4 Sep. 2010
Interviews
CASUS BELLI: A STAR IS BORN
Γιάννης Ζουμπουλάκης / Το Βήμα →
Read more in Ελ.
2 May. 2011
Interviews
Yorgos Zois French Interview
Katia Bayer →
Yorgos Zois: "Voir à quel point Theo Angelopoulos s'est battu comme un nouveau venu pour obtenir de l'argent, trouver des acteurs et tourner a été la meilleure leçon d'humilité pour moi"…
12 Jan. 2011
Buzz
TWO GREEK FILMS BREAK THE FILM
FESTIVALS
Γιάννης Ζουμπουλάκης- Το Βήμα →
Read more in Ελ.
19 Nov. 2010
Interviews
CINEWORLD MEETS YORGOS ZOIS
Αντώνης
Τολάκης- Cineworld.gr →
Read more in Ελ.
3 Oct. 2010
Buzz
HOPE FROM DRAMA FILM FESTIVAL
Ευάννα
Βενάρδου / Κυρ. Ελευθεροτυπία →
Read more in Ελ.
2 Oct. 2010
Interviews
YORGOS ZOIS TALKS ABOUT CASUS
BELLI
Γιάγκος Αντίοχος / Αθηνόραμα →
Read more in Ελ.
2 May. 2011
Buzz
Casus Belli de Yorgos Zois
Katia Bayer →
«Casus Belli» a tout du film de chevet. Présenté à Venise dans la section Orizzonti et projeté ces jours-ci au 4ème Festival du Film du Golfe, à Dubaï au sein de la compétition internationale, il distille dans sa scène d'ouverture les ingrédients d'une intrigue pas si banale. Un caddie, un supermarché, une jeune femme, des produits à profusion, une voix microphonique, et une file d'attente apparaissent dans les premières minutes de cet opus expérimental grec….
2 Oct. 2010
Interviews
WHEN EVERYTHING COMES OUT OF
ORDER
Νέστορας
Πουλάκος / Απογευματινή →
Read more in Ελ.
24 May. 2011
Interviews
YORGOS ZOIS, le réalisateur de "Casus Belli"
(Interview)
Mickrociné, France →
Votre film Casus Belli est une fresque qui trouve son origine dans la crise économique actuelle. La situation politique en Grèce vous a-t-elle inspirée ?
Ce qui se passe en Grèce n'a pas pu m'inspirer car j'ai écrit mon scénario il y a de nombreuses années quand ce n'était pas encore la crise…
19 Nov. 2010
Interviews
CASUS BELLI: REASON OF A NEW INTERNAL SOCIAL
WAR
Iφιγένεια Καλαντζή →
Read more in Ελ.
3 Oct. 2010
Interviews
BIENNALLE IS FOR GREEKS
Despina Pavlaki / Athens news →
Astropysicist Yiorgos Zois, whose film short 'Casus Belli' screened in competition at Venice, explains how he managed to squeeze 146 people into 11 minutes
ALTHOUGH he had made up his mind to become a filmmaker long before he got his applied mathematics degree, 28-year-old Yiorgos Zois ploughed through his science studies with the same commitment he later demonstrated when prepping for his first short.
"I received 1,200 resumes, I shot 10-minute screen tests for 420 people, I even went looking for actors in immigrant theatre groups and care centres for the elderly," he says.
Add that up and you get Casus Belli, a labour of love that took him two and a half years and two scholarships to complete. Luckily it also took him to Venice. Now what?
Athens News: What does casus belli mean?
Yiorgos Zois: I'm glad you asked because the film doesn't make my choice of title entirely clear. It's Latin for justification for acts of war. Some people refer to it as cause of war, while others, reason for war. The Imia crisis [in 1996, when Greece and Turkey disputed the sovereignty of the islets], for example, was a cause of war. In my case, Casus Belli refers to hunger, which to me is both a cause of and reason for war.
I presume the pertinence of your subject-matter to current affairs was no coincidence?
I actually started preproduction two and a half years ago, so it wasn't particularly intentional, though it was pretty obvious that this superficial prosperity was built on rotten foundations. All you had to do was take a walk around Athens to realise the number of homeless people was constantly rising and soup kitchens were suddenly serving respectable well-dressed people who simply couldn't afford their food. The gigantic Greek middle class was cut down in size.
How come pre-production took so long?
Location scouting alone took six months and finding the actors another six. I was working on my own for about a year and a half and then hired a full crew for nine months, so by the time we wrapped shooting the financial crisis was in full swing. The timing was perfect.
In the time it took you to complete your film, did your consumer habits shift towards discount goods?
Prepping the film took up all of my time, and I couldn't work at all. I was lucky enough to get two scholarships, one from the Goulandris Foundation and another from the Νipkow Ρrogramme in Berlin, and I invested all the money I got in the production. So I guess you could say I'm borderline homeless right now!
What did you do before Casus Belli took over your life?
I was studying in Berlin, but as soon as I found out I got financing for the film I returned to Greece and got started. I had studied astrophysics at university but was in film school at the same time, so by the time I graduated I had already made up my mind. But I'll tell you this: if there's one thing I realised after this movie was over it is that if you're going to get into this line of work you shouldn't just want it. You should need it because even the simplest things can take forever.
If it took you so long to complete a short, doesn't the prospect of a feature give you panic attacks?
Each script has a different level of difficulty. Casus Belli is nine minutes long (11 if you count the credits), but it features 146 actors and many different spaces, so it was only natural the demands were higher. I received 1,200 resumes. Out of all of them, only four people said they weren't interested in taking part. Everyone else was happy to do it for free. They are the real co-producers of the movie. The next thing I want to do has absolutely no actors and it only requires a five-person crew. Every script is a different story.