The talented filmmaking skills of director Alexia Kyriakopoulos and associate producer Velvet Datsopoulou are in full effect in Alexia’s new VR film ‘Sygnomi’ –meaning “I’m sorry” in the Greek language. The project is based on domestic violence, which explores the truth from the inside out, on abusive relationships and what people often don’t see or maybe, don’t understand.
Drawing from some of her own life experiences, Alexia reflected on times she went through abuse while putting this documentary together -and interviewed other victims as a platform to raise awareness to others trying to understand the reality of this type of experience. This film also explores the myths and stereotypes many people have when it comes to abusive relationships. Throughout this experience Alexia emphasizes that a major reason that victims stay in abusive relationships is because they tend to create an illusion of their relationship and they keep going back to the perfect/fairytale moments they once had with their partners instead of accepting the more painful but honest truth.
Sygnomi is an eye-opening film which helps capture what goes on in relationships without focusing on the physical abuse but rather the emotions and what we, as human beings often refuse to see when we are in love.
The 26 year old Greek director Alexia Kyriakopoulos, who just graduated NYU Tisch School of Arts and currently resides in Sao Paolo -has already worked with established companies such as Fox International Channels and Netflix and does a fantastic job of directing this production alongside Velvet Datsopoulou (who works with Anisma Production and Creative Chaos). Together, they made a great team while putting together such a groundbreaking documentary.
Even though this is a very sensitive subject for many people who have been affected by domestic violence, including myself -watching this film may give us a way to understand how we each got to that place, or why we stayed in it for so long!