Texts/Reviews

“…I know that every time we would see the fireworks she would be scared. Perhaps I was also scared that with just one question I would take her back there.”; director Theo Panagopoulos writes in the first person, as he is the only one who can find the most fitting words for the particular “story” – coming from too real of a source to be able to leave the word unmarked – of short documentary, My Own Personal Lebanon (2020). Even so, the care with which Theo describes reflections on his identity torn between distinctively internalized senses of connectedness with the Greek and the Lebanese sides of his family translates so well visually that one feels the viewing experience similar to listening to a deeply personal tale. Instead of imagining the look of various literary descriptions, a harmonious montage of melodious sounds and speech, family photographs, home videos and installation art starts overlaying another kind of complementary communication. The everyday situation of sharing a car ride journeys carefully into a safe space for honest conversation and further bonding between mother and son as well as between Theo and the parts of himself that, only because of this process, are more likely to begin showing up differently or, at the very least, are maybe felt emotionally closer than before.

Balkan Beyond Borders film festival - December 2022