YAYA

A biographical documentary

In the 80s, my grandmother Heidi emigrated alone from Basel Switzerland to Tinos a greek Island.

• She is now doing architectural projects there and is still building on the island. She is not alone: after her, many others emigrated there for similar reasons and still live there.

What does it take to emigrate from your home country and gain a foothold as an architect in a male-dominated society? What does it mean to be a stranger on an island and to realize oneself? What makes an island a microorganism and who plays what role there?

Through various portraits of and conversations with the islanders, newcomers, employees, architecture lovers, admirers, astrologers, builders, artists, anarchists and recurrences the image of a woman emerges who is unusually strong and impressive, yet at the same time thought-provoking.

Through the multiple perspectives on the work as an architect, the architecture itself and the person of my grandmother Heidi, I want to draw a multi-layered picture, a portrait of a personality that is visionary and militant.

How is a myth created around a person and how does the myth connect with the myths that exist on the island? And can all this be seen in the architecture itself?

An island becomes an example and a metaphor for the various reasons to emigrate, to leave home, to flee, to search, to reinvent oneself, to dream, to discover oneself, to feel alienated and yet or even because of it? to settle down. 
 In a 40-minute autobiographical documentary, different people are interviewed and filmed in different places. They all have something in common: they know my grandmother and her work, well, from a certain distance or are even related to her. Can people who exist in real life be read as archetypes and become representative of universal themes?

Themes such as emigration, exoticizing Greek islands, people’s longings, staying, realizing oneself and fleeing from old life to new.

Through different shots of the landscape, the architecture of Heidi and the traditions of the island, a picture is drawn that describes the reality and the complex world, the cosmos of this island.

I am the third generation of a family that settled in a place far away. Through a lifelong connection with this island and the people who live there, and the observations I have been able to make since always, I feel encouraged to provide my view in this film. In the role of the director and at the same time the granddaughter, I will strive to peel out vulnerable issues and let the things and statements of the people speak for themselves. I would like to sensitively negotiate and question the handling of the ambivalences of the themes in this film.

I realize the project together with Max Windisch Spoerk, who represents the practical eye: Photography, camera, sound and editing.

The plan: August/September - Shooting in Tinos. December - editing Spring / Summer 2022 - Premiere !

My project is special because ...

With this film I want to show what a whole human life can create and inspire other people, give them courage with it. In doing so, I want to show the beauty of the island.

Documenting on film as a guide through a human life. To visit the people who know my grandmother and sketch her portrait.

What myths spin like a web in the narratives of the local people and how does it all connect with the great desire for realization, manifestation and self-empowerment?

This is what I need backing for.

Since I wish to produce this film professionally, I need financial support.

Travel, transport [ car, gasoline], material [ camera, batteries, tripod, memory cards, hard drives, minimal light equipment, recording equipment, microphones…), we will also film with a drone (rental costs), editing, sound design, color grading and generally post-production (incl. mixing e.g.), distribution, subtitles and their translation, production management, … in addition mine and Max’s time for conception and organization as well as on location for the 4 weeks of shooting …