The world of football as a big theatre stage.
Featuring:
Elias Bazinas, Panos Geramanis, Areistides Kamaras, Ilias Ifantis, Andreas Tyros, Giorgos Markopoulos and Thanassis Chimonas.
Cinematography:
Giorgos Poulidis
Research & Directed by
Elias Giannakakis
Since childhood I had a special relationship with sports -primarily with football, but also with basketball and track and field. I trained in athletics for five years. But my affinity for sports was special; I was interested in the teams’ history, I was interested in the players (both Greek and foreigners) and I’d say I was obsessed from a young age. I collected newspapers and magazines, photos and later videotapes etc. I remember as a teenager I wanted to become a sports journalist. Eventually I chose cinema instead.
My all-time passion for sports was bound to get involved in my work.
This “Paraskinio” documentary was the first in line, of my long preoccupation with sports documentaries in the years that followed.
The approach was different to that of a typical sports program. It spoke of all the things that move us about football, mixing up many historic, sociopolitical and anthropological details with purely sports information. It proved successful even to a female audience.
Perhaps the greatest gain was meeting Panos Geramanis and Elias Bazinas (both now departed)
and of course Areistides Kamaras and the friendship with all three of them.