Once an athlete, always an athlete | Interview with director Magda Nenou about Beyond The Line

Once an athlete, always an athlete
Interview with director Magda Nenou about Beyond The Line

Interview: Georgios Alexandrakis

Giannis Avramidis was an athlete when he was left quadriplegic as a result of municipal negligence. He secretly watched videos from the Paralympics, asked his parents to let him carry on, and went on to become one of the top Frame Running athletes in the world.

Beyond The Line by Magda Nenou, which was screened at “With Eyes Wide Open”, the annual festival of the Greek Documentary Association, documents this journey without music, without reenactments and without melodramatic crutches.

A film that, just like Giannis himself, has come this far without any institutional support. Instead of pity, it awakens what I would call “the emotion of reason”, the deep sense of injustice you feel watching a world class athlete struggle against the chronic shortcomings of the state. And where the state is absent, the love of a family and a coach stands in its place.

We spoke with fellow director Magda Nenou about her choices, about Giannis and the people around him, and about the line the film invites all of us to cross.

I see Beyond The Line as a film about love. How would you describe it in one phrase?

It is a film about the redefinition of identity and about love, of course!

One of the most powerful moments in the film is when Giannis’s mother describes how he used to secretly watch videos from the Paralympics. Many documentaries would have staged this scene as a reenactment. You left it solely to her words. How did you make that decision?

The film belongs to the genre of observational documentary. This means that it follows the action “as it happens”, in the spirit of the nouvelle vague era, with which this type of documentary is connected. So no scene is planned in advance, nor does it contain any fictional elements. This internal convention stayed with me throughout the entire shoot. My original intention concerns the depiction of the everyday life that Giannis, the athlete, experiences today. The film does not seek to create false emotional tension, but quite the opposite.

How did you decide how close the camera would get to Giannis’s daily life, and where did you set boundaries?

The choice of wide shots and a wide angle lens placed the protagonist at the distance at which I believe he stands from the viewer. The cinematic language encompasses the character’s entire world, yet it leaves no room for any thought of pity. On the contrary, I believe this distance serves as a reminder of the personal and social responsibility that governs each one of us on an issue as serious as disability.

Was the absence of music a decision from the start, or did it come about in the editing? Was there ever a moment when you were tempted to add music?

The absence of music is an entirely conscious choice and stems from my original intention not to manipulate the viewer’s emotions by objectifying the protagonist’s disability. The issue came up again during editing. However, despite the tests my collaborators and I carried out with various genres and styles of music, the final decision fully aligned with the original one, namely the absence of music.

How does one avoid turning one’s hero into “inspiration to make ourselves feel good”? Was this consciously on your mind?

This “inspiration to make ourselves feel good” is the biggest trap that befalls creators. It is important for every creator to answer within themselves the question “Why do I want to make this film?”. That is, whether it is an extension of a narcissistic impulse, or whether they are genuinely socially engaged and cinema is their way of writing. These are two diametrically opposed intentions. My own intention concerns trauma, how it is dealt with, and living with it.

Giannis’s mother appears in the film with composure and naturalness, without any dramatization. What do you think every parent can take away from this attitude?

I will speak through a phrase that Giannis’s mother herself used during our conversations. “I cried a lot,” she told me, “I just want to see Giannis well.” Personally, I fully empathize with her attitude. People who experience such a traumatic and transformative event in their lives face the new circumstances with dignity, without cheap dramatization, because they have already known real pain.

Giannis’s coach treated him first and foremost as an athlete. How important was this relationship for his journey and for the film?

A large part of Giannis’s current success is owed to the way his coach treats him. Giannis trains at a high level. Dimitris Tsiftsoglou is a distinguished Paralympic track and field coach. Giannis, for his part, acknowledges that it was through Dimitris that he returned to the track and found his athletic path. The relationship of trust between Giannis and Dimitris, between athlete and coach, is deep and meaningful. They have their own code of communication, which I absolutely wanted to capture in the film.

How did audiences react at the screenings? Did any reaction surprise you?

I think it was mostly the audience who were surprised during the screenings. Viewers, prepared to cry or be moved, saw that even elements of comedy have a place in the film, for the simple reason that this is what life is like. There is a mistaken belief that I seek to change, namely that a person with a disability, or those around them, face difficulties only when they are an emotional wreck. Perhaps it is this very perception that helps many people feel good.

What would you like to see change in accessibility in Greece after this film?

For it to be visible, not from a position of superiority, but in an inclusive way.

What does that mean in practice? Was there a moment during filming when you saw firsthand what is missing?

I am glad to answer this question, because during filming I was constantly preoccupied with what is missing. The central theme of the film is the redefinition of Giannis’s athletic identity and the transitional process that accompanies it. Through this, the issue of financial and social support for an athlete’s development constantly comes to the surface. This issue could be the basis for another film, about the effort of Giannis and his family to find sponsors so that he can continue to compete.

Why Beyond The Line? What is the line that the film crosses?

It is the line of “prejudices” and “stereotypes”, which the protagonist himself crosses every day.

Beyond The Line deserves to find its audience. If you are a festival, a school, a municipality, a film club or an association, you can bring it closer to your people. And if you are a business or organization that can support a world class athlete in continuing to compete, Giannis is still looking for sponsors. Because accessibility is not only ramps and elevators. It is also about a champion not having to fight on his own.