Anna
Kannava
b. August 23, 1959, Cyprus.
d. May 5, 2011, Australia.
BIOGRAPHY:
After migrating from Cyprus at the
age of fifteen in 1974, Anna Kannava grew up and studied in Melbourne.
In 1982 at
Deakin University she completed a Bachelor of Education in Drama
and Media where she studied drama, film, screen-writing, photography
and fine art with further courses in the '80s and '90s in writing
and directing.
In the 1980s
she worked as an actor with a Theatre in Education team and a
Greek Theatre company. She also travelled extensively to Europe
and filmed Ten Years After, Ten Years Older in Cyprus in 1985.
She directed
several plays and short films including one play at La Mama Theatre
in Melbourne and worked as a writer, actor, director and animator.
In 2002-3
she travelled to Paris and Cyprus and completed a novel called
Stefanos of Limassol. Also in 2003 she
received funding and filmed her first feature film called Dreams
for Life, which was released in Australia in 2005.
In 2008, she completed her second feature, Kissing Paris, and her second novel, So Much Joy - Lisboa!
Her first novel Stefanos of Limassol has been published by Ilura Press. The second novel's publication is pending.
After suffering for years from the condition of scleroderma, Anna died on May 5, 2011 from cancer.
CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
I came to Australia when I was fifteen.
I had great difficulty with English because I kept holding on
to my old language because I could feel it. The teacher asked
me what I wanted to do with my life and I said I really wanted
to do some directoring. But it was the theatre I was in love with
since I was a child. One day a friend took me to the Valhalla
Cinema in Richmond. It was a Fellini double. 8½ and The
Clowns. Fellini was actually one of the clowns. After that
I saw Bergman, Antonioni, Truffaut, Nicolas Roeg films and others
there. I think they're still my favourite filmmakers along with
Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Then I got into Rusden College,
now called Deakin University, which was a teacher's College. I
got in through an audition. Had I not made it I would have not
gone on to a higher education - it was official, I was a double
Drama student. I had to pick up extra subjects however, so I chose
Media Studies which included TV, graphics, film and photography.
I also studied dance and art.
Suddenly
I had fallen in love and this time I knew it was for real. I had
discovered filmmaking. Practical filmmaking meant three hours
a week and very little access to anything. Luckily for me, a wonderful
lecturer and filmmaker called Graeme Cutts liked my first personal
film Kannava You Can'av'er or as the boys used to call
it Anyone Can Have Her (in their dreams) and gave me all
the 16mm film stock and equipment I wanted - an absolute privilege.
I made a film each year. Graeme Cutts also introduced me to experimental
films. Sometimes I think my style is a combination of silence
and slapstick from the silent era, experimentation from countless
hours of experimental film screenings and atmosphere from the
Europeans. The voice-over just comes to me; I have no control
over it. At school I also met and became friends with filmmakers
Brian McKenzie and Ray Argall, tutors there, just out of film
school.
After college
I bought a 16mm Bolex from the Trading Post and set off to make
a film in Cyprus, which recorded my return after a ten year absence.
More than anything I wanted to teach myself how to make films.
The film was called Ten Years After . Ten Years Older and
was the second personal documentary I have made which was then
followed, ten years later, with another about my family and especially
my brother Nino called The Butler.
Dreams
for Life
I have just
completed a drama called Dreams for Life. What excites
me about the film is the fact I have used everything I have learnt
over the years but the film is fiction. I find making personal
films very distressing.
Some
kind of statement
I'd much
rather see a film which pushes the boundaries and takes risks
because even if it doesn't completely work such a film is likely
to liberate and illuminate me.
My love for
film stems from my love for all arts. Filmmaking comes the closest
to incorporating all of the arts together. If the actors are not
moving then the camera does or just the fact that film consists
of jumping from frame to frame, from shot to shot, to me is a
dance. There is the rhythm of the shots and flow of the film from
beginning to end, another dance, a piece of music. Then there
are the colours, textures, patterns, shades and light in each
shot and frame like in a painting or a photograph. I love the
power of sound, the word and the theatrical aspects of film. Perhaps
I see myself as a collage artist; I try to mix and clash all the
different elements and styles within the one film.
Brisbane International Film Festival 2008 Australian Centre for Moving Image 2009
Cork International Film Festival 2009
Halls Gap Film Festival 2009
2004 – Dreams for Life Feature drama
Brisbane International Film Festival 2004
Sydney Greek Festival 2005
Down Under International Film Festival 2005 - Best Australian Feature Award
Australian Screen Director’s Association nomination - New Director Award
Australian Film Institute awards entry & cinema release 2005
Annapolis International Film Festival US 2005
Cyprus International Film Festival 2006 Best Feature and Best Actress nominations
Eurocine ‘Fete L’ Europe’ Film Festival 2006 - Brussels, Paris, Strasbourg
Eurocine ‘Fete L’ Europe’ Film Festival 2007 - Lyon, Rome, Madrid
1997 -
The Butler One
hour personal documentary commissioned and screened by ABC Television.
Kissing Paris
EAC Dendy
Award Sydney Film Festival 1997
Diploma
Merit Vision Du Reel, Switzerland 1997
Nominated
Best Documentary 1997 AFI awards
Nominated
Best Director Open Craft 1997 AFI awards
Diploma
Merit St Kilda Film Festival 1997
Finalist
- New York Short Film Expo 1998
1989 -
Vanilla Essence Short
silent drama
St Kilda
Film Festival 1989
Numerous
experimental film festival screenings
1986 -Ten Years After . Ten Years Older A
half hour personal documentary
ATOM award
for Best Australian film 1987
Diploma
of Merit Melbourne Film Festival 1986
Diploma
of Merit St Kilda Film Festival 1987
Nominated
Best Documentary Dendy Awards 1987
Broadcast
by SBS Television
1982 -
Tightrope Water Short
experimental narrative
Melbourne
Film Festival 1982
Numerous
experimental film festival screenings
1981 -
Wedding of Venus Short
experimental narrative
Numerous
experimental film festival screenings
1980 -
Kannava You Can'av'er Short
personal documentary
Numerous
experimental film festival screenings
FEATURE SCREENPLAYS: (written
1997-2008)
Kissing Paris - (Writing completed to Final script) produced
2008
Dreams
for Life - (Writing completed to Final script) produced
2004
The
Distance - (Writing completed to Final script) unproduced
The
Beautiful Woman - (Writing completed to Final script) unproduced
