Stella Grammenos-Dimadis Blog

 International Women's Day Ilse Bing, Salut De Schiaparelli, 1934.  "Here’s to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them". My cynicism has the better of me today.  I was that 'strong' woman who celebrated women on panels, got to applaud their achievements in a room mostly filled with women and raised a glass to future endeavours, always and every time.  In fact, I may have been on a panel once or twice myself, talking about films or art, and how great my achievements had taken me. If a man could do it and I could too, how impressive that had seemed.  Surely deserving of a stage and mic. I have chosen Ilse Bing's, Salut De Schiaparelli's image from 1934.  Bing photographed this image in 1934, on the edge of a Europe sliding toward violence and authoritarianism.  It was created for a perfume advertisement, but, when I look at it, I can't help but see something else. This woman appears dead, lilies, strewn across her, perhaps ...

 RENTAL FAMILY "Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family." -  Anthony Brandt . My days became one jumbled hour after hour where time disappeared into another year, until here we are, the 1st of January 2026.  Nothing much stirred me to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, until this evening after  watching RENTAL FAMILY, starring Brendan Fraser.  Phillip Vanderploeg is a struggling actor who is selected to fill in for families as an individual with significance to the family member in need.  He is a writer, dad, mourner, not so much as a true story but reminiscent of Japanese companies serving the community by providing professional actors at events like funerals or weddings. Thereby formulating a whole new meaning to the responsibilities of a plus one. At its core, the film celebrates the connection of the human spirit; the inherent social need that humans have to socialising, being together, in all asp...

  Apocalyptic Art 'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." T.S Eliot For centuries, artists and creatives alike have depicted the Apocalypse, which is the fantastical, unimaginable end of the world and all life on it.  At some point it is going to happen, maybe about 5 million years away when the sun burns out, so perhaps it is this truth that has artists thinking of what this end may look like.  Since it will happen, down the track. Recently it has felt like humanity was in the midst of it with the advent of Covid, but also with the devastation that climate change has been and is inflicting on the land and people globally.  It is very easy to start to think of the end, grim as that may sound. When I had created yesterday's art piece, even though I wasn't happy with the art work, I was very much intrigued by the colours in the background which reminded me of an apocalyptic feel, vibe.  So today's challenge I set ...

 Nature repeats itself "It never occurs to me that (skulls) have anything to do with death. They are very lively. I have enjoyed them very much in relation to the sky." Georgia O'Keefe In the previous blog, I wrote about the the human form and the importance of it in creativity and art.  Mastering the human form will allow the creator to master other forms in nature. I have some palm trees in the back yard which have surprised me by how high they have become.  They were sold as small trees and now over power my small back area, towering over the trees in suburban Melbourne.  Despite their height, I have enjoyed the changes that they display with each season.  I don't know much about palm trees, but come autumn, they shed some of the old branches and their bark.  Mornings I will wake to find these scattered in my very small yard, did I already say I have a small yard?  You can imagine the space these take.  In any case...

  'Life Drawing' ,  Pablo Picasso had once said that "In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt."  I am not entirely sure about that sentiment, at least not in the life drawing class that I attended this evening.  I hadn't been to life drawing class in about fifteen years and when I contemplated that thought I wondered to myself why that was so.  I had always enjoyed life drawing for it had taught me to look closely at the subject; every line, wrinkle, muscle ripple, shadow, shape of the human body and once that had been mastered I had the confidence to draw anything on the planet.  Nature repeats itself time and time again, shapes inherent in the human body will be seen elsewhere. But back to Picasso, hmm, I'm not sure that the first attempt in the life drawing class is anything to brag about.  In Life drawing classes the poses are initially for a short time, and then they get longer to allow the warm up o...

 The Daily Art Challenge I'm not even sure why I feel compelled to create a daily art challenge, and in my head it somehow feels like the right thing to do.  Will I be able to create an art work daily?  I pretty much doubt it, but today, as the sun is shining in Melbourne I am confident that I just might be able to create 365 art works.  One a day. Nope, actually, impossible to do it.  I work slower than that.  I contemplate my work and whilst I like working quickly, the output will not be extraordinary, and I'm fussy and a perfectionist. Today I explored Joy Hester, and feel somewhat inspired.  The verve of her works has made me want to focus on my art more.   I have always admired her work for the energy, power and enigma that is ever so present in every one of her strokes.  I like that the works are created impulsively and quickly which in some ways does not allow room for too much thinking, as a result Hester's works have a lightness of b...

Cruella “Cruella was in a box a long time, now Estella can be the one who makes guest appearances!” -Cruella Every so often, a film encapsulates all of the factors that make it ‘wow’, leaving the audience totally satisfied.  Cruella, directed by Craig Gillespie, starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, produced by Disney does exactly that. It was released in Australia on May the 27th, 2021, not the best year for a release due to the Pandemic and inherent lockdowns in this country, but nevertheless a real treat on any screen. The film follows Estella before she becomes Cruella De Vil; a gifted, precocious girl whose rebellious streak, fighting spirit and desire to become a fashion designer is the perfect mix for her journey through life.  She was orphaned at 12 from whom she thought was her biological mother, but of course the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and with the help of her two childhood partners, Horace and Jasper, Estella e...

  "Our creativity is what enables us to function, day to day, in a changing environment, without it we would not be a surviving species". Richard Hill ‘The Art In Healing’ explores the role that creativity and art  play in people’s lives, particularly when personal trauma occurs or when people are afflicted by natural disasters. The inspiration for the film came about by contemplating the questions; ‘Why is art such an important aspect to civilisation and our society’? and ‘Does the human brain benefit from interacting with art, and if so, how’? From these questions a number of people offered their experience and research, especially in describing brain plasticity and the ability of the brain to rewire after an artistic experience. ‘The Art In Healing’ showcases a number of professionals, ranging from art therapists Simona Weinstein and Cornelia Elbrecht, therapist Richard Hill, musicians, Merelyn and David Carter, artist, Dr Anne Riggs, street artist, Amanda Newman...

'Kindle a light in darkness' "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.' Carl Gustav Jung, 1962 The world as we know it has disappeared forever, and there will be a different world, it may be a better one or not, we can only wish, but in this dystopian time we have the ability to make the changes that will be needed to make it a better one.  I liken it to an all evolving work of pottery, that is spinning and shaping well, until it doesn't anymore and it collapses in a heap; huge mess.  This is what our world could be doing now, spinning, moulding, but collapsing in front of us.  It is probably time to envisage what a perfect world will look like, and what is needed to shape it into a utopian world.  It could be the time to ask and reflect on what is needed to make that happen.  It is up to us, ultimately, possibly as a collective, but inherently, the respon...

The Academy's failure, yet again, to nominate a female director. "There's been a slow death in a way. On the positive side, there are films getting into the Academy Awards that wouldn't have, but on the negative side, financiers are now dominant and making all the decisions. I can't count the ways a director's vision is compromised." Lili Taylor I opened my computer and settled to continue working on my feature script about a 'disentranced' woman in a world that could be ours, but dare not admit that it is.  'Disentranced' is the title of the film.  I love this word for it basically means:  To awaken   from a  trance   or  deep sleep;  to  arouse   from a  r everie .  Unfortunately I wasn't able to write as I very quickly got diverted by the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, which have been released today.  I watch a lot of films, intrigued by the way performances are brought to life through di...

Freedom and the Migrant Experience " The secret to happiness is freedom...And the secret to freedom is courage." Thucydides 460-395 B.C The online series, Migrant Stories, is about to conclude with anther two interviews to go and then it will be a few months in the edit suite to complete Series 4 & Series 5.  In May last year, I committed to the idea of creating a series of Migrant Stories, inspired mainly by the stories that we were losing and not recording here in Australia due to the ageing population of Migrants, considering so many came to Australia during the Post War years.  I figured I would dedicate 12 months of my filmmaking time to do this- and this I have done.  With the last of the interviews to be aired between April and May of 2018. In all, there will be 30 stories.  At this stage, I wanted to share that there were a number of common threads between each and every person that was interviewed, and to take a moment to reflect on this. ...

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Walt Disney I just got back from attending the screening of Memories of a Doll at the 11th Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, which was absolutely amazing and held at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  Thank you to everyone that helped bring this program together.  It was unforgettable!  It is such a joy to see a film that you had vehemently supported, come to life on the big screen.   Coupled with the 11th LAGFF, I also attended the Produced By conference in LA, which is run by the Producer's Guild of America.  It was the second time that I had gone to this conference and for the second time the conference didn't disappoint.  This year it was held at Fox Studios and always such a great place to be whilst learning about film, for it's surrounds allows you to be a total dreamer about the future of ...