#ioanna karystiani

[greekbooks-poll]

[angelkarafilli]

“Little England”(2013)

dir. Pantelis Voulgaris

a film to remember...

[theunbearablelightnessofbein]

Perché il passato a volte si comporta come un veicolo che continua a sbandare lungo la linea del tempo causando ferite insanabili?

[amadryades]

Hi i hope you don't mind this ask, feel free to ignore it! I've been wanting to get into greek literature (I'm not greek but a fellow mediterranean) for a while, is there any greek female contemporary author you would recommend? Both 20th/21st century is fine! Thanks! Love your blog

Hello, and thank you! The main problem is that few contemporary greek authors- even fewer women- have been translated so this list is lamentably narrow, but you could check:

The Two Lovers by Dora Rosetti: it was discovered relatively recently and is considered one of the first european lesbian novels of the 20th century! 

Loxandra by Maria Iordanidou: absolute comfort read! Loxandra is the archetypical anatolian hostess. No excessive plot devices, just the everyday life of the upper class Greeks of Istanbul in the 19th-20th century. The best descriptions of food and meals that last for days. 

Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki : an adolescence favourite of mine, aesthetically perfect  coming-of-age summer read, nostalgic and sentimental without being too syrupy.

Kassandra and the Wolf by Margarita Karapanou: disturbing, brilliant. The most engorssing and repulsive fact is that she´s the daughter of the aforementioned Liberaki

The Jasmine Island by Ioanna Karystiani: it deals with the tragic life of two sisters, both wives  to wealthy ship owners in a cycladic island  during the 20th century. Unrequited love, repressive mothers and marital costumes. Karystiani has a vety distinctive prose and handles punctuation-dialogue quite unusually- think of Saramago- and I´m weird to see how the translator adapts her writing to english. I also wholeheartedly recommend its movie adaptation (Little England, as the original book title in greek), directed by Pantelis Voulgaris. 

Achilles' Fiancée by Alki Zei: semi- autobiographical, this one is the life of a woman whose lover-husband was a captain partisan of  the greek resistance. It´s scattered between many chronological levels ( from WW2 to political refugees at the USSR to the ´67 Coup) and many cities, including Athens, Rome,  soviet Tashkent and Paris. 

[mercurygray]

Happy Thursday Merc! <3 A little more specific than the original post said, but could I please request 1920s Dick the Photojournalist and 1920s Joan the Journalist?📷

@pomprincesse and I were kicking this idea around after watching Damian Lewis in Brides, in which he plays a photojournalist on his way home from covering the Greek Civil War. With apologies to Ioanna Karystiani and Ernest Hemingway.

He returned from the station with bad news.

"There's no passenger trains out to the frontier until tonight, the steward says."

Lewis Nixon tapped a finger on the zinc topped bar and frowned. It was noon, and the heat of the day was just beginning to come to bear on the little Greek port town where their steamer had left them off to complete the next stage of their journey. It was hot - and yet for all his exertions walking to the train station and explaining, in broken Greek and English, what he was looking for, his friend looked no worse for wear, apart from a slight blush that was developing on the bridge of his nose. "Hell of a way to run a country."

Dick shrugged and took a seat, fumbling in his bag for his camera. "They are in the middle of a war, Nix."

Nix made a small noise of assent, still annoyed both by the whole ordeal and because the barkeep had given him a dirty look when he asked, specifically, for Vat 69 whiskey and muttered something in Greek. Dick squinted into the distance and made an adjustment on his camera, studying the viewfinder from his chair and quickly snapping a photo. "Easy for you to say, you've got no shortage of subjects." He removed his panama hat and wiped his brow with the back of his hand, gesturing to the beach and the children running on the sand, playing a game of tag amidst the cries of the seagulls. "I came here to report on a war and we're currently sitting in the middle of nowhere where there is no war."

Dick made some noise of sage and unperturbed assent and continued studying the scene on the beach through his viewfinder.

Nix's eyes hardly left the waterline. "You know Gallipoli is a couple hundred miles east of here?"

"I don't think they're fighting there at the moment, Nix."

"Mmmm." Nix replaced his hat on his head, immediately regretting the already drenched sweatband, and tried to take the same comfort in the scene on the beach as his friend was doing. But children and seagulls held little appeal.

What did, however, was the sudden appearance of a young woman, walking down the beach looking radiant in white, carrying her shoes in her hand. Nix sat up for a moment, following her progress with interest as she fended off a couple of more persistent urchins asking for money, accepted a shell, and made her way up to the beachfront bar, hair windblown and expression carefree as she chatted for a moment with the proprietor in what sounded to be passable Greek. (The reception she got, Nix noted sourly, was a deal nicer than his.)

"Are you both waiting for the train out?" she asked, sitting down at the bar to resume her shoes while the proprietor shouted into the kitchen for something for madam.

"Yeah," Nix said. "You a student?"

"Reporter," she replied, still doing up the laces of her shoes. Dick was strangely silent on the stool next to Nix.

"They let girls do war coverage, nowadays?"

She looked ready for murder. "They let us do a lot of things, nowadays."

Months later, when they were out on the frontier and Dick finally developed his film in the hotel bathroom under a red processing bulb, Nix came into the bathroom to study the pictures and found the series of snaps his friend had taken on the beach, children admiring shells and fisherman mending their nets, and one almost voyeuristic shot of Joan (they knew she was Joan by then) coming in from the beach, smiling and brushing hair out of her eyes, filled with the warmth of summer, the composition almost suggesting the sly observation of a lover.

[elladastinkardiamou]

ΜΙΚΡΑ ΑΓΓΛΙΑ | LITTLE ENGLAND

Pantelis Voulgaris’ filmography covers aspects of Greek history that include the exile of Communist prisoners, the fate of resistance fighters captured during the German Occupation and the world of mail-order brides twenty years earlier. He looks at urban life in Athens and at the troubles of rural communities through film adaptations from anthologies, theatrical productions and books. One of his most recent films was made in 2013, when he adapted Ioanna Karystiani’s book, “Little England (Mikra Agglia)”.Set at the beginning of the 20th century on the prosperous island of Andros, an island once famous for its shipbrokers and sea captains, this period drama is an epic tale of lost love. The movie also explores the relationship between the women of the island, and focuses on the sisters of a well-to-do family. The impeccable acting performances and its unique cinematography fascinated audiences, and it was submitted by Greece to the 87th Academy Awards for consideration as Best Foreign Film.Full movie - English subtitles

[heilewelt]

2019 – what not to miss.

Wait, what, 2018 is already over? Yes, indeed and it went fast by than I could imagine. Just a little too fast for me. However, there’s plenty to look forward to in 2019. I already booked my first music related trips. So, here is a little list of things you should have on your radar, too.

Hellas Filmbox, Berlin, 16.-20.1.19 & Extended 21.-27.1.19

I haven’t missed Hellas in the last few years. The film festival is specialized in Greek movies and culture and every year it surprises me with thought provoking and/or a little obscure films. But it’s more than movies. It’s an insight into the Greek culture. This year they also want to remind of the Berlin wall which fell 30 years ago and no one is actually missing. They want to point out that the art, pictures and words are “More Geil”. Obviously. Everything is better than walls to separate countries. The first night offers once again a great program: second World War drama “Die Letzte Instanz” will be shown and director Pantelis, screenwriter Ioanna Karystiani and main actor André Hennicke will be present. The highlight will be performance of Maria Farantouri and Michaela Meise who will be performing Mikis Theodorekis’ “Mauthausen Ballade” – a story about love in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen.

The rest of the festival will be dedicated to newcomer works, award winning documentaries, shorts and Virtual Reality movies.

www.hellasfilmbox.de

AmericanaFestUK, London, UK, 29./30.01.2019

Last year I went to AmericanaFest in Nashville – it was so enjoyable and now there’ll be a British spin-off, so we don’t have to travel too far to discover new Americana, Roots, Folk and Country related music. It will take place in several  venues across Hackney, London, but in contrast to Nashville the venues are actually within walking distance. I’ve been to a few of the venues already. Also, I have seen some of the musicians already and can only highly recommend the watch Kaia Kater, Arkansas Dave and Birds of Chicago. The latter one really surprised me when I saw them in Nashville with Allison Russell playing clarinet, banjo, ukulele and guitar whilst also singing and whistling. That was something memorable.

If you have one more day, I recommend to attend UK Americana Awards on the 31.01.2018 as well. Rhianna Giddens will be performing. I found her warm voice always amazing and wanted to see her live for a few years – long before her appearance in “Nashville”, the TV Country music drama series. Israel Nash, Mary Gauthier, Graham Nash and Ethan Johns will be playing this gorgeous venue, Hackney Empire, as well.

theamauk.org

Watt En Schlick, Kurhaus Dangast, 02.-04.2019

Watt En Schlick remains my most favourite music festival on German soil. One reason is that the soil is mostly sand and you always feel the breeze from the Nordsee. It’s just the most relaxing environment you can imagine. The people are super friendly, the staff easy-going. In addition they always have a very fine line-up – a mix between German and international artists, more known and unknown, music and other art forms. The first few artists are already announced and it‘s already well worth going: Sophie Hunger, Max Herre, Die Goldenen Zitronen, Heinz Strunk and Bonaparte to name a few. I will keep you updated when they announce more.

www.wattenschlick.de

Music in 2019

Yes, there are already a few album announced I’ve been waiting for quite some time. Most importantly it’s more new music from The Raconteurs and a tour. Gosh, I missed those four dudes….as I’ve already pointed out a few times. Expectations are high but I’m pretty sure they’ll manage to top them easily.

The ever so restless Matthew Logan Vasquez will release a very personal, intimate album called “Light’n Up” on the 22nd of February. He recorded the album in a very lonesome time after Christmas when his Norwegian wife and his son moved back to Norway to be closer to her sick dad while he stayed behind to record a new album and go on another tour. The first song “Oslo” explains his situation well and honest. Watch video below and feel all of his lonesomeness. 

German Synth Pop band Tüsn will release their second album “Trendelburg” on the 8th of March 2019. Some dark beauty awaits us.

I hope/think my favorite feel-good*-Rockers, Sunset Sons, will return with their second album. It’s about time and I surely miss this handsome bunch of people. Or was it just a dream that there’ll be new music in 2019? I don’t think so.

*Although not all of the music is “Feel Good Rock”, they surely always make me feel good, especially when I get to see them live.  

Americana legend John Prine will come for a concert to Berlin and a handful of shows around Europe. He’s so good. It’s on 4th of September 2019, quite some time to go but I just want you to make sure you’ll know about it. He’s one of the artists where you never know how often you’ll have the chance to see him again.

And last but not least a band where you can be sure they won’t be back: KISS emerge on their last tour. Sure, they have said it more than once but the men don’t get any younger and their shows are energy intense, fun, hot. Also, it’s called The Final Tour Ever. The tour may last 1,5 years or so but there won’t be many double visits in most cities. They just have to see so many places.

Have a splendid 2019 & see you in the first row,

Dörte

[movienation]

Movie Review: A Greek tragedy on an isle they call "Little England"

Movie Review: A Greek tragedy on an isle they call “Little England”

The Greek island of Andros became so self-sufficient, so connected with shipping and commerce, that the locals took to calling it “Little England.” But with so many of its men at sea — captains, mates and crews for the many vessels registered there — that left a lot of “sea widows” behind to carry on the business of life. That’s where novelist and screenwriter Ioanna Karystiani and director…

[greekbooks-poll]

[theunbearablelightnessofbein]

Il resto, i sentimenti veri, era racchiuso negli occhi e nelle ciglia umide.

[andyfliz]

Little England

Τwo sisters from the island of Andros, dubbed Little England because of its affluence, are both in love with the same man. Set in the Greek Civil War period and ending in the 1950s, the movie is based on the homonymous novel by Ioanna Karystiani.