“Potatoeaters” Short Film
ERT Microfilm 2021
Director’s Note
A story of reconciliation of the peoples of Europe
“The Potato-Eaters” is a short film based on a true story. It is the story that my father passed down to me from the time he fought in the war against the Nazi’sin Yugoslavia, between 1942-1944.More specifically, the story the story takes place in Montenegro 1944 with the retreat of the Germans and the return of my father home.
Now, during these tumultuous times, where COVID-19 is a serious issue worldwide, the EU is asked to consider its way forward and find a way to connect its countries once again, not only in terms of the economy but also in a cultural and social sense.
“The Potato-Eaters” follows the relationship of four soldiers from four different European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy and Serbia) that found a way to reconcile against their common enemy, mice. To be friends in the end.
The film takes place in Montenegro in 1944 and Athens in 1994. The first part will be in black and white and the second part, in color. Morespecifically, the film will resemble in the beginning a WWII documentary. Followed by the soldiers, that will appear as if their heavy armor and clothes,have been soaked in mud. The camera will focus on their hands, faces and details of their bodies. The atmosphere will resemble VanGogh’s painting, The Potato Eaters, and will therefore consist of shadows. With a soundscape of firring guns and bombs, we see the tough faces of the soldiers and we hear their voices in the four distinct languages. The soldiers will look like, “the soldiers” in Dreams (1990), by Akira Kurosawa, and the lost riders of Alexander Lernet-Holenia in the Hungarian forests. The faces of the soldiers will resemble half-burned trees. The camera follows their details, their breaths, and their silence.
In the second part, we have an array of colors with green trees, and blue skies. Weseebirds, insectsandthesoldiers that are now calm, with clean faces, as if they are enjoying the company of their friends. The war is now over. Food and wine, the everyday, their grandchildren are now part of their lives. Life has won.
Stratis Panourios