Thessaloniki — Cinematic Reel

In August 2023, while visiting Thessaloniki, Greece in the midst of editing BURDEN, I set out to capture a series of shots that would form a cinematic reel.

This project first took shape in the summer of 2022, during the final days of a trip to Greece with my family. At the time, I began envisioning a sequence of experimental shots while listening to The Night Me and Your Mama Met by Childish Gambino. As the song played, the visuals started to unfold in my mind, and I quickly realised that this track perfectly complemented the sequence I was imagining.

A year later, in 2023, I returned to Greece. Upon arrival, I spontaneously remembered the shots I had mentally planned the previous year and decided to bring them to life. Although I had forgotten to bring my Sony A6400, I embraced the spontaneity of the moment and captured whatever I could. The process became guided by instinct, and I also took the opportunity to pay homage to shots I admire from Better Call Saul (2015-2022, Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould).

This project also allowed me to experiment with visual ideas stemmed from American Wedding, a year ahead of its first shoot, such as testing a low-contrast form of black-and-white, present within key sequences, alongside shooting underwater.

The result is a piece shaped as much by instinct as by intention, finally made tangible.