Private Project

Voulolimna

The short film “Voulolimna” is a contemporary collective portrait of two lakes in Crete (Kourna and Agia) that includes all living and nonliving things, real and imagined: animals, plants, fairies, tourists, even plastic bicycles.

According to the myth, in the area where Lake Kourna is today there once lived a Cretan girl who was famous for her beauty. One day, as she was going to the fields with her father, who was also the village’s priest, they stopped to rest at a spring. She untied her blonde hair and then he approached her amorously. In terror she cried out: “Voula and Voulolimna, I haunt the lake!” and the spring overflowed, the village flooded and turned into a lake. The myth of the flood symbolizes justice, purification and the generative power of nature.

  • Nefeli Papaioannou
    Writer
  • Olga Evangelidou
    Writer
  • Irene Ragusini
    Writer
  • Nefeli Papaioannou
    Director
  • Nefeli Papaioannou
    Director of Photography
  • George Gounezos
    Camera assistant
  • Irene Ragusini
    Key cast
  • Olga Evangelidou
    Costume
  • Irene Ragusini
    Costume
  • Dimitris Barnias
    Sound engineer
  • Rafail Troulakis
    Music curator
  • Nefeli Papaioannou
    Editing
  • Babis Petridis
    Coloring
  • Nefeli Papaioannou
    Sound design
  • Chris Loupis
    Sound design
  • Chris Loupis
    Sound mixing
  • Konstantinos Konios
    Subtitles
  • Eleni Riga
    Text curator
  • Margarita Athanasiou
    Poster
  • Alexandra Masmanidi
    Trailer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Βουλολίμνα
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes
  • Production Budget:
    14,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Greece
  • Country of Filming:
    Greece
  • Language:
    Modern Greek (1453-)
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Nefeli Papaioannou

Nefeli Papaioannou is a graduate of the Department of Photography and Audiovisual Arts (Technological Education Institute of Athens). She did her internship in the photo archive of Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). He has attended several interdisciplinary seminars that combine research, art and science such as "Literature, Architecture and City" with Fotini Margariti, "Radical Geography" with Kostis Hatzimichalis, "Interior Landscapes" with Christos Karakepelis and Natasa Segou. As part of the feminist collective MADAN, she co-produced the short film "Attiko Kalokairi" and wrote the main soundtrack. In 2022, he directed the short film "Voulolimna" which was part of the project "Lakes: Myths, Stories and Meanings" which she co-created with Olga Evaggelidou and Irene Ragusini within the framework of the funding of the artistic program "Open Sails". In recent years he has been involved in the composition of original music and lyric writing as well as being a member of the polyphonic group "Trentelina" which focus on songs of the Epirus region.

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Director Statement

As a tool of narrative and expression, she is interested in the combination of fiction and documentary with themes related to decentralization, ecology and feminism, the exploration of tradition and memory in the present.