Still from "Could Be Worse."

by Susana Rossberg

Courtesy of the Boston Film & Video Foundation

BF•VF cinematography instructor Vilma Gregoropoulos' voice reveals her pleasure at the acceptance of Zachary Stratis' feature "Could be Worse!" at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. A 1983 graduate of Emerson College, Gregoropoulos has done the cinematography on films that won two Cine Eagle awards and an Academy Award nomination. Mostly active as a cinematographer, she has contributed to the unionization of the Boston film community. The following telephone conversation took place before the festival.

SR: How did you contribute to "Could be Worse!"?

GREGOROPOULOS: I was the director of photography, one of the screenwriters, and one of the producers.

SR: Where is Zachary Stratis from?

GREGOROPOULOS: He is from Boston -- actually from Everett. We did a film together called "Midburb" some years ago. It was a documentary portrait of Everett, MA, and it got the Cine Eagle award for best documentary in the early '90s. We've done a few other films together and have worked together a lot, so we started collaborating.

SR: How did you learn filmmaking?

GREGOROPOULOS: I went to Emerson College, and then I started working. I got on a feature and worked as a camera assistant literally right after I got out of college. I started assisting, and I just worked my way up. I was in the Boston market for a long time. I lived in Boston. I did a lot of commercials, some documentaries, and some features, everything that was going on. At the time it was mostly commercials. Then I moved out West for a while, lived in New Mexico and L.A. And then I came back to New England just in time to get involved in this film. It's been great; it's a wonderful film. And we're going to Sundance!

SR: Is it hard to be a director of photography when you're a woman? Is there a prejudice against women?

GREGOROPOULOS: When I started out, it was pretty severe. There was another woman in town who started out on the same track as I, as an assistant, and she took a lot of plain nastiness every time she was on a set, something I didn't have to deal with because she had gone before. Her name is Vicky Caesar. I've talked to the other few women that I know in the business, and we've all been told just point blank "Oh, you'll never be allowed to shoot because you're female." In any other business, nobody would have the balls to say that. We've had people say, "Women will never be allowed to shoot commercials," because people just don't trust women technically, and I've heard people tell women not to go to L.A. because they'll never be hired, you know, just blatantly. That's how it's been. I think it's a lot different now. I think times have changed, and the guys have gotten used to seeing us on sets. It's a lot easier to work. It's amazing how much it's easier now.

SR: Is it because they think the equipment is heavy and you have to start as an assistant, carrying equipment?

GREGOROPOULOS: No, I think it's because it's technical. There's just prejudice about women being able to do something technical. And the thing is, when you're the director of photography, especially in film, where a lot of people on the set don't have a clue about how a motion picture camera works, everything having to do with the camera is kind of a big mystery. You have to totally trust your camera crew's abilities. They'd rather see a man doing it. It's a shame, and it's foolish, but it's a lot better than it used to be.

SR: Is it easier to get hired to work with a woman director?

GREGOROPOULOS: Oh, yeah. My career, with few exceptions, has been essentially working for women, gays, or minorities. I think it's because they don't want to deal with the white male macho thing. So there's that opportunity, but that was my only opportunity, with a couple of exceptions. But they were the exceptions, not the rule. So that was my career way back when. Now it's different. Now I'm having people ask me to shoot and to send them stuff.

SR: Especially if you worked on a film that got a Cine Eagle award.

GREGOROPOULOS: Yeah, but that didn't really mean anything. I mean, how many films can you name which you have seen in a theater that were shot by a woman? Probably none. I mean, shorts and stuff get shot by women, but how many films that were widely distributed? There's a few that I can think of, maybe three, out of thousands.

SR: I think it's easier in Europe, in France.

GREGOROPOULOS: I don't know about that. Maybe it's gotten that way, but when I was assisting and we'd get foreign crews, they'd bring in a director or a cameraman from Europe, I was told that in Germany I wouldn't be assisting; nobody would have possibly let me do that. Maybe France is different. As for Japan, the Japanese would come into town and they'd say no, we're not hiring women. I wouldn't say it was better in Europe; I'd say it was tighter. Maybe France is an exception, but not from what I've heard. And the English crews I've worked with, the guys will tell you, "Oh, you're doing a bloke's job," you know.

SR: What is "Could be Worse!" about?

GREGOROPOULOS: We call it a mockumentary musical. It's about a real family where everybody has something to come out about. It's part musical, part narrative, part documentary. It's the story of a gay man who wants to make a musical film about his straight working-class family and what happens as a result. It's a real "family playing themselves," so there's lots of documentary moments and things that come up. It's pretty funny, and it's a really unique film, a unique mix of genres. You know, there'll be a musical number and then a documentary thing right next to it, and they're all sort of seamlessly put together. It's really an exciting movie.

SR: Is it sort of autobiographical for Zachary Stratis?

GREGOROPOULOS: Sort of, except that quite a bit of it is fiction. It's a fantasy. It's a totally true fantasy -- that's a good way to describe it. It sort of defies description, but yes, it's Zach's story and his whole family setup.

SR: Did you shoot it in film or in video?

GREGOROPOULOS: We shot in digital video. I was hoping, when we first started talking about that, that we were going to be shooting film, and then I realized that in order to do it and meet our needs, we had to shoot digital video. This film sort of works between the scenes as much as in them, and we had to keep rolling for about half an hour to really get the things we wanted. You just can't do that on film. If I had to do it again with more money, I still would choose to go the way we chose.

SR: What camera did you use?

GREGOROPOULOS: We used the DVX 1000 Sony.

SR: Was it hard to raise money for the film?

GREGOROPOULOS: I wasn't really involved in it. We had tons of donations from people who were really excited by the topic and the way it's been handled. We also did it completely on a shoestring, with deferments and so forth.

SR: Are you one of the producers because you invested your work as a screenwriter and as a director of photography?

GREGOROPOULOS: There was a need for someone to step in and start helping out. Actually, I have put some money into it, finally, a little bit, but not really significantly. But Zach needed help getting things done, so I've been dealing with some of the legal issues, stuff I never would have wanted to get involved with. But it's such a great movie, and my commitment is to get the movie done and out there. So that's what led me to take on more responsibility than I normally have.

SR: Did the fact that there was a recent British film about a gay man coming out in a Greek family bother Zachary Stratis?

GREGOROPOULOS: I wouldn't say that this is a gay film. It's a family film, and one of the members of the family is gay. It's totally a crossover film. It's not something that a straight audience would be put off by in any way. It's literally just about a family, about what it means to be part of a family. I think there's a lot more films like that coming out, and I think that's great, I think that's fine.

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