The reason i first stepped into the narrow corridor leading to the basement of Aristotelio Boxing
Club was not this documentary.
In my mind i had a script i was working on where one of the leading characters was a Boxer. A friend and a collaborator, the saxophone player and awesome jazzman Vasilis Gouzios who was boxing for some time arranged the meeting so i could ask Yiorgos to help me out a bit in the process. I remember i told him that i only need a little of his time so that i can grasp the basics. had done martial arts since childhood so i figured it shouldn't be so different. The truth was , is far from that!
He looked at me with a kind and humble aura behind a rugged and fierce face due to beinga Boxer. When he spoke i felt right away the sensitivity and calmness which i admit i did not expect. I had a misconception about the whole thing which in the course of time was more apparent , surprising me at large.
A whole new world opened up for me. I started training daily in what is probably the best of sports that i have ever done. At the same time an inner path was cultivated where i would face my basic fear that of self preservation. Boxing is a unique sport, it is a contradiction to the basic instinct of self preservation.
I said to my self that i will do what it takes to learn how to Box and set aside my plans for the feature. While i trained daily and Boxing became a way of living, something that i enjoy when i act or direct, this metamorphosis led to the need to start recording my experience and this is how the Doc came about.
One thing led to another and for the next three years i followed Ioannidis in union tournaments
and National leagues recording the events.
We became friends along with all the people in the Gym. I discovered that my fellow Boxers were not some punks wanting to be brute or bullies, or fighting lovers. In Aristotelio i met Teachers, businessman, musicians, retirees a lovely crowd, dedicated to this esoteric sport.
After three years of shooting, with a total of 30 National and Inter-union Bouts, 15 fights through Ioannidis’s career about a hundred hours of footage while training and interviewing I was really perplexed as to what path I should follow. I ended up trying to convey their inner world and thinking with a taste of their daily workout and life.
