FemmeFilmFest20 Interview: Georgia Michailidi and her short film ‘Diane Keaton’

Filmotomy got the opportunity to speak to the write, producer and director of the short film, Diane Keaton, part of the Showcase Selection at the 5th Femme Filmmakers Festival. Georgia Michailidi, who was born in Athens, Greece, marks her debut short film with Diane Keaton.

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questions by Morgan Roberts and Robin Write

FILMOTOMY: Tell us about loving films growing up. What were your favourites? How does Greek cinema compare to the mainstream film world?

GEORGIA MICHAILIDI: I was raised in a rather cinephilic home so I didn’t have to discover the Great Directors by myself, we already had their filmography on DVD. So my journey was a bit backwards – started with the auteurs, move to splatters, B movies and independent productions.

Everyday I would come back from school and would watch at least five movies and make notes on which films to watch the next day. Yes, that did interfere with a variety of things and probably set back my social skills a few years.

I eventually found what I was looking for at coming of age films, and the writing style of Diablo Cody gave me the courage, or the permission, to start developing my own ideas on scriptwriting. By the time I was considered a film buff “Greek Weird Wave” had just been established by International Festivals, which had both a great and a catastrophic effect on Greek Cinema.

It forced Greek viewers to pay attention to national productions, but it also created a New Wave of Elitism that immediately drove them away. For the record, despite the impressive number of Short and Feature Greek films participating every year at the biggest Festivals of the world, as an industry we are still greatly underdeveloped, underfunded and understandably tired of having to work under such conditions. 

What are the top three things every filmmaker should have? Could be personal qualities or tools or a combination of both.

My top three rules that no one should really follow because what do I know are:

1) Knowledge, of cinema, both in theory and practice, of what your script is really about and why you want to talk about this. And also the knowledge that sometimes your film is not important at all, in fact maybe you should not move ahead with it.

2) Friends, that will tell you when your script is bad, have a huge fight with you and then come work at your late night shoot. Make sure you provide your crew with a hot meal!

3) Love, that is the only thing that will help you make an original, personal film instead of a compilation of Kubrick’s best shots. 

Who is an actor/editor/cinematographer/writer you want to work with?

Can I please work with the cast and crew of “Diane Keaton” forever?
While my cast and crew take their time to think I would like to inform Céline Sciamma, Diablo Cody, Sean Baker, Greta Gerwig, Pedro Almodóvar and Jenny Slate that I would gladly work as an intern for them! Is that too silly? 

Tell us about the conception and preparation for Diane Keaton. What changed during the making of the film?

Diane Keaton is a product of rage. I wrote the script back in 2017, my last year of Film School, and I was furious. I remember I had to take breaks from angrily writing to angrily walk around to calm down. Two years later, when we shot the film my rage for the Odyssei of the world had turned into love for every Anastasia out there.

Pre-production of the film really helped me with that, seeing all these talented people, girls and boys, work together, even making jokes about the relationship of these two. I will forever be grateful to all those who made this movie happen. This is my first attempt, I knew nothing, but they were all very understanding, patient and made the experience a lot less terrifying. Sorry about all the times you asked me a question and I answered “I don’t know, but it has to be cute”.

How different are the roles of Writer and Director for you? Is there one you see yourself as more than the other?

One could say that the Director has to kill what the Writer created. In my case, since I’m both the Writer and the Director, it’s a suicide. Personally, I prefer writing over directing. I find it more enjoyable, more creative, I feel better mentally when I do it, plus it is the perfect excuse for make-believe, a habit I’m still not over. 

How do you balance that thin line between comedy and drama?

In my mind, comedy and drama are artistic choices. You can tell the same story but make two completely different movies based solely on the genre you choose to go with. My choice is to not make that choice.

I’ve had a great time at funerals and the worst night of my life in parties. That is how life works and by denying it or changing that when writing a script I’m doing a bad job at presenting realistic people and situations. Not to mention, it’s just a break up, no need to get all dramatic about it!!

What kinds of narratives would you like to see more of?

Though it is great that nowadays more movies focus on racial minorities, lgbtqa+ people and female protagonists I do feel that it needs to be pointed out that we are more than our abuse, our struggles, our traumas. By constantly telling only these stories again and again we achieve nothing but painting members of these communities as “damaged” or “victims”. We may be damaged but we are so much more than that and we deserve real stories, not the perception someone has of us.

As a Greek viewer, please, no more movies about the economic crisis. It’s been 12 years now, we know how things are, and spending money on a film to tell us we are poor makes zero sense. I guess what I’m trying to say is “Lighten up, Film Industry! There are happy stories to tell and you don’t appear intellectually superior by being miserable”. 

If you could be making films in any decade, which one and why?

Honestly, I’m really curious about 2020. The new decade started with a pandemic that completely changed how not only we view but also make movies and it follows the MeToo movement and the discussion on more (or more accurate) representation. It is a clean slate for the film industry.

As a newcomer I would like to work and establish myself this decade and considering how awful the previous decades treated female creators I can only hope that 2020 will be our decade! That being said, 90s Indie American Cinema will forever be the coolest thing on my mind! 

What changes have you enjoyed the most during lockdown?

I was one of those people who were not productive during the lockdown, I didn’t write a thing and I’m not ashamed of it. I guess the only positive thing for me that came from this whole thing is that I finally understood what they mean when they say “there is no such thing as normal”. I was struggling for years to understand and now I think I got it. That and the Cottagecore TikTok compilations on youtube.