Interview
Sofia Kokkali introduces me to her own Polydrosos
Having seen Alexandros Voulgaris' new film "Polydroso" with Sofia Kokkalis and Vicky Kagia in the leading roles twice, the only thing I wanted to do was to talk to Sofia about her new film experience. I met with her on a warm afternoon and while drinking coffee she talked to me about her own Polydroso, her relationship with her filmmaking mother Vicki Kaya and how different she and her mother are in life, and she didn't fail to mention how much our family environment affects us.
Did you expect the film to have this response from the audience and this embrace?
It was Alexander's choice to play the film in a summer cinema which at first I didn't like the idea because in a summer cinema you get distracted easily or the sound might not be as loud as in a closed cinema and in this film the sound is like traveling and taking you with it so it was an important part and it had to be good. However I think the fact that it was playing in the summer made it easier for people to go than if they went to a winter one. The truth is that it suits him because somehow the summer ones are like little gardens especially if they have corresponding vegetation, the plants as well, you feel like you're part of the house. So going with Alexander to a lot of summer houses that we were invited to because then he had QandA we might adjust the sound accordingly so I felt happy with the screenings and that people take it quite warmly, sweetly and lovingly because there's something about the everyday life of the film and that's why I think they embrace it. They see something sweet that they can take as inspiring for their everyday life.
Would you like to talk about this everyday mother-daughter relationship without tension, something we don't usually see in movies?
Precisely because we are always used to seeing the conflicts between mother and daughter, Alexander wanted to focus on the tenderness of this relationship. It's like zooming in on a certain point. He also wanted to show two people who don't have anything special or that crazy things and events happen to them in their lives. They're two normal people in a normal suburb of Athens. He wanted to make a film about some people who through this nothingness that appears in their lives you can bring out some form of poetry or beauty.
How did you react when Alexandros suggested that you participate in the film with Vicki Kaya as your co-star?
Always when Alexander suggests something I am grateful and happy. When he told me that Vicky will participate in the film I was thrilled. I knew he had an appreciation and he always liked the way she moves and behaves so I understood that it wasn't a choice just to make a fuss but something that opened up to him personally plus the fact that she is from Polydroso completes it more.
Have you ever considered at any point in the future going back to live there?
No way...I hear it sometimes from my classmates who come back having had a family but I don't think I would want to go back there you never know of course. Now for other reasons to meet friends, go to my parents house or go for walks I would definitely go but to stay I think not.
Have the neighborhoods been lost in the times we live in and all these elements that the film tells us about?
I don't know how to answer that exactly, I guess the sense of neighborhood still exists in so many areas that we may not have access to or visit. Polydroso has or had this particularity of being just outside of Athens and still had freedom, it had a lot of alansas that hadn't been built and it was nice to play outside late at night without danger.
Did you ever think about the relationship with your own mother in real life?
The persona of the mother played by Vicki is quite ideal. She leaves too much freedom and autonomy to her daughter, she doesn't pressure her, which couldn't remind me of my own mother. Somehow I don't get so experiential about things so they don't weigh me down. Perhaps the part that I might have thought about the relationship with my mother was the part about possible separation and loss. In that I found something of my own. Otherwise in more practical terms she is a different character so I have also had the opportunity to enter into the process of having a mother who has different characteristics.
Having also made the film with Jacqueline Lentzou "Moon, 66 Questions" and the daughter-father relationship, how much does the family environment affect us?
Unimaginably so. I joked that with these two films I did psychoanalysis on the father part first, then on the mother part and now I'm a free man to move on. The family environment affects us more than anything else. There are things that you can grow up to recognize and see, but there are other things hidden in the slipstream that you may never see. At a certain point I'm all for the fact that by looking, searching and finding new ways to reconcile with your parents or your childhood self to let it go a little bit and see your family as individuals. That's how you gain an autonomy.
Having seen all your collaborations with Alexander, how much does it shift you as an actor?
It shifts me quite a bit. In about 8-9 years we have worked together in 4 films. I feel like it becomes a job, then we split up for other things that I recharge from, I shift as well as he does and when we meet we pick it up from where we are trying not to repeat certain things. It's like we're exploring something in common. He's interested in what I'm looking for, I'm interested in what he's looking for and all of that is created because of the trust that exists.
Comment on the role of music in the film and how much it influences it.
The music in the film was written alongside the script, it's something Alexander does.
He doesn't treat it as a soundtrack, but as a main character in the film. Then came Nalysa Green's fantastic sound design and it all came together. This film is the sound. Through it everything emerges, falls or flies.