Filmmaker studies male grief

Costas Thrasyvoulou wants to teach in Wanganui when he graduates with a Masters in Film in March. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 230813WCSMCOSTASTHRASYVOULOU1

Secondary school teacher Costas Thrasyvoulou is adding another string to his bow with a Masters in film making - and he wants to share his passion for cinema with Wanganui students.

He is in the middle of his Masters at Victoria University, with his thesis covering grief. He is 90 per cent through a 15-minute film Brothers, which has death and its aftermath as a subject, and is due to be completed in March.

Much of it was shot in and around the city and the red carpet was already out in Wanganui for the 26-year old, having received a lot of support for the film.

He had a crew of eight and all were friends who understood the project.

He budgeted for the film to get them to Wanganui and feed them, as well as recompense them if money was available.

"It was so much easier to work with people who I knew and who I trusted."

It was girlfriend Jessica Kidd who he credits with doing the "hard yards, and go-for".

Despite being producer, director and editor, Mr Thrasyvoulou admits he could not have done the film without her help.

He has found that people have a connection to the subject of losing someone and their grief.

"If I was anywhere else in New Zealand it would have taken longer.

"It took only 30 seconds for people to open up about losing someone, and so many local people have helped me."

Brothers takes four friends, one of whom dies, and shows how the other three deal with his death.

Mr Thrasyvoulou is able to draw on his own experience, having lost a friend in his fourth year of university.

He says it's a fascinating subject, and with grief comes "a whole lot of questions and feelings". In his academic research, those questions are around masculinity and the response to grief.

Men act differently, he said. It's the old-fashioned patriarchy of men having to keep a brave face and keeping things together during tough times.

The "blokeyness" in New Zealand men was perfectly distilled when he went to a funeral and noticed all the men were keeping their emotions under control.

"They are extremely capable and tough to go it alone as an individual." But he says, men deal with things differently.

They seek activities and may go to another country as an escape to work through their feelings.

In contrast, Mr Thrasyvoulou's own father was from Cyprus and his emotions were always close to the surface.

"Part of my enquiry is trying to make sense of grief."

He said the final 10 per cent of Brothers, the prequel, will be shot in Wanganui in November.

He will show Brothers at Victoria University, and he'd also like to screen it here, probably through the Whanganui Film Society of which he is a founding member and film handler on its committee.

Mr Thrasyvoulou won a scholarship to study for his Masters at Victoria University. He is working from home and says his discipline is to treat his study as a job.

Last year he studied for a diploma in secondary education through Massey University in Palmerston North.

All his placements were at Wanganui schools, Cullinane, Collegiate and High School, which he says were all great schools.

"The teachers I was placed with were stunning."

He would love to teach English in Wanganui once he graduates.

Mr Thrasyvoulou came to Wanganui with his mother when he was aged 5. He attended St Johns Hill (where his mother is a teacher), then went on to Wanganui Intermediate and Wanganui High School.

"I am passionate about following our teachers. I like the idea of sharing my passion."