LFP Magazine

Photos & Article by: Aaron Lehmann

Filmmaker Minos Papas premiered his new film (and feature debut), Shutterbug, at the New York Greek Film Festival this Thursday at Cinema Village in Manhattan, New York.

Amongst the attendants were the actors, the crew, a plethora of fans, his father (who just so happens to be award winning filmmaker Michael Papas), the brilliant actor Stathis Giallelis (from Elia Kazan’s America, America), and many others.

The film is about a high end New York City fashion photographer (Nando Del Castillo) who has become dissatisfied with his career, which is being lead by his profit driven agent, Maddox (Doug Barron). While searching for artistic inspiration throughout the landscape of New York City, he accidentally looks directly into the sun, which leads him to experience strange visions of a beautiful woman (Stanislava Stoyanova). His pursuit of her ghostly image leads him on a increasingly dark odyssey, through which he is forced to question what is real and what it is that he is truly seeking.

Minos Papas (L) and Nando Del Castillo (R)

The air was crackling with excitement, as Minos had held the film tightly to his chest during his extensive and lengthy post-production process, not allowing any viewing of the picture before Thursdays screening, even amidst pressures from the film’s anxiously awaiting followers.

the audience begins to arrive...

As soon as the theater went dim and the first images of Shutterbug hit the screen, one became aware that they were about to witness a remarkable achievement. As Minos explained during a brief Q & A following the screening, the film was financed for “the price of a used car”. “What kind of used car?”, asked a member of the audience. “One with a lot of mileage”, replied the director, who also was a producer on the project.

But those involved in the making of this film sure got a lot of mileage out of their budget.

The cinematography by Rossana Rizzo, who has worked on such films as Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and The Nanny Diaries, kept the screen alive with sharp, bold images. The film moved with a bullish energy from start to finish, contained bursts of intelligent humor (thanks to a great performance by Brett Mole) and danced the fine line of straight forward narrative and experimental abstractions with the precision of an undeniable up-and-coming craftsman of cinema.

Any film festival who does not pick up this exciting new film should, as does the main character in Shutterbug, go and have their eyes examined.

Aaron Lehmann is a fan of

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