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Dimitris Koutsaibaskos and Rodion Ismailov Guests of DocuCorner

Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, director of “The Grocer,” was a guest at yesterday’s DocuCorner.

The director was particularly intrigued by the extremely difficult living conditions in the place where the film is set and he was also interested in the protagonist who seemed perfect for the director’s idea. “He even said that it will be an excellent film, alluding to his role in it,” Dimitris commented.    

Ordinary people would maybe see him as an ordinary grocer but the people he comes into contact with see him in a different light. For them, he is much more.

The director also emphasized that the scenes were filmed spontaneously and that only some of them were directed in the traditional sense, which made the film more difficult to make but also more honest.

At the end, the public commended the director on his efforts at both finding the story and making a seemingly ordinary story intriguing.

According to the director, he wanted to show the difficulties of breaking into film and he hopes that his efforts will again be recognized at the next SFF.   

The second film that was presented is directed by Rodion Ismailov. He was born in Azerbaijan and studied cinematography in St. Petersburg.  

His film, MY KITH AND KIN, was awarded at the festival in Rotterdam. He admitted that he decided to make a documentary film because he has no talent for writing or following a scenario. “When you start making documentary films, you just can’t stop,” the director noted.

For this director, the fact that Azerbaijan had no school of cinematography for a long time and has only recently started to address this problem is appalling.

A key factor in the film was the strong wish of the protagonist to become an actress so she was immediately  very enthusiastic about participating in the film. “The first thing she asked when I told her about the film was ‘Am I going to be paid for my work?’” the director added in laughter.