Isn't that a headline we all would like to see in the world news? Greece possesses many of the elements to create such a miracle - and what's more, because of it's proud heritage of ancient drama, myth and epic, the world would be ready to embrace it.
In my mother country, Denmark, such a miracle took place throughout the '90s and is still more or less going on. The international film world suddenly noticed this little country with just above 5 million inhabitants. Lars von Trier's films, Festen by Thomas Vinterberg and many other films became export articles for the international market. But even more amazing, but less well-known, is that in the home market Danish films are consistently able to go head to head with Hollywood productions at the box office - as maybe the only European country. In any given week of the year you will find several Danish films in the top 10 of sold tickets, often ahead of American blockbusters.
What already exist in Greece is a dedicated film audience - the Greeks love cinema - and as any other nation, they like to see film in their own language, dealing with conflicts of their own culture. But on a regular basis Greek films fail to garner a real audience. There is the occasional Greek hit film, but it is too little. Every month of the year should feature a new Greek hit film - a hit with audiences and/or critics. So what's wrong here? Greece has both quality actors, cinematographers, directors, set designers and so on. In my eyes there are only two really weak links in the Greek film industry - the script and the production. And I believe that by focusing intensely on improving these two factors, Greek film could turn itself into a miracle of European cinema.
For Denmark the miracle was a great thing, not only for national pride, but also for the national budget. Money was made in more than one way. And when the Socialdemocrats, who had helped the miracle happen by advancing the state's financial support for film development and production, lost government power and was replaced by a right-wing government led by a party, whose ideology included a belief in a minimal state, there were people in the film industry who feared the celebration would come to an abrupt end. Because for a small nation like Denmark (and Greece) it is imperative for the film industry to have the state share a part of the risk of developing and producing films, as we can never establish multi-billion dollar studios like in Hollywood, who are able to carry the full burden of risk.
Luckily the new right-wing government in Denmark quickly realized that we now live in a world were the so-called creative industries become rapidly more important for the economy of a developed nation. Even though oil and other natural resources are still important, it is non-depletable creative commodities like films, music, novels and theatre which can add to and maintain a nations competitiveness. Apart from the immediate financial gain, they are invaluable in building the image of the nation, as well as to help to attract companies and highly skilled professionals in fields of IT, finance and medico-industries to choose the country as their place of operation. The old global powers arose by wealth of hard resources like oil and minerals supported by the hard power of military, the new global players wield soft power in the form of culture, knowledge and economics. In Denmark, a nation almost devoid of natural resources, this is understood better than anywhere else.
Greece is in a better position than almost any country I can think of to ultimately harvest the full gain of such an image-boost from a film miracle. First because the Greek nation has it's proud ancestry - it is as a matter of fact the place where western drama was invented - which means that the idea of a Greek film miracle, once it it happens, will be even stronger and convincing in the minds of the rest of the world. Secondly because one of the main industries is tourism - and even though it is nice for Greece that the new ABBA-film takes place on Skopelos, and Captain Corellis' Mandolin was filmed on Kefallonia, these films are not Greek, and therefore they don't really add much to an authentic image and branding of Greece as an exciting place to live, work, have fun and vacation. (As a side-note its worth to mention that Denmark's attractiveness as tourist destination has been steadily climbing since the film miracle happened - and this in a country who has much less to offer in terms of sunshine and amazing landscapes).
In the 80s no one was at all excited by Danish films, and if anyone had said that in 10 years there would be talk of a Danish film miracle, it would had been met by laughter or ridicule. In Greece I have often met an attitude, that something like the Danish film miracle could never happen here - for hundreds of different reasons. But guess what, in Denmark it didn't happen by itself. And it didn't happen just because the state gave some more money in support. It mainly happened because The Danish Film Institute and a string of clever new producers understood that the script is the all-determining factor for the success of a film - blockbuster or art-house. And because the producers understood to cooperate, despite being competitors, realizing that being in a small country, they had more to think of themselves as parts of bigger whole, than just small kings with each their small kingdom. And when it started happening they could gradually produce more and more films each year, making it possible for a greater group of directors to actually shoot a feature film more than once per 5 years - which in turn made them better and more confident directors - and the self-generating circle of success had begun. As it is now in Greece my guess is that most of the younger talented directors are just thinking about making one film in Greece that will make them get away from Greece and all the way to Hollywood or some other place of greater promise. It's up to the producers and politicians to make them wish to stay.
To do this the Greek Film Center and the greek producers need to invest heavily in script development. Create a pool of professional scriptwriters by educating them and paying them for any kind of work they do - also for synopses, treatments and scripts that doesn't get produced. Make any director who is not obviously talented at writing understand that they need a scriptwriter - if they don't understand this, simply tell them their film will not be produced without a solid script. This is of major importance: Stop producing films with weak scripts. Simply stop - invest the money in more scripts. Have far too many scripts in development. Every time you plan to produce one film, develop 10 scripts. One successful film will pay for the 9 other scripts. The script is the foundation for successful films - and the brilliant script doesn't just spring from divine inspiration, or a famous book or the mind of strong visual director - the brilliant script arises from a dedication to examine and resolve conflicts by adhering to a strict logic of drama. And that dedication and that logic was invented here - reclaim it.
The Greeks are wonderful people, full of life and therefore drama and stories. They are both tremendously proud, but also at times openly ashamed of their nation. I believe this gives a unique position to be the new century's cinematic storytellers, as we are entering a period where the kind of American blindness to own weaknesses are becoming increasingly out-of-fashion, even with a mainstream audience. Greek film producers and visionary politicians, who understands the value of cultural policy in the new world of soft power, need to come together and create the circumstances to unleash the Greek Film Miracle.
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