Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. "

  Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker, who had helped many Jews escape during the Holocaust, was a prisoner and then a writer.  She held many memories, no doubt, fears; images that would stay forever and haunt her, but they were able to unlock a future for her that she would never have imagined.  Her writing and her boldness initiated her knighthood by the Queen of the Netherlands, The King's College in New York City named a new women's house in her honour, her book "The Hiding Place", was  made into a feature film, twice.

Locked away in our computer hard drives are examples of our work and lives that we lock away when our computer sleeps, forgetting about their importance because we are always told to focus on the now, forgetting about our past.  Well, perhaps it is time that we also learn to love our past, regardless of what it was like, so that we can understand what our future will be like.

A past is not a reminder, or an affirmer of who we were, and therefore are, it is essentially a key to another, dare I call it, dimension.  Our past, which forms our memories, is the key to that future.  Having the ability to use this key may well be the missing link to a likeable, richer and happier future.

I started off this evening tending to emails and got quickly sidetracked with the various folders that have sat patiently on my desk top, closed.  Most folders were a pale blue in colour, others, a little more important, coloured in red.  I hadn't opened these in years.  There was no real need to, but tonight my curiosity got the better of me.

Our Wedding Vow Renewal video clip with Elvis, in Las Vegas, with our four teenage children looking on, completely embarrassed, was the first to open.  I remembered the confusion and alarm on my Greek mother's face when I showed her what we had done in Las Vegas. I think she was petrified that with Elvis presiding over this ceremony our original marriage vows with priest and 300 Greeks in tow would melt into insignificance, or worse still, be illegal.  Greek girls do not do such things, I heard her whisper, luckily I didn't care.  Something I seem to do a lot of, when I set my mind onto something.

Then my daughter's first ever film, 'Starkle' that she completed in Year 10, opened up.  I remembered filming all over Melbourne with her,  guerrilla style, teaching her that she can be as kick ass as she wants.  She is a very kick ass girl, and I think that experience partly contributed to that.

Amidst these folders was an older short film I had produced and written, directed by Ange Arabatzis; a quirky sci-fi thriller.  This film, The Mayan Calendar, linked me closer to some incredible people, some I knew for years, others I had only just met.  Little did I know that this film was going to set the tone for every other filmic work that was to follow.


The Mayan Calendar is a film that deals with the demise of the human race, whose survival is held in the hands of one woman who needs to use her key to unlock her power by locking it in the 'creatures" neck.  Starring Katerina Kotsonis and Jim Koutsoukos.  Looking back I am so grateful that this team had faith in the story, for without their enthusiasm and understanding, the look of my stories may have been completely different.  

The past can cripple our lives, prevent us from moving forward in the direction that we want to go, but what if, for just a moment, we can look at our past and relish at the wealth of it, despite it's difficulties and hardships?

 The memories that have been made are stories and visions to be felt again and again, and while some may be painful, they are rich, and they are ours.  It is not just about learning from the past, it is more about embracing it as a significant aspect of our future. Our past and memories are the keys to the future.


I learnt a valuable lesson tonight; to sometimes stop being in my present and to look, reflect, think about, and remember the memories that I have made.  Tonight I want to think like Carrie Ten Boom.






Stella Dimadis