#gregorykarathanasis

“The Invited” by Gregory Karathanasis

“The Invited”

Gregory Karathanasis 

The film will be spoken in a mix of English and Greek subtitled in English.

Old lady (Persephone) talking at the beginning, reminiscing about her youth and the hardships she went through in the 1940s in Greece during WWII, it will be shown as her young self in full 40s attire, hair and makeup in her house in Greece. She then realized the dangers the war poses to her, her sister and father (also in full 40s attire) who she is surrounded by. After this, she proposes going to America, which is free of the immediate dangers of the war in Europe, which her traditional father forbids immediately, refusing to leave his country and culture behind. The sister implores her to stay and trust in the unity and integrity of the country and in the church that they are going to get through the war. They attend church together, the sister prays for the war to be over, the lady prays for them to go to America. 

Soon, one morning they are sharing breakfast together, her town gets attacked/bombed (indicated by a newspaper the father is reading in the morning), and so she stresses the fact that they might die soon if they don’t leave immediately.

The father refuses, getting aggressive/violent with her, which she reacts to it by leaving the house. Back at the sister’s house, at the verge of tears, she implores her to not leave, that she is going to a foreign, unknown place into a society where she doesn’t even know the language or customs and that now that she lost the support from her father, she might find herself in trouble. She disregards these comments and bids farewell to her sister, whom she never saw again.

We jump to her being in the ship to America (the New York ferry) and gazing upon the Statue of Liberty, Persephone explains how as she was looking at the statue she felt it was the beginning of a new life. Someone speaks to her in English to which she replies she does not understand and looking troubled. She disembarked and found a home with a fellow Greek immigrant friend. Persephone explains how she needed a job and so she went to a job agency to apply. We see her going into a room, sitting in a chair and a voice asking her about her experience, and reacting to her silence because she doesn’t understand, the voice proceeds to ask her in a rude manner if she knew English to which she responded only a little. We hear the voice laughing and reprimanding her. We then hear Persephone saying how they laughed at her and how she drove herself to learn English fluently so by the time she applied for a new job she’s be prepared, when she applied for a position as a flight attendant, she attended another interview in which a man asked her to lift her skirt up, and touched her inappropriately, to which she left immediately.

1. The memories "self-portrait" (autobiography) of a Greek mother. Old woman (Yia yia) reminiscing about her independent youth in the 1950s and 1960s after immigrating to the country following WWII, her single life and how she eventually found the love of her life and started a family. The video will follow her in her daily activities in 1950s Greek Astoria, buying groceries, attending church, doing chores around the house, during this, it will also show the denials she got from men because they thought she was too independent. Eventually it will capture how she became the woman she is today, highlighting those important events that happened many years ago.

2. The self-portrait of a homosexual couple in the 1950s. The video will follow the lives of two homosexual men in an era of a discriminatory society, them trying to fit in it, and their struggle to survive within its boundaries. The story will include situations in which the couple was shunned by their families and friends, subsequent discovery of sexuality by coworkers and accusations of mental illness.

#Gregory Karathanasis #Project2