"Post Card to Chios" created by Athená Polymenis is a poetic documentary film which intertwines feelings of longing and the complications of ones position in life. The film is comprised from a bank of Cinema Verité footage Polymenis shot throughout August '24.
The film was inspired by the prompt, "write a letter to a place or person about where you are now," from the Cinemalab course which is pioneered by Deborah Lewis. "I had been trying to take Cinemalab for about a year before I finally got into the course, which is created by and taught by one of my all time favorite professors, Deb Lewis," Polymenis says. The course itself is structured in a way to allow students to create a new piece of work every week within the limitations of the prompts. Polymenis notes that, once the prompt was given she knew she had to make something with the footage.
Although the average viewer might not quite understand the visual journey taken, "Post Card to Chios" actually tracks the journey from one of the southern most points of Chios island all the way to the northern village of Lagada - where Polymenis's family originates from. Throughout the car ride, Polymenis narrates her letter to Chios which begins with sentiments of longing and confusion for a loss that does not feel like ones own. The narration twists to a very literal description of where Polymenis is in life, finishing her last few months of college, before it twists again to illuminate a thematic of confinement.
"When I wrote the letter - which was the narration - I was focused on what I felt for Chios or perhaps Greece as a whole. And then I started to question why I felt that way and I realized it was partly due to circumstance and seperation," Polymenis explains.
One can glean many a meaning from the combination of visuals and narration Polymenis presents. Please enjoy the last few stills from the film below!
