THE NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM PRESENTING GIANNIS KYRIAKIDIS

Most Thessalonians know Giannis Kyriakidis. They have seen him photographing events, parades, protest marches, formal events, carrying his ladder -which has become, along with his cigar, his public image trademark- to arrange the people standing in front of his lens, even the most official.

One could narrate many stories about this photographer who has marked the history of Thessaloniki, recording it as an observer and master of pictures. We preferred to let others speak about him, initially the images, then the people who are somehow involved, and finally let him speak. To observe this scene and make a documentary film about Giannis Kyriakidis.

The shooting started, was interrupted, restarted, new horizons appeared, we got to know the man Giannis Kyriakidis more deeply, we loved him more, he loved us; the film, as is inevitable, became a spiritual product which defined its own way to unfold. The rest of the "material" remains to be gathered, in order to start editing and end up with the final film product, the completed film.

The images interact with the words, they draw away from him and then draw near, they create a playful journey just like it was for Giannis Kyriakidis, for so many decades since the Second World War until today. The structure of the film can only but follow the character of the person it refers to.

A person of reference or a character? Giannis Kyriakidis, as he likes to, plays his role, plays himself, plays with the camera, describes and depicts reality, inserts the crucial points of the film narrative, submits his live testimony -the testimony of his life which he has not resigned from-, acts and has the leading role, always creatively.

Right now the path that the film has carved, has been set. A few points remain for us to see left and right of these details that will mark the space, this universe that the photographer Giannis Kyriakidis has created, and with small, subtle brush strokes, is still composing. In a short time the production will be completed and the editing process will shape our material.