DEAD OR NOT?

DEAD OR NOT? is a very courageous artistic short film directed by Iasonas Sigma, the artistic name of Dimitris Sdrolias, who is also the writer and producer. It deals with the story of a young woman. She wakes up in a hotel room. She gets out of bed. She washes her face, combs her hair, and puts lipstick on her lips. She realizes that this is what she does day after day when she wakes up. She feels the urge to break this chain. She strips and goes to the room’s balcony. She imagines that this is her last day. She smokes as if this were her last cigarette. She looks at the world as if this were her last gaze. Suddenly, she feels the urge to actually fall from the room’s balcony. She climbs and... The actress Filia Kanelopoulu is very well directed, always believable, and very realistic, even if the atmosphere is surreal. This woman’s day is told in a very expressionistic way by the director, who chooses details and fragments from the life of this woman. Even the choice of the 3/4 format conveys a sense of voyeurism and the limit of the gaze on the scene. The choice of black and white places this story outside time, in a period that can be anytime and universal. The director of photography and camera operator is Manos Tzivakis. From the beginning, the camera movements approach the room, every detail of the room, and the woman as if from a subjective point of view, and this choice gives a strong sense of suspense. Also, the sound design is very intense and anxious. The rhythm of the editing is both nervous and engaging. All these elements allow the audience to be involved from the beginning to the end of this short film. It is therefore a very brave and well-done first film for this director, and we cannot wait to see his next film. The director is, as we wrote earlier, Iasonas Sigma, who shot this film with a very low budget, choosing an aesthetic that is so smart that it does not suffer from this condition. Iasonas Sigma, the artistic name of Dimitris Sdrolias, is a Greek director, philosopher, psychoanalyst, and acclaimed writer, having won numerous prizes for his poetry, prose, and theatre plays. He is a Doctor of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He attended the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos and studied theatre at the Karolos Koun Art Theatre of Greece, having performed as an actor at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. He also studied solo piano at the Athens Conservatory and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, with recitals in Greece and abroad. After his student film ANOIKIOSIS, DEAD OR NOT? is his first film. DEAD OR NOT? won the February 2021 monthly competition at the Berlin Independent Film Festival as Best Artist Film. Congratulations to all cast and crew!