ATHENS – Karagiozis, the beloved character from the traditional ‘shadow theatre’ of Greece and Turkey, has for some months now left ‘the board’ and has made the transition to the big screen as the first Greek 3D animation feature film.

Titled ’Karagiozis: The Movie’, it has been playing in cinemas since December 2022 and is now about to compete at San Francisco Greek Film Festival (April 23) and, hopefully, the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF).

Anastasia Manou, CEO of White Fox (the production company for the movie) and executive producer of the film, spoke to us about the project.

The National Herald: How did you come up with the idea of bringing Karagiozis to the big screen?

Anastasia Manou: For a decade there has been a desire to create a Greek 3D animated film since 3D seems to be the format that children enjoy most and choose to watch. Having obtained experience as distributors of localized foreign children’s programs, we were also able to determine the gap [between supply and demand] for original Greek animated movies in the Greek market. This desire, this dream started in 2018 to turn into a plan and the plan became actions. For more than six months we were looking for the core idea and the main hero. We discussed various heroes from Hercules to Little Hero, and considered all other suggestions, and read stories. Meeting Athos Danelis, the famous puppeteer, was decisive in arriving at the ultimate exponent of Greek folklore over the past two centuries: Karagiozis.

We saw the energy that Karagiozis could [display on the screen] as well as his characteristics: optimistic, resourceful, kind-hearted – but also troubled by daily survival challenges. It is said that he carries the sufferings of the Greek people on his shoulders.

This is how we were led to his choice, but to tell you the truth, when we chose him, we didn’t know the difficulties we would face.

It was a great challenge to make him come out of the shadows, where he has been for centuries in the shadow theater, and to introduce him as a 3D figure in ‘flesh and bones.’

We began with too much optimism and ignorance… of the task’s requirements.

TNH: What were the specific difficulties in implementing the idea?

Anastasia Manou: There is no joy without struggle, they say… and that is what applied to us as well. We encountered difficulties on many levels, such as choosing between dozens of stories to end up with one. This challenge, however, was expected… Then we had to decide on the style of the animation, the quality of the CGI – computer-generated imagery, etc. Our goal was to produce a fun family film that would make children, young adults, and older people laugh – but also to connect tradition and technology in an innovative way. From the environment of the village in Epirus, to the costumes, the vernacular, the objects, the music and the dances, everything refers to Greece. But in order for there to be accuracy and consistency in what we chose to make into an animation movie – from the architecture, the houses and the bridges, to  Barba Giorgos’ clothes – the creative team had to work alongside the scientific and research team.

The project had just begun when the pandemic hit around the world, leading to the known limitations. We had to revise the budget three times, having to make compromises – but not in the quality of the produced outcome. Among the difficulties was the lack of the know-how for such a project in Greece – the animation market is practically being born at this time in our country. Film projects have been around for decades but producing a short film to submit to festivals is something totally different compared to making a movie or TV series. We are just getting started in Greece. This first Greek 3D animation we produced and released theatrically has helped in creating a market that I want to believe will also result jobs creation.

TNH: Tell us about making the film.

Anastasia Manou: A purely Greek team was created, young people in the majority, with relevant studies in Greece or abroad and with a great passion for creating. And because, as I said, we believe in the Greek animation market that is being created, we chose to search, train, and learn. I also made the difficult decision to give production more time and therefore endure more costs in order to produce a movie with international prospects. There was definitely a strong belief in the vision, with a great team having the ability to work together and co-create. This is how Akis Karras (Grigoris Karatinakis), who is our art director – a well-known and acclaimed director with years of experience in cinema and theater, joined the team along with Christos Livaditis our vfx supervisor, who was also involved in the movie’s direction. Aikaterini Papageorgiou, a young director who was recently named the new artistic director at the Belos Theater, supervised the kinesiology and choreography. But the team that made the animation, the heart that lived 24/7 in the universe of Karagiozis, consisted of: Christina Androulakaki, 3D animation; Konstantina Theodorou; Giorgos Papadopoulos lead 3D generalist; Loizos Pagonis rigging – fx; Andreas Rallis, character design.

Athos Danelis, apart from the script and its adaptation, also provided his voice and Kostas Haritatos wrote the music together with Tasos Katsaris. Elena Maragou, the lyric singer, gave her voice to Aglaia. I am naming only a few people on a crew that consists of more than 40 people that worked together for 1000 days and nights with simply one common goal: to entertain the audience with traditional Greek content and to make children and families laugh.

TNH: What do you expect from your participation in the San Francisco and the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival?

Anastasia Manou: Karagiozis the Movie, after two months in movie theaters, starts its tour this spring and summer all over Greece in regions where the film was not released due to lack of screening venues – but where the Karagiozi-puppeteers go. We are going on this tour to make the project available to broader audiences and also to spotlight that the Greek animation market that has been created and is spreading.

With our participation in the San Francisco Greek Film Festival – which is also the first international screening of the film, on April 23, we hope that the audience will enjoy a nice story and at the same time appreciate the difficulties the project entailed. Then our film, hopefully, will be screened at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival as well. Our goal is to have as many Greek families abroad enjoy the first Greek 3D animation.

Over the past few years we have seen many Greek fiction films being produced, while, at the same time international studios have come to shoot in Greece due to the government’s new financial aid program, and yet when it comes  to children’s programs, films, and series, there seems to be absolute silence.

Meanwhile in other countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain more than 50% of children’s programming, consisting of plays, films, and series, are nationally produced. This is what we want to change here. We need content for cinema, television, and other platforms that is addressed to children: the little ones, the older ones, the pre-school and elementary school-age ones and also the teenagers. All over the world this audience communicates primarily through the animated image, animation. It is the new ‘dialect’ that you see everywhere in the world – but not in Greece apart from a few attempts in the last few years. We hope that Karagiozis the Movie will mark the beginning of a new era. And I must not forget to mention that we managed to register the digital hero and all his gang with the European Union as Greek citizens.