ORIGINS / director’s cut
final scene
OPENING CEREMONY
FIRST EUROPEAN GAMES
conceived, visualised and directed by
DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
Baku 2015
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the final fifteen minutes that lit the fire of the first European Games
on 12 June 2015 in Baku
a story created with the ingredients of Azerbaijan, land of FIRE
an iconic Azerbaijani CARPET
the sound of MUGHAM
the mud volcanoes that make vast CRACKED EARTH landscapes
a SEMENI plate with green sprouting wheat, symbol of NOVRUZ,
a festival rooted in ZOROASTRIANISM that celebrates spring and rebirth
FIRE MOUNTAIN (YANAR DAG), where eternal fires burn from the ground
prehistoric PETROGLYPHS - among the earliest images created by humans - carved into the rocks at GOBUSTAN
the CASPIAN sea
a traditional MALE DANCE
the story of LEYLI & MAJNUN, a legendary unfulfilled love from the epic poem by NIZAMI
where Majnun becomes a “holy fool”, a hermit on a MOUNTAIN who envisions
the image of Leyli as the manifestation of the divine
featuring mugham legend ALIM QASIMOV
orchestral scores by Azerbaijan’s great composers GARA GARAYEV and FIKRET AMIROV
and the theme from the traditional song SARI GELIN
this is the story of an epic wedding of FEMALE and MALE forces
the perfect alignment of the MOON and SUN to create an ECLIPSE
like the one seen over EUROPE on the first day of Novruz in 2015
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with
ALIM QASIMOV
mugham legend
NARGIZ NASIRZADA
woman
AYDAMIR AYDAMIROV
man
and over 1750 volunteer performers from Azerbaijan
orchestral score by
GARA GARAYEV
FIKRET AMIROV
traditional music
"Sari Gelin" song
"Yalli" dance
mugham poetry written specially by
KHOSRO SARTIPI
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ORIGINS storyboard artwork by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
download the PDF (2.4MB) here: bit.ly/dpORart
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ORIGINS (2015)
conceived, visualised and directed by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
TEODOR CURRENTZIS & VANGELINO CURRENTZIS
music directors
THANASSIS DEMIRIS & EVA MANIDAKI
production designers
ROBERT A. DICKINSON
lighting designer
YASHI
costume designer
ERIC TUCKER
pyrotechnic designer
NIKOS LAGOUSAKOS
male dance & yalli choreographer
TINA PAPANIKOLAOU
associate artistic director
STEPHANOS DROUSSIOTIS
artistic associate & music script
KYRIACOS KARSERAS
artistic associate & texts
CATHERINE UGWU
director of ceremonies
NICK ELTIS
senior technical director
SCOTT GIVENS
executive producer
video edited by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
with footage from show night and two dress rehearsals
directed for television by GREG BREAKELL
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dimitrispapaioannou.com
birthplace2004.com
cavafy13.com
vimeo.com/papaioannou
papaioannou.page
papaioannou_d