Synkroniciti was thrilled with the response for our “flow” video contest. There were several strong candidates and we chose Vasilios Papaioannu’s “Parenthesis,” which is not only a work of great beauty and meaning, but captures the essence of flow in terms of time, memory, and thought. Vasilios used a Super 8 camera and stitched together four and half minutes of abstract consciousness, bordered by a woman standing by the seaside. She dives into the water in the final seconds. The video evokes a pause in reality that is like the pauses our minds create when we are lost in memory, dreams or reverie. We see snatches of things, animals, people and environments, as we hear the pounding of the surf. The moment at hand is obscured and supplanted by other moments, which dance through our mind’s eye without any discernable connection to one another. One thinks obliquely of existence, of past, present and future, of life and death, and the repeating patterns that make up our lives.
The medium of Super 8, with its grainy texture, dreamy lighting and vintage nostalgia, is the perfect vehicle for a movie exploring human cognition like “Parenthesis.” We are so pleased to award it our prize and to feature it in our upcoming issue (June 1st).
Vasilios Papaioannu is a filmmaker, photographer and mixed media artist currently based in Washington, DC. In his work Papaioannu explores the fleeting dreamscapes of reality using noise, movement and disturbance. He hybridizes different modes of filmmaking, unifying variegated media, primarily 16mm film, digital video and archival footage. His works have been shown in various venues around the world, such as Crossroads at SFMOMA, Anthology Film Archives, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Festifreak, Analogica, Cámara Lúcida, Engauge Film Festival, EXiS, L’ Alternativa, Antimatter [media art], Montreal Underground Film Festival, Revelation Perth Film Festival and Sharjah Film Platform. Papaioannu holds an MA in Communication, Text Semiotics and Cinema from the University of Siena in Italy and an MFA in Film and Cinematography from Syracuse University in New York. Papaioannu is currently an Assistant Professor at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University.
Visit his website to see more of his work.
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