As a documentarian, Gary Glassman has told countless people’s stories. But with his latest film, “My Ioannina Odyssey,” he finally tells his own.
“My Ioannina Odyssey” uncovers the history of his Jewish-Greek ancestors who died in Hitler’s concentration camps, those who came to the United States, and those who remained in Greece. It made its world premiere Wednesday at the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival, in his hometown of Providence, in a multiplex theater just a few screens down from an IMAX presentation of that other Odyssey movie.
Glassman’s film is far smaller, more personal, and true. It is both the story of his family, and a continuation of their legacy.
He co-directed with his daughter, Manya Branham Glassman, a rising filmmaker who is in the process of turning her highly praised short film “How I Learned to Die” into a feature. Manya was seemingly everywhere at Flickers: debuting a music video she produced, taking part in a Q&A with her dad, then a panel, then moderating another talk. She seems on the brink of becoming a breakout success.
For My Ioannina Odyssey, the father and daughter directors traveled back to their family’s ancestral home, Ioannina, guided by a passed-down box of photos and papers. Gary tries to decipher their contents, and make connections that aren’t immediately clear.
The Strange Powers of Ioannina in ‘My Ioannina Odyssey’
Ioannina, in northwestern Greece, turns out to have magical properties for the family. For years, Gary’s grandparents struggled to have a baby. But then a psychic advised his grandfather to travel back there, from his home in America. He did. Soon after his return, a baby — Glassman’s mother — was born.
The region still has the power to surprise: Early in their travels, Gary and Manya meet a lovable watchmaker, who later turns out to be a relative. They capture it all, while traveling light. “My Ioannina Odyssey” was shot on a Leica X3, with a Zoom recorder for audio.
Gary’s company, Providence Pictures, has has produced over 50 programs for PBS, Discovery, History, National Geographic, BBC, Arte and others, including PBS’s Native America, History’s The Trial of Jesus, and the Building Wonders series for Nova and Arte. It has won seven Emmys in the process.
After years of encouraging other people — and especially disenfranchised people — to tell their stories, Gary realized “I should practice what I preach.”
“It’s just really powerful when a story is unlocked, and and I always believe that the more personal the story, the more universal it’s appeal,” he said in Wednesday’s post-screening Q&A. “I mean, it touches people. People can you can feel authenticity.”
He recalled interviewing a Native American spiritual leader for Native America, and the leader gesturing that the shortest path to the brain is through the heart.
Growing up watching her father’s films, Manya took notes. She also learned from her mother, an art history scholar.
“Filmmaking, I feel, growing up, was like a love language between me and my parents,” she said. “My dad always taught me to just exercise your filmmaking muscles, and it doesn’t need to be perfect. Just grab the camera and go out there and film and make something all the time.”
Gary Glassman encouraged other people to dig into their family history’s too, whatever it may be.
“Everybody’s got a box,” he said.
You can learn more about Gary and Manya Glassman’s “My Ioannina Odyssey” here, learn more about Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival here, and read more of our festival coverage here.
Main image: “My Ioannina Odyssey,” courtesy of Providence Pictures
