decko: Luka Palcic Directior, Screenwriter & Producer: Iris Lunatock Cinematographer: Srdan Kovacevic Editor: Ivan Zivalj