The curtain is set to come down on Mumbai Film Festival today with Theo Angelopoulos’ latest

The Greek master Theo Angelopoulos spent a sleepless night at a Mumbai hotel on Tuesday—tormented by the lack of progress in the script of the third film of his The Weeping Meadow trilogy. He is in the city to attend the closing ceremony of Mumbai Film Festival (MFF), which showcased a retrospective of his work and is screening the second film of the trilogy, The Dust of Time, as the concluding film tonight. He will also recieve the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony along with Amitabh Bachchan.

Though excited to be in the city for the first time, sleeplessness and the journey from Sao Paulo-Athens-Mumbai have left the 73-year-old filmmaker tired. Yet, taking a gulp from his glass whisky, Angelopoulos says, “It’s only when I’m not making a film that I feel tired.” However, it’s not just films that are integral to his life and career.

The myth, history and society of Greece have always fascinated the director. In fact the history of contemporary Greece is premise for his trilogy. “I’m obsessed with history because I have lived through wars, civil war and dictatorship—just like my family and all the Greeks. These experiences are like wounds. I’m relieved when I tell stories based on them. It’s more like a psycho-analysis,” reveals filmmaker, who bagged the Palm D’Or in Cannes for Eternity and a Day in 1998. The maker of acclaimed world cinema titles like The Travelling Players and The Hunters describes his films as political in nature with a very personal touch.

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