Few Hours in Athens - Trailer
Channel: Indie Film Trailers
Date: 2020-01-27

Ari Papargyropoulos, a young Greek actor turned director, is taking American film festivals by storm with his movie “Few Hours in Athens.”

We recently sat down with the writer, director, and lead actor of Few Hours in Athens, to talk to him about the process of making his first film from start to finish.

Shot in Greece, “Few Hours in Athens” premiered at the Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival (DOC LA), where it managed to snag two of the festival’s most prestigious awards. Papagyropoulos’ movie won Best Film of the competition, while his lead actress, Danae Vasilopoulos, won the Best Actress award for her performance.

The Greek filmmaker spoke about his experience shooting in Athens, his background in film and acting, and the challenges and rewards of making your own film. He also shared his inspiration for making the movie — the yearning for a simpler, more innocent and romantic time.

Tell us a bit about your background in film and acting.

When I was ten years old I found an old Sony Handycam of my father’s, and I would shoot videos for fun based on “Star Wars” (I had a Darth Vader helmet and light sabers at home). That was technically my first experience.

At 18, I enrolled in an acting school in Greece called Melissa Art School, in Kallithea. The first time I went up on stage I was supposed to improvise a break up scene with a girl, and I remember how natural and effortless it felt. I knew I wanted to keep doing this.

After a year I left acting school and took on some roles in Greece, including a couple of independent films and a theater production of “Scooby-Doo.”

How did you end up in Hollywood?

My dad suggested I go to the US to join my older brother, who was in Los Angeles. So that’s how I ended up in LA.

And how did you find that the acting world in Hollywood was different from that of Greece?

Did it feel intimidating to create your first film?

Not at all. It was such a wonderfully creative process.

I would wake up in the morning, and even if I had only slept for 3-4 hours I would be full of energy all day, trying to finish what I needed to do for the film.

I was also very lucky to find Vagelis Tzifakis (who at the time was around 21 or 22), a great DP that a friend recommended to me. I saw that he absolutely loved what he did, and those were the kinds of people I wanted on set: people who were very passionate about their craft and willing to work but knew that this wasn’t being done for the money.

Vageli helped put together the rest of the team, and honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better team to film this project. Every single person in the cast and crew was truly exceptional. I was especially grateful to have legendary actor Spyros Fokas in the cast, who really helped us out.

But was it difficult to be an actor, director, and producer at the same time?

Very difficult. From the moment we started, I felt like I always had to be in motion and be doing at least one of these roles. And it was sometimes hard to get fully absorbed into one role (i.e. acting) without getting producer and director responsibilities out of my mind.In my school, there was a saying: “if you’re the best in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

In Greece, even though I felt my acting school was very good, most of the acting organizations and classes I encountered were somewhat unorganized and not methodical. They threw their actors into the deep end without much guidance and instruction.

Whereas in the US, I think things are much more organized, and there is much more competition in terms of numbers, which challenges me and drives me to do better as well.

This is your first film. Where did you get the inspiration for it?

LA can be a very lonely city. I had been here for a long time without having the chance to go back and visit Greece, which feels like a warmer place; not just in terms of weather, but in the warmth and openness of the people.

So I was missing that feeling of warmth and home, and when I finally got back to Greece, a friend of mine told me he had bought a camera and we should shoot something. I started writing a script to shoot something simple, and because of where I was in my life, the script just kept getting bigger and bigger.

I realized I wanted to create a romantic film, to portray an innocent first love type of feeling in my movie.

How many days did filming take?

I think we shot the film in just over nine days, but over the course of a few weeks because of Danae’s (the lead actress) schedule, who was still in school.

And how did you find your talented lead actress?

I found Danae through acquaintances, and the first time she did a cold reading of the script she absolutely nailed the character. I asked her if she spoke English, because I wanted to film in English, and I realized she spoke better English than I did.