Yorgos Psailas - A portrait of the British Cemetery caretaker

A short documentary, based on the theory of Observational Cinema. It is the portrait of the caretaker of the British Cemetery in the island of Corfu, Greece, Mr. Yorgos Psailas. The documentary deals with his daily life in the cemetery. Mr. Psailas also recounts the most important moments of his life as well as his thoughts about life and death.
Direction / Photography / Sound / Editing: Mixing: Andreas Vouliakis Translation from Italian: Athanasia Liatsi Ionian University Faculty of Music and Audiovisual Arts – Department of Audiovisual Arts Supervisor: Maria Chalkou
Related Works
One week in ten minutes is a video in which the recording of unboxing, the act of opening the boxes, confronts the viewer with the repeated search in empty boxes that contain absolutely nothing. Each box is the promise of a gift which is to come, promising a gift whose dispatchment is always deferred.
The project composes a series of random artifacts relating to art and design history, used either ας decorative or utilitarian artifacts, turning them into a non-definitive object [bouquet] floating in space.
A documentary about Lazaretto, the desert islet near the city of Corfu that functioned for centuries as a quarantine station as well as a place of execution for political prisoners during the Greek Civil War. The identity of the place is approached through fragmentary testimonies and original sources.
This art piece is trying to express the struggle between letting go ας one would use nature for meditative reasons and the over controlling mind fixating on patterns deriving from sea foam lines.
With the opportunity of the preparation of the trip, the productive process of maintenance, repair and work in the area of the shipyard, the project "Forest of Winds" is created. The project was named "Forest of Winds" because of the sound of the wind passing through the masts of the boats. The "Forest of Winds" is a 360 video animation evolving into a theatrical space and indefinite time. The video depicts the invisible side of a dream, the dream of a journey and its preparation with the forms of workers hovering impersonal in space as work uniforms, creating a choreographed kinesiological narrative process. The forms of workers rub, shine and accomplish all kinds of jobs with their repetitive motions, until they are left in space like objects in an endless free fall.
EX-SITU[existing situations] is an interactive installation that incorporates a computer, sound, and lighting technologies in which users/ viewers take part in the destruction of the painting by stepping on it. At the same time, a motion tracking system marks visitors and a light spot tracks them.
The content of EX SITU calls for awareness of social indifference, self-promotion, and their impact on society. The structure of EX SITU is intentionally ambiguous, revealing the obsession/fascination for the protection of material in contrast with the empathy for other people.
The interactive installation underlines the responsibility of individuals in society. The theoretical part analyses the Destruction in Art Symposium in 1966 and The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.
Observational documentary: People and daily life in the city of Corfu before covid 19.
Everyday life through the eyes of Vassilis, an energetic and open-minded, aging man.












