“The Old-man” – A documentary by Prokopis Dafnos about the cinematographer Grigoris Danalis

Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, the Union of Cinema and Television Technicians (ETEKT) and the Organization for the Management of Cinema Technicians’ Rights “ISOCRATES” present Prokopis Dafnos’ documentary with the title: “The Old-man” , a funny and tender nickname that was given to Grigoris Danalis (1916 – 1993) by his partners and friends, on Friday the 29th of March 2013, at 20:00.

The “old-man” – Grigoris Danalis- loved cinema and he dedicated his life to it. He started his career as an engineer of projection and electrician and he gradually became the talented cinematographer, who left his stigma in more than 80 films (usually working with his brother Syrrakos Danalis).

He was an emblematic figure and a mighty president of the Union of Cinema and Television Technicians (ETEKT) for several years. He was supporting all young cinematographers and he was the leader in the fight for their rights. Danalis experienced the first years of Greek cinema, at the time when skill, innovation and fantasy were playing a central role in the solution of any technical problem.

Prokopis Dafnos, old-man’s partner and friend, has recorded Danalis’ career through narrations that are told by people who knew and worked with Grigoris Danalis. There are also narrations that are provided by the “old-man” and he recalls events, happenings and unknown stories of his entire life and work.

The Documentary
Danalis belonged to the generation of the veterans of the Greek Cinema, a generation that helped Greek Cinema to develop its skills and practices. As part of that generation, Danalis – the old man with the distinctive beard- talks to Dafnos as a camera operator, director and producer and he describes the miracle of the transformation of light into a film.

The camera look to the past and depicts the golden period of the Greek Cinema. Narrations, movie clips and documents reveal the portrait of the award-wining cinematographer and they depict the anxiety of all the old auteurs for presenting a decent piece of work. That was the time when the cinema technicians were working with deficient means and they were doing miracles in only few weeks. They were shooting in the city and the countryside, during cold weather or intense heat.

Harry Kleenn, Kostas Kazakos, Emilia Ipsiladi, Aggelos Antonopoulos, Anna Fonsou, Eleni Anousaki and other famous actors, cinematographers and technicians talk about the pioneering cinematographer Grigoris Danalis. In addition, movie clips from all-time-classic films are “interrupting” old man’s narration: THE BOOTBLACK (1962) by Mary Plita, GLORY SKY (1962) by Takis Kanellopoulos, PERSECUTION (1964) and THE 201 CANARIES (1964) by Grigoris Grigoriou, THE 7th DAY OF CREATION (1966) by Vassilis Georgiadis and CHORAFAS FAMILY (1968) by Kostas Asimakopoulos etc.

Grigoris Danalis was omnipresent during the struggle of the Greek cinematographers for their social and working rights. He was one of the mightiest presidents of the Union of Cinema and Television Technicians (ETEKT) and he was fighting for the always current topic of the implementation of the cinematographers’ rights legislation in Greece.