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Director's Statement
The festival of the Assumption of the Virgin on August 15th is one of the most significant holidays in Greece. lt is the last frenzied celebration of the summer, which has its roots in ancient pagan traditions.
The major cities empty and millions of cars swarm onto the national roads in almost reckless abandon. The death toll during this holiday is tragic. I often think it is like a death wish. An almost irresistible urge towards annihilation. lt is almost like a blood tribute to the Virgin herself. And this bloodbath was one of my motives for writing the script.
I consider myself an atheist but confronted with the fact of death no one can remain unaffected. I saw my friends die of AIDS, I saw my cousin pass away at an early age of sickle-cell anemia. Another cousin killed in a traffic accident. There was no miracle for them.
In reality perhaps there is no miracle, but cinema can offer us an almost fairytale escape. lt can offer the hope that death can be vanquished.
The second major element within the film concerns the relation between mother and child. The mother whose child is ill. The woman who wants to have a child but cannot. The woman who renounces having a child and a family. The man who wants to remain a child. The boy who rejects his mother.
"Dekapentavgoustos" revolves around two axes: the realistic and the symbolic. lt takes the viewer on a journey, along primordial and pagan paths. Motherhood, the mother-child relationship, death, faith and the miracle that finally occurs. These are the elements that interest me. And I ardently believe that cinema is an art that can offer us hope. A symbolic miracle.