“The Promotion” (Η Εξέλιξη) is the latest feature film by acclaimed Greek director Periklis Hoursoglou. The film will be screened at Zita Folkets Bio on Sunday, October 20, 2024, as part of the “Greek Film Days in Stockholm” event.
The Greek Film Days are organized annually by the Swedish Institute at Athens, the Greek Cultural Center Foundation, the Greek School, and the Women’s Section of the Greek Association in Stockholm.
We met the director and screenwriter Periklis in Kallithea in Athens, the neighborhood, where he grew up and still lives. He led us to a cozy book café on a quiet pedestrian street where, under the shade of trees and in the coolness of the late afternoon, we had a pleasant and enriching conversation, surrounded by the soft murmur of the other guests at the café.
“Periklis, could you briefly tell us what the film “The Promotion” is about?”
“It’s mainly about a journey that a father and son take to Thessaloniki, but also about the university film school there. The main theme is the relationship between father and son and how, with a significant delay – yes, a 40-year delay – the son seeks his father’s approval. I don’t want to reveal more for now.”
“The film seems to have many autobiographical elements; is that correct?”
“All my films are personal. I always talk about things I’ve experienced myself or stories that have been told to me. But this film might be the most autobiographical of all. It’s about my relationship with my father. He passed away when I was 19, and we weren’t on good terms. I barely even went to his funeral. I told everyone we didn’t love each other and that I wasn’t grieving his loss.”
“But many years later, when I watched some film clips about the Greek Epos of 1940 when Italy invaded Greece, I suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears and couldn’t stop crying. The clips reminded me of my father, who had fought in that war. I realized then that my earlier stance was just a shield, a defense against the deep sorrow of losing him.”
The idea was born back in 2012
“It was in 2012,” Periklis continues, “during my time as an assistant professor at the film school, that the idea for the film was born. For some reason, I started comparing my life to my father’s. I discovered that we had similar experiences at corresponding ages.”
“I jotted down an initial phrase: as I get older, my life resembles my father’s. I was 58 at the time. My father died when he was 60. Will I also die in two years? I wondered. This worry led me to start reflecting on my own life and the choices I had made up to that point.”
“This resulted in a first draft of the script, which, of course, was completely different from the final version. The initial draft was built around small anecdotes, short stories about things I had experienced with my father. They all dealt with death but were also very humorous.”
“That was in 2012-2013. But my chain of thoughts kept getting interrupted by having to go into the classroom to teach. That’s how the second important aspect of the film came about.”
The film school in Thessaloniki
The Promotion also concerns the film school in Thessaloniki. Founded in 2004, it was the first Greek state school focused on film-making. Periklis Hoursoglou taught there as a university professor from their early years until his retirement in 2023.
The main character in the film, Nikos Symeonidis, also works as a teacher at the film school, but since he lives in Athens, he commutes to Thessaloniki several times a week to teach. This aspect, too, is highly autobiographical, Periklis explains, adding:
“The idea of creating a film school was already discussed in the 1960s. I often wonder how Greek cinema would look today if the idea had been realized back then. Just imagine, with teachers like Kakogiannis, Koundouros, Tsarouchis, Hadjidakis, and others! Anyway, the film school was eventually founded over 40 years later.”
“What was it like in the very beginning?”
“We had nothing back then, absolutely nothing! The school was housed in an old tobacco storehouse and lacked equipment or teaching materials. There wasn’t even a curriculum. Fortunately, we received a small grant from the EU to buy a few inexpensive cameras and some basic film lighting. We were 15 teachers, all active in the film industry, and around 100 students.”
“But looking back, I think the extremely tough conditions we faced initially were also a gift. We were forced to go back to the true basics of filmmaking, learning both how to film and how to teach from scratch. We pushed through, developed a curriculum, and tried to pass our passion on to the students.”
“What’s it like today?”
“Today, there’s equipment and teaching materials. Some issues remain, but the school works well enough. A film created by one of our students, for example, won second prize at Cannes this year, selected from among 2,600 entries from around the world.”
“A student winning an award,” Periklis continues, “may not tell the whole story about the school, but what’s important is that the overall quality of teaching has improved significantly – the difference is almost like night and day compared to before.”
The Economic Crisis
In 2012, the Greek government decided that no temporary contract for public employees at universities could be renewed. This affected all temporary staff: teaching personnel, support staff, and technical staff.
One of the most powerful scenes in the film is when the students at the film school resist their teacher Nikos Symeonidis’s attempt to clean the toilets. This reflects the reality in Greece during the economic crisis. University students across the country protested against the government’s decision by, among other actions, preventing anyone other than the dismissed cleaning staff from cleaning the schools, highlighting how essential they were to daily operations.
“How did you, as a teacher, respond to these protests, Periklis?”
“I started cleaning myself. My classes began at 1:00 pm, but I would arrive much earlier to clean. I didn’t come into direct conflict with the students; it mostly stopped at them just saying they would try to stop me.”
“But I wasn’t doing it just to keep the school clean. I also wanted to get my message across: if you love creating film, you must also love and care for the film school.“
“In the film, the conflict that arises between three generations is shown. The father, with his conservative values, conflicts with the radical young students, while his son, the teacher Nikos, is caught in the middle, trying to keep the situation balanced.
From mathematics to film directing
Periklis Hoursoglou began his journey by studying mathematics in Thessaloniki, back in the 1970s. However, he left his studies just before completing his bachelor’s degree to pursue film instead. Much later, he returned to mathematics and finished his master’s thesis to qualify as an assistant professor at the state film school, as Greek law requires this degree to teach at the university level. We asked him how this significant shift from mathematics to film came about.
“Even as a child, I loved theater. My whole family had a passion for it. Then, while I was studying mathematics in Thessaloniki, I became friends with a classmate who was a true film enthusiast. He introduced and guided me into the world of cinema, which had a huge impact on me. The very next year, I enrolled in a private film school and attended classes alongside my mathematics studies.”
“Just before completing my bachelor’s degree, I made the big decision to devote myself entirely to film, and I left my mathematics studies. By then, I had already started working a bit on the side as an assistant, both at the state TV channel (ERT) and with individual filmmakers, like the well-known Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris.”
The best reward
The Promotion has already received several awards, including for best directing, editing, and best leading actors. It has also been screened at several major international festivals, including in Los Angeles and San Francisco. We asked Periklis how it feels to have created such a well-received film.
“The most important thing for me isn’t the individual awards. What matters most is that after each screening, lively and interesting discussions always emerge, showing that the film resonates, even though it’s very personal. This response is, for me, the best price and the greatest reward. I hope the same will happen in Stockholm on October 20.”
Periklis Hoursoglou
Born: 1955 in Athens
Education: Bachelor in Mathematics; Film directing at Stavrakos Film School
Work in film: Assistant to Greek directors (including Pantelis Voulgaris); film productions for Greek TV / ERT
Teaching: University professor at the Film School in Thessaloniki, 2004-2023
Other: Supervision of research projects; international lectures and seminars
Feature films:
- Lefteris Dimakopoulos (1994)
- The Man in Gray (1998)
- Eyes of the Night (2004)
- The Building Manager(2009)
- The Promotion (2023)
- Style, TV film (1987)
Images from the film courtesy of Periklis Hoursoglou.
Other photos: Ulf Björkman
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