The Flea

Spirou Dimitris

Greece, 1990

REVIEWS

“Flea” is the title of a handwritten little newspaper published, edited and written by Ilias Seiladis, a twelve-year-old schoolboy in a remote village in the mountain region of Olympia. “Flea” is young Ilias himself, since he is totally identified with his paper. No one calls him by his name any more, but he is known as “flea”. “The Flea” is something like a dream, the trips I want to take breaking the borders of my small village. It’s the wings which help me fly away, he writes in the paper. “Flea” is also an attempt for daydreaming, optimism and hope. A poke at our slumbering sensibility. “Flea” is above all the beauty of children’s innocent eyes.

THE DIRECTOR

Spirou Dimitris

He was born in 1954 in the village of Diasella, Olympia. He studied theatre and film. At the beginning of his career, he worked as an actor, assistant director, TV editor, and screenwriter. In 1985, he founded Faos Films productions, a company with which he made feature and documentary films. Since 1989, he has been particularly active in the field of Children and Youth Cinema: at first he has written, directed, and produced the feature film The Flea (1991), which has received six first prize awards in International Film Festivals such as Berlin, Chicago, etc., and consequently he has coordinated film programs and TV productions. In 1997 and in collaboration with regional and local authorities of the Elis regional unit, he founded the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, of which he also serves as an artistic director. He has written extensively on children and youth cinema for Greek and International media, and has also presented his work at numerous conferences. In 2004, his book Children in François Truffaut’s Films was published. From 2008 to 2012 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the European Children’s Film Association. Parallel to these activities, he is active in the field of literature (poetry, short stories, novels) and often collaborates with art and culture magazines. In 1981 he received the First Prize in a national contest for poets under the age of 35 (the jury comprised three leading Greek poets: Yiannis Ritsos, Nikiforos Vrettakos, and Takis Sinopoulos). In 1993, Patakis Publications published his novel The Flea, which has reached 15 editions, as well as his novel The Music that Stopped Stone-Throwing in 2011.

FILMOGRAPHY

Fiction:

1996 Dream against A White Backround

1990 The Flea

1985 Interpretation (short)

Documentary:

1995 Black-Eyed One (doc)

DETAILS

Screenplay: Dimitris Spirou

Cinematography: Prokopis Dafnos

Editing: Christos Santatsoglou

Sound: Kostas Poulantzas, Yannis Xaralabidis

Music: Michales Terzis

Make up: Theano Kapnia

Costumes: Vaia Paggaia

Cast:
Pantelis Trivizas
Vasilis Kolovos
Dimitra Hatoupi
Amalia Giza
Kostoula Tsellou
Dimitris Spyrou
Dimitris Palaiochoritis,
Leonidas Vardaros
Michalis Theodorou
Alecos Petridis
Nikos Zoiopoulos
Kostas Spyrou
Fotis Karvellas

Producer: Dimitris Spyrou, Greek Film Center

Color: Color

Duration: 108′

Awards:
1991: First Prize – International Children’s Chicago Film Festival
1991: CIFEJ – Berlin International Film Festival
1991: Irish Scriptwriters Union Award – Belfast International Film Festival
1990: Distinction for Excellence (Feature Film) – Greek Ministry of Culture Quality Awards
2000: First Prize – Sofia Balkan Film Festival
2001: First Prize –Du grain à moudre FF, Le Havre

REFERENCES

Kartalou Athina ‘Το παιδί μέσα τους: αναζητώντας και αναπαριστώντας την παιδική ηλικία στον νέο και τον σύγχρονο ελληνικό κινηματογράφο’[The child inside them: searching and reenactment of childhood in new and modern Greek cinema] in Vaso Theodorou, Maria Moumoulidou and Anastasia Oikonomidou (eds) «Πιάσε με αν μπορείς…» Η παιδική ηλικία και οι αναπαραστάσεις της στον σύγχρονο ελληνικό κινηματογράφο [Catch if you can. Represantations of Childhood in Contemporary Greek Cinema]. Aigokeros, Athens, 2006

Spirou, Dimitris, Children in Greek Cinema, Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People

31th Thessaloniki Greek Film Festival Catalogue

Director ‘s Interview: www.dramania.gr

Film Reviews: cinedraseis.wordpress.com

TEACHER GUIDE

ACTIVITIES

European Films For Innovative Audience / Designed by Freelance Creative