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| Aligned |
Screening as part of this year’s BFI Flare, Aligned is a love story about two dancers, one from Athens and one from New York, who meet in the former city and connect emotionally long before anything physical happens between them. With dance itself playing a significant role in the storytelling, it’s a film designed to connect with the audience first and foremost at an emotional level – a very sensual, sensory piece of filmmaking. I met director Apollo Bakopoulos at the start of the festival and he explained how important the occasion was for him.
“This is our first festival in Europe, which is very exciting, because I really couldn't think of a better place to have our European première than in London, and particularly at this festival. We started our festival round on the 26th of June in Brooklyn, and then we followed up with many festivals around the US. And now we head into Europe.”
It feels like a film with a very personal message.
“Yeah, definitely. It's experiential, the core of it. It's very autobiographical, but the story has morphed quite a bit since it started. The character story is very parallel to mine, particularly the inner journey of Aeneas, with the deeper discussion and the self reflection that he has. I myself also have dealt with not feeling good enough or feeling unlovable or insecure in my life. I have this tendency towards negativity which sometimes it felt like I can't control, and I've been driven by my fears. So, yeah, as I was writing this, I wanted to explore some of these core universal fears that we all get to experience in a way.
“My journey was me understanding what rejection meant for me at that time and why I would feel the need to look for validation or approval outside of myself, or want to be loved externally. That was my realisation at that time when I decided to embark on a journey to start writing about these topics. I had a personal experience that opened my eyes to say to that truth that I wasn't feeling comfortable enough with myself and I wasn't feeling comfortable with rejection. I was seeking someone else’s approval, or I was seeking someone else to be a certain way so I could feel okay about myself. I had a mistaken belief about myself that I somehow am lacking something, that it needs to be completed from something out there.
“It's a mistaken belief because we are whole, perfect, complete, and we are already loved. And we don't get that externally. That comes from inside. It's about the connection we have with ourselves.”
It's a very beautiful and sensual film. Is that style designed to reflect the message to connect emotionally first and then intellectually?
“Yeah, basically it's a combination. When I step into any kind of relationship to create intimacy, it's beyond sexual gratification, beyond need of approval and all of that. It's a different way of stepping in versus stepping into a relationship from a place where I feel not-enoughness and scarcity. Because when I step in from a place of fear and not feeling good enough about myself, then I'm going to be trying to get something so I can feel better about myself. So that's why it's not working, because it's not true. We come into relationships to give and share. We don't come to relationships to complete each other because we are already complete.”
His experience with dance affects the way that he relates to his body, he says.
“I am not a professional dancer, but I use dance as one of my practices. I have certain practices that make me feel better about myself and I feel more connected. Dance was a practice that I would feel that I could get more intimate with myself and I could embrace my body and love towards my body, in a way that's sensual but not sexual. It helped me to practice principles and feel my emotions and get the energy moving when I felt I'm stuck in my mind. For example, I've been working on a project, and I felt overwhelmed. I would go and dance and really start moving, and I would feel like that was a reset.”
And then as a director, he uses dance a lot of the time to tell us how the characters are feeling, even in moments when they're on their own and just moving around in small spaces as they do ordinary things. How did he develop that side of the film?
“I've worked with dancers in the past, and I have practiced a lot capturing movement and getting to a state of being and mental state through me coaching the dancer, to help them let go and really bring up what's in there in that moment. I believe we can say so much with dancing that we don't say with words. That's why it worked in the film. It's a powerful language, and people can connect and relate with that, even without using words.”
It must have been difficult, I suggest, finding people who could deliver the sensitive performances that his two leads do but also handle the dance element.
“They were both professional dancers and actors,” he says. “I was looking for people who could embody these principles, and also people that met the LGBT criteria. And it was through researching within the dance community of Greece and talking to the right people and letting them know the qualities that I was looking for and also the looks, because particularly Alex, I wanted him to be looking a certain way – a little more blonde, for example, because of his American background. So there was a mixture of things, but the most important thing was that they understood principles in dancing and they were familiar with contemporary dance. And contact improv, because a lot of the style of the dance that we use in the movie, it comes from a dance that is called contact improvisation, which is a lot about exploration.
“There's no particular steps to it. It's about being intimate with someone else and exploring and going with the flow and being non-sexual and not touching and all that. So they knew about that. They had experience, but it was all through researching and trying casting different people together. And then when I found one person, a little later, I found the other person, and the chemistry worked with those two, and that's why I chose them.”
We talk about the cities where the film is set.
“Greece and New York are two locations that I have a lot of love for,” he reflects. “I'm very inspired by them for different reasons. They're both beautiful in its own way. I decided to shoot this in Greece because I had that experience when I was in Greece, when I wanted to start writing. So that's when it started. I thought that it would work best if I did it at this location where I felt more connected. Then the particular locations that I chose to shoot the film in, they are inspiring, in a way, for me, because of their historical beauty. You can see the temple of Poseidon in one scene. We're opening up the movie with the temple of the Delphi.
“For me, there is an architectural beauty to Ancient Greece and everything that is still there, and buildings that are neoclassical and influenced by Ancient Greece. And also there’s the energy you feel when you visit these, particularly the temple of Poseidon, which is by the ocean. Every time that I go in and visit a place in Greece that has ancient historical ruins, there is a different kind of energy that I feel there, which is very highly vibrational. It makes me want to be in love with creating something. I feel inspiration when I visit those places.
“With New York, I feel the same way, in a different way, because New York is architecturally a really beautiful city. The design, the buildings, the reflection, there's so much beauty when it comes to the design. I found that it's a beautiful city of the future. And what used to be beautiful back in the ancient times blends together what inspires me about both locations. It’s very inspiring to see that people used to live like that, when they were designing temples. And this one now in a more contemporary way.
“I chose very particular locations in Athens because Athens is not like that anymore. 80% of the city is built new. Everything that looks historical and ancient and it's been kept that way, that's where the real beauty is for me. And every time I go and I see it, I feel the same. I never get enough of it. It's like when you look at the ocean, it's really beautiful and there’s that feeling that as much as you can stay on the beach and look at the beautiful ocean, you haven't seen it enough. I feel the same way for both cities.”
Does that create a natural metaphor for the way that the characters feel about each other?
“That's a good question. I guess when you are really connected with someone and you can be intimate and you can practice these principles of playfulness, vulnerability, freedom and openness – when you are in this state, you're open and you're having a new experience. You don't have to control or know the process or label it. You're just in the experience. So being present with someone and just going with the flow of whatever this experience is going to unfold for you and how it will change and transform you, I guess that's why it feels new. There is no shape, there is no concept about it. It's just an experience that we will enjoy and let ourselves be changed by, without holding a particular agenda.”
Is that the kind of energy that he'd like people to take with them when they go in to watch the film?
“Definitely, yes. How can we be vulnerable? And also, I would like to create a sense of self compassion and acceptance and beauty and connection, and how we can be exploring and open and tuned in with our being, our true selves, and be tuned in with our hearts and listen to our hearts.”
