00:04Zayiat Binoz visit the Thessaloniki in a different role this time.
00:09The renowned star of cinema presented her first directorial work in A.I.Motion at the Thessaloniki documentary festival.
00:17The film follows her collaboration with the famous British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan.
00:24The acclaimed actress spoke to Euronews and among other things referred to the events unfolding around the world including wars,
00:31crises and genocides.
00:33Zayiat Binoz revealed that the idea for her new project came from the late Robert Redford.
00:39Why did you decide to do this documentary now, 17 years after the show?
00:46So I did the documentary, first of all, because a long time ago, 15 years ago, even a little more,
00:55Robert Redford, after seeing the show, he and I said to me, you've got to make a film out of
00:59this.
01:00And a few years after then I met two financiers and said, do you have a project you'd like to
01:06do?
01:07And I said, well, I have those tapes that I found.
01:10I asked my sister, Marion Sanas, who's a director, to film the show, the Seven Last Shows.
01:17And then we said, OK, let's do it.
01:21And then I thought I'd like to do a documentary on the process of the work.
01:26So I had the actual show being filmed and I wanted for people to experience what it feels like to
01:34create something new.
01:38Because Akram wanted to play, to act and I wanted to dance, to move.
01:45So we taught each other art form and we tried in six months to make a show.
01:52And so you see the process of all this.
01:55And the rushes are actually my sister, Marion, who came to the rehearsal room to film us.
02:03Because she was making her own film.
02:05So at the end of it all, I gathered her rushes and some of the rushes that we used.
02:11You know, some we used the work camera and I mixed it and made it a film.
02:17So how this performance changed your life? Is this a highlight in your career?
02:23Because it's something different. And what you taught each other, you and Akram?
02:29What did we teach each other?
02:33Patience, love, tolerance, learning, you know, being a starter again.
02:42When you, you know, you're in your own art form, me acting and Akram dancing and being a choreographer.
02:53We really were, when we met, I was, you know, totally an actress.
02:58And so the fact of starting again, learning a new art form, it requires a lot of humility.
03:06Because you see how difficult it is to learn something new.
03:11But then that was the challenge we wanted to live, is to, to be, to not know.
03:18And be as, put ourselves into an edge of the, of, of learning.
03:23So you have to open your ears, you have to open your eyes, you have to be patient with yourself.
03:29Because I felt there were moments I was totally blurry, I couldn't remember the movements.
03:34I felt, my body would move, my mind was moving, but not my body.
03:39So it takes a while for you to train that.
03:42So I had a wonderful trainer, you can see in the film, Suman.
03:46And, and we were like, you know, walking every day and running every day.
03:50And so your heart start to, to, to get into it.
03:55But then we wanted to really make this encounter of movement and emotion.
04:01That was really a challenge.
04:03And so it took a while to find for us a story where we could express emotions as well as
04:09movement.
04:10And so we, of course, we used the, the theme of love because love has so many different layers and
04:19emotions.
04:21That, that was a good one to use.
04:22So you like experimenting with different art forms and different media.
04:28Why? And why you don't do easy things?
04:33Why you try a lot to do different things in different art forms?
04:38Because life is full, is full of possibilities.
04:41And as an artist, I think you have to put yourself into, not difficulties, but into the new.
04:48Where is the new?
04:50Where do you want to take risks?
04:52Where do you want to explore?
04:53And I've always been interested in movement because emotions is a movement.
04:59A thought is a movement.
05:00Everything is movement.
05:02Life is movement.
05:03And Bergson, Henry Bergson is only making, you know, books about movement.
05:08And I experience it all the time as an actress.
05:12I've always been fascinated.
05:15How, how do you relate the inside to the outside or the outside to the inside?
05:21It's always a movement that is fascinating for each of us.
05:25How can it be, you know, artistically, how can a movement be truthful?
05:28And not just willingful.
05:31And where's the difference?
05:33And so I think the film is, is, is exposing all those questions.
05:38And that are very human questions, but artistic questions, because they're, we are all artists, but we ignore it sometimes.
05:47And so re-putting yourself as a new beginner, you know, a starter, is, allows you to be innocent again
05:58in a way, to be humble again, to be, to see, to be thankful every day that you did, you,
06:07you survived that day, you didn't die.
06:09And it's really what happened when I was playing, you know, doing this show, you know, every single night I
06:15thought I was going to die.
06:17Every single night I was grateful that I didn't die, you know, because it was very demanding.
06:23It's not about going into places where you're suffering, but it's about exploring something new.
06:29And you go through phases where it's difficult, but it's part of life.
06:34It's, if you want to achieve something, there's always some sort of demands.
06:40And the purpose is not to suffer, the purpose is to give.
06:45And that's why, you know, we're here as artists, we're supposed to give.
06:48And to one last question, talking about artists and what is happening around us today, we live in increasingly troubled
06:57times with wars and genocides around us.
07:01So what can artists do about all of that?
07:04And is there a time for doing something else, except art, actions?
07:10We're here as artists to celebrate life and to love it and to be united.
07:18And I think we are all different.
07:21Where each of us, we have different points of view, different, you know, needs.
07:27But deep down, there's a unity we can find.
07:32And it's for us to make this journey, this road and walking on the road of each of us, in
07:39each of us, in order to find out being humble again.
07:43I think that's what it is.
07:45There's a lot of egos going on.
07:48And, you know, we have to let go of a lot of values that we think were, you know, cannot
07:58change.
07:59It's not true.
08:00A lot of values can change and will change.
08:03Because nature will tell us to change, you know.
08:07But if we don't do it with our intelligence and our wisdom, we will be told with a big finger.
08:15So we better change.
08:17And artists, I think it's a place where you can ask questions, explore questions.
08:28And it's about beauty.
08:30Deep down, it's about beauty.
08:31I'm so stiff.
08:33This bike with the rigor.
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