Phemia Demosthenous MSc Filmmaking & Media Arts

  A poem I wrote in Cypriot exploring themata like grief, family, and masculinity within the Cypriot household. Writing poetry or thoughts in my own language helps my ideas flow and gives me inspiration for potential voiceover or visual text that I can experiment with in my final film.

  Feedback given to me by the director and my tutor, as well as some of my own thoughts, after watching my film in class on a bigger screen. I used this feedback to make the final version of the short documentary that Callum Rice proposed.

  A short clip demonstrating my experimentation for my project on Cypriot identity and history. This video consist of footage I recorded on my camcorder at a national memorial (with political intent) on the 24th of July, 2023, four days after the 49th anniversary of the Turkish military intervention (and consequently occupation) of Cyprus. The church in the village of Marathounda (where my grandfather is from) is annually decorated with miniature Greek flags and Cypriot flags, as well as flags of the Greek-speaking Cypriot national guard. When I speak of Cyprus, even if I do not explicitly speak of division, it is always present. Being from the south or Greek-speaking part of Cyprus, I will always carry an unconscious bias which people of the north or Turkish-speaking part also carry, dialogically. There are places in the north I may never see, places I never think to visit, due to the implemented idea that I am unwelcome. That my intentional absence from these spaces is a protest ...

Refined my project from the minfulness, observational documentary exercise. After our session with Callum Rice, where we viewed our short documentaries and received feedback, I wanted to fix several aspects of my film that I was unhappy with. The voice over sound that underlied clips of my grandfather tending his field had a very intrusive mechanical sound in the background that I didn't notice when listening to the video through laptop speakers. I went back in the edit to adjust the volume but after realising the mechanical noise couldn't be removed I decided to re-record my voiceover in a quieter environment. This was a huge improvement to the video. I also wanted to add a title as my film felt slightly incomplete without one, whereby I decided on "The root of the tree" ( Η ρίζα του δεντρού ) due to the heavy presence of trees, leaves, and oranges in the film. The word "root" provides a literal and metaphorical meaning in this case, since it can also evoke...

Notes taken before my shoot day for the documentary. These highlight some cinematography ideas I had for specific scenes and the kind of tone I was aiming toward prior to filming and editing my project.

 

Title Sequence Separated geo-politically into North and South, Cyprus has been under a ceasefire for almost fifty years. This project will intimately explore how identity is shaped, challenged, and interpreted on an island affected by conflict. Cyprus is an island with a complex history, yet the majority of people are unaware of its existence, let alone the ever-present political situation on the island. During a time where film is progressively being utilised as a tool for the artistic representation of socio-political events, a story as unique and concurrent as the one Cyprus holds is a significant one to tell. As a history graduate, developing this project would involve applying two years worth of research on Cypriot history, identity, and ethnography (which I've already completed during my undergrad). Having experience in oral interviews, I would like to incorporate these both indirectly (as research) and explicitly, by using video footage, or audio recordings of interviews I p...

To get started on my title sequence, I watched footage I filmed in Cyprus this summer. The idea for this sequence came from the extreme close-up shot of the scenery filmed from inside a car; due to the footage being shot handheld in a moving vehicle, the image appears choppy. Combined with an increase in speed, the choppiness increased and I liked how it created an effect reminiscent of older technologies that worked at lower frame rates. The close-up was also an interesting effect, since at such a magnified depth the appearing trees became completely obscured and instead represented blurred shapes and lines that seemed to evolve and augment with the music.  The two men in the beginning, having a conversation in the streets of old Nicosia, are representative of the sincerity and observance that I like to maintain in my work. In my concept, I plan to incorporate observation documentary, archives, audio recordings, and poetic documentary. Music will also be a key aspect. In my next d...

Reflection on short documentaries Presqu'ile by Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann: The filmmaker constructs what resembles a dreamlike sequence through their integration of short clips, still photographs, and silence.  These three elements combined, particularly the use moving images that linger on a subject/object for what feels like too long, have the ability of invoking contemplation within the viewer. What is especially dream like about the short documentary is the absence of sound during visuals where sound is always expected: flowers rustling in the wind, ripples on a surface of water; the filmmaker destroys our conventional expectations and refuses to provide the multi-dimensionality and complete sensorium normally experienced in cinema. Ndisi-Herrmann embraces their signature first-person, diary entry-like monologue, a straight forward way of creating an intimate, self-conscious narrative for the short film. A Woman Like Me by Isabel Bondy Without adhering to the rules of conventio...

Poetry on Cyprus to na eisai kiprea/kipreos                                                                                                                en na megalonnis nakko sigxismeni                                                                                 na men eisai siouri poia eisai je ti pistefkis                        na eisai mestin mesi                           ...

within the walls  ‎ 17 ‎August ‎2023, ‏‎19:28:22 Over the summer I spent an evening in Nicosia (Lefkosia/Lefkoşa), the capital city of Cyprus, the last divided capital in the world. The area of Nicosia that encapsulates the green line is referred to by Cypriots, and in particular residents of Nicosia, as 'within the walls' (εντός των τειχών). Here you can find the old town, which has been largely maintained in its original form, comprising of crumbling stone buildings and others that are adorned with street art done by locals. This space where communities (once tense) cross and live so tighly amongst each other is also one where creativity prospers. Cyprus is an island made up of several nationalities, ethnicities, and religions; however, the two largest (and oldest) communities are the Greek-speaking Cypriots and the Turkish-speaking Cypriots . The two communities have been divided (with only few exceptions) socially, politically, and geographically since the 1960s. Having ...