Private Project

Later Aphrodites

The film plays out through Melanie’s eyes, a young cancer patient, who trapped in her postoperative body mourns her prior state. Through various personal moments we explore the question of how to identify and unify with a new unknown physical body.

  • Demeter Stavropoulos
    Director
  • Demeter Stavropoulos
    Writer
  • ERT S.A. Microfilm Program
    Producer
  • 1895 Cinematic Creations: Giorgio Molvalis, Harris Oreinos
    Producer
  • Demeter Stavropoulos
    Producer
  • Lydia Katsanikaki
    Key Cast
    "Melanie"
  • Fenia Apostolou
    Key Cast
    "Sissy"
  • Spyros Kyriazopoulos
    Key Cast
    "Nick "
  • Harris Oreinos
    Director of Photography
  • Constantinos Cypriotakis
    Scenography
  • Nefeli Louca
    Costumes
  • Giorgio Molvalis
    Editor
  • Alexandros Pantelis Koukias
    Sound & Sound Design
  • Taxiarchis Diamantopoulos
    Music
  • Vicky Chalioti
    Make-up
  • Prokopis Vlaseros
    SFX
  • Hari Karakoulidou
    VFX
  • Goldcrest Films
    Post Production
  • 1895 Cinematic Creations
    Post Production
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Σύγχρονες Αφροδίτες
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Greece
  • Country of Filming:
    Greece
  • Language:
    Modern Greek (1453-)
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4 K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Pitching Forum Award, Fest-New Directors New Films Festival, 2017
    Espinho, Portugal
    Portugal
    Pitching Forum Award
  • TiSFF - Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival
    Thessaloniki
    Greece
    October 18, 2019
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Cyprus International Film Festival-Golden Aphrodite CYIFF
    Nicosia
    Cyprus
    November 25, 2019
    International
    Best Greek Short Film
  • International Film Festival of Larissa/ Artfools
    Larissa
    Greece
    October 10, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Peloponnesian International Film Festival (Bridges)
    Nafplio
    Greece
    January 20, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Athens Marathon International Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    June 12, 2020
    Yes
    Best New Director Honorable Mention
  • International Film Festival of Crete & Awards
    Ierapetra
    Greece
    August 1, 2020
    Honorable Mention
  • Fest-New Directors New Films Festival
    Espinho
    Portugal
    August 2, 2020
    POR Premiere
    Special Screening-Fast Forward Section
  • Athens International Digital Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    Award Winner Best New Directors Section
  • Chania Film Festival
    Chania
    Greece
    Official Selection
  • L'Hospitalet de Llobregat International Film Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    SP Premiere (?)
    Official Selection
  • Houston Greek Film Festival
    Texas
    United States
    November 13, 2020
    US Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Golden Harvest Film Festival
    Tokyo
    Japan
    February 28, 2021
    JAP Premiere
    Award Winner Best Short Film, Award Winner Best Drama
  • London Greek Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    June 26, 2021
    UK Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Demeter Stavropoulos

Demeter Stavropoulos – Δήμητρα Σταυροπούλου
(1984, Greece)
Demeter is a Greek filmmaker (scriptwriter, director, producer, editor), she studied Archaeology and Filmmaking in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR and Digital Arts in Athens School of Fine Arts, GR through a scholarship by Onassis Foundation.
As a student, she experimented with various film forms (fiction, documentary, animation, experimental, dance, art). She received an Honorable Mention by Scriptwriters Guild of Greece, she participated in Script Developing Workshop Four Corners MEDIA DESK, in Greek Film Center’s Script Development Program and in Sarajevo Berlinale Talents.
In 2017 she received funding by Microfilm Program of Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, ERT S.A. for her short fiction film project Later Aphrodites. Supported by the Greek Film Center she participated at the pitching forum of Fest-New Directors New Films festival in Portugal where she received the Goldcrest Post-Production (UK) Award that contributed to the implementation of her short film. Later Aphrodites (2019) has screened in film festivals in Europe (Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, UK), Brasil, USA and Asia and received several awards in Greece, Cyprus, and Japan.
She is a Talent 2022 in Linz International Film Festival Academy, Austria with her short new film project Shakira the second of her fiction trilogy (Later Aphrodites, Shakira, The Giraffe Dance) in which the feminine element stands out. Her cinema, sensitive, is examining traumatic experiences. Her cinematic language combines film genres, includes elements of magic realism in everyday life and approaches the aesthetic validity of the mythological archetypes.

Filmography
-Later Aphrodites (Σύγχρονες Αφροδίτες), 2019, short, fiction. Awards: 2017: Goldcrest Post Production Award, Pitching Forum Fest New Directors New Films Festival/ 2019, Best Greek Short Award: Cyprus International Film Festival- Golden Aphrodite, CY International Premiere/ 2020: New Directors Award: Athens Digital International Film Festival, GR: / Best New Director Honorable Mention: Athens Marathon International Film Festival, GR: Honorable Mention: Ιnternational Film Festival of Crete & Awards, Ierapetra, GR /2021: Best Drama, Best Short Film Golden Harvest Film Festival, Tokyo, JAP Premiere. Other Festivals: 2019: Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival, Tisff, GR World Premiere/ 2020: GR: Peloponnesian International Film Festival, Nafplio/ Larissa International Film Festival/Chania International Film Festival. POR Premiere: Fest New Directors New Films Festival: Special Screening Fast Forward Section. US Premiere: Houston Greek Film Festival, 2021: SP Premiere, L'Hospitalet De Llobregat International Film Festival/ UK Premiere: London Greek Festival
-Emotions, 2017, short, video art, (MA Studies) Festival: No budget film festival, Athens 2019
-Ladies of War, 2016, short, video dance, (MA Studies) Festivals: 6th Athens International Digital Film Festival, 2017/ 9th Artfools, Larissa 2017/ 7th Athens Video Dance Project, 2017
- Rrose SeLavy, 2011, short, fiction (BA Studies) Festivals: Rrose Selavy ou Eros c'est la vie, French Institute, SYMBIOSIS? XV BIENNALE DE LA MEDITERRANEE-THESSALONIKI/ ROME - 52nd International Film Festival of Thessaloniki, 2011/ 2nd Ionian International Digital Film Festival, 2013/ AltCineAction! Online Balkan Short Film Festival, 2013.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

ENG
Later Aphrodites is a portrait of woman identity, a philosophical reflection about beauty. Beginning with the archetype of the goddess Aphrodite the story develops in nowadays.

Melanie a young cancer patient is trapped in the postoperative body and mourns the prior existence of it. She is in a deadlock and tries to identify her new substance. She is the subject of her psychological experience and the same time the object of her sight. Her obsession to look like before becomes her interior demon and her personal witch. She needs to feed her worldview, to identify her new substance and build a better relationship with herself. Her catalytic encounter with another woman with similar changes on her body but full of confidence takes Melanie's stress away and gives her a new perspective on life.

The visual articulation of the film reflects a contemporary perception about the multi-faced reality. The personal story of Melanie describes a suffering Aphrodite, a contemporary aesthetic image. Drawing from the post-operative condition of the heroine the film deals with the deconstruction of the human body and seeks a new aesthetic system about Beauty. Through ablative and prosthetic surgery the film connects with the post humanitarian policy, focuses on a new conception of self for the present and the future of humanity.

GR
Οι Σύγχρονες Αφροδίτες είναι ένα πορτρέτο της γυναικείας ταυτότητας, ένας φιλοσοφικός στοχασμός πάνω στην ομορφιά. Ξεκινώντας από το αρχέτυπο της θεάς Αφροδίτης η ιστορία αναπτύσσεται με τρόπο σύγχρονο.

Η Μελανία, μια νεαρή καρκινοπαθής, παγιδευμένη στην μετεγχειρητική κατάσταση του σώματός της, πενθεί την πρότερη ύπαρξή της. Βρίσκεται σε αδιέξοδο και προσπαθεί να προσδιορίσει τη νέα της υπόσταση. Είναι το υποκείμενο της ψυχολογικής της εμπειρίας και ταυτόχρονα το αντικείμενο της όρασης της. Η εμμονή της να δείχνει όπως παλιά γίνεται ο εσωτερικός της δαίμονας και η προσωπική της μάγισσα. Η Μελανία έχει ανάγκη να τροφοδοτήσει την κοσμοθεωρία της και να οικοδομήσει μια καλύτερη σχέση με τον εαυτό της. Η καταλυτική της συνάντηση με μια άλλη γεμάτη αυτοπεποίθηση γυναίκα η οποία έχει υποστεί παρόμοιες αλλαγές στο σώμα της, βοηθά τη Μελανία να αποβάλλει το στρες, δίνοντάς της μια νέα προοπτική για τη ζωή.

Η εικαστική εκφορά της ταινίας δηλώνει μια σύγχρονη αντίληψη για το πολυσχιδές επίπεδο της πραγματικότητας. Μέσα από την προσωπική ιστορία της Μελανίας η ταινία περιγράφει μια Αφροδίτη Πάσχουσα, μια σύγχρονη αισθητική εικόνα. Αντλώντας από την μετεγχειρητική κατάσταση της ηρωίδας, η ταινία ασχολείται με τον επαναπροσδιορισμού του ανθρώπινου σώματος και αναζητά ένα νέο αισθητικό σύστημα του Ωραίου. Δια μέσου των αφαιρετικών και προσθετικών χειρουργικών επεμβάσεων η ταινία συνδέεται με την μετα-ανθρώπινη πολιτική, επικεντρώνεται σε μια νέα αντίληψη για τον εαυτό και την οργάνωση μιας νέας αντίληψης του ανθρώπινου υποκειμένου στο παρόν και το μέλλον της ανθρωπότητας.