Testimonials

10 pairs of eyes saw the same images, but 10 mouths spoke about different aspects of these same images. Because each of us interprets what he sees (and lives) according to what he carries in his mind and heart. At Lilian's seminars, one can discover great things about himself, his perceptions and his worldview - as long as he is willing to understand. Very beautiful experience!

From your seminars, I learned to have self-esteem and self-confidence - also to make positive thoughts and to drive away the negative ones. I learned to smile when I wake up in the morning. I have had a better understanding of the people around me and I see the positive side of what they say to me. Many times I understand much more than what they really say. Thank you very much for this beautiful trip.

The movie is the source for the discussion that follows. Through the experienced guidance of Lilian Tsiavou, with clever questions and interesting exercises, you are led to a series of reflections related to the seminar’s subject. After two-hours (which go by without realising it), you leave feeling a bit more optimistic, having a little more clarity about what you care about, having made yourself a gift that lasts much longer than the time you have invested in the seminar.

My experience with Cinematherapy was exciting. The selection of the films from Lilian was suitable, as through the films we proceeded to further psychological analysis. Lilian through her questions managed to lead us into a personal reflection, where, based on the film's theme, each of us ended up in personal and beneficial conclusions about his mental development!

The series of "Cinema and Psychoanalysis" seminars I attended at Polis was exactly what they promised. The "request" came through the projection of a film, that is, from the image and the representation. Then there was the explanation. In the form of a guidance or a small lecture or a lesson with questions and answers, sometimes as a group psychotherapy in a circle. Whatever it was, it made you aware of things that seemed self-evident, or you were surprised by the points of view around you, feeling that life was wrong and you were a minority. Looking back on the DVDs, you re-read the films as psychoanalysis manuals and see their scenes as a representation of your memories. In conclusion, these encounters with Lilian were very interesting.

Dear Lilian, thank you. I enjoyed having the opportunity to attend your seminars again. I got so much knowledge from your new seminar : to get into someone’s position in order to understand. Dear Lilian, with your seminar, you made me have new ideas, different views.

I started the seminar on the basis of my love for the cinema. Along the way this was changed, it became somrething more substantial. Through our conversations with all these different personalities that made up the section and the great leadership of Mrs. Tsivou, a transformation of all the films we saw was made, from a simple critique of the film to an act of self-knowledge, into a state of deeper introspection of our own self, which meant every time and something different for each one of us. Each of us all who had the luck and joy of getting involved in this seminar eventually took something with him as a dowry to learn and better embrace his own self.

By participating in the seminar "The Cinema in the Divan" I had in mind that I would watch an interpretation or explanation of the cinema as a whole. I was pleasantly surprised that through the seminar, what I was able to see was ultimately my own self. It was not something that I understood from the very beginning but gradually, through Lilian's conversation and key interventions. The projection of movie scenes and their conversation afterwards, from an audience that mostly consisted of people who did not know each other was a clever way to "discover" things for others but for ourselves. For example, watching a specific film scene that I thought was self-evident or what should not have been done as it was, I was impressed by the idea that someone else was thinking exactly the opposite of me and ended up making conclusions about how is or has lived this other !!! Considering that nothing is self-evident as a second thought, it is obvious to me that the interpretations I give are the result of my own personal experiences and choices.

What struck me when attending the seminars is about the prospect. The fact that everyone sees things his way. Seeing the same film 8 different people, we drew 8 different conclusions, and we were sure each for his own that it was the right one. Obviously it has to do with the experiences and the will of everyone. I also liked the way that Lilian guided us where we were stuck and did not go on digging.

Watching movies is one of my favorite concerns. Since I was a child, I preferred to see a movie, either social or romantic or thriller, than reading a book ... I had not imagined that my own behavior could be analyzed even at a psychological level! At this seminar with the explanation of the films and the psychological background of them, I saw that my own perceptions are not that strange! I enjoyed having common features with other people! The most important of all, however, was that I learned to "read" my track through my choices !!

During my attendance at the seminar I was very impressed how the director described situations and images. His experiences, his point of view, and some of his personality are perceptible in his direction. His view, the messages he wants to send out of the movies, affects the viewer. They put it in reflection, identify, compare similar situations that have already lived. I was impressed with the important role played by the description of images and the music in the plot of a movie. In the conversation that we had made me greatly impressed that each person from the films he has seen in the past remembers one or two specific scenes of a movie that he has linked to his own experience he has lived through.

In October 2014, I had the chance to attend, in particular the two-month adult program "Culture in Everyday Life" at the Plato’s Academy program, some interesting interventions by Lilian Tsiavou, which, although for short reasons of limited time, caused me a great deal of interest the interconnection of psychoanalysis with art. Her references to various kinds of art, literature with the emphatic presentation of Goethe's Faust, cinema and philosophical insight into psychoanalysis have really awakened me to the need to wander more in the proportions between in our art and mental needs. I thank her for the knowledge she offers.

The seminar with Lilian Tsiavou on "Cinema and Psychoanalysis" changed the way I see movies. The theoretical part, but mainly the discussion of whole films or excerpts, opened another perspective and answered the question "Why do we like a movie and why we identify with a role"? Very creative was also the piece that we also brought extracts from works and we discussed it. Thank you Lilian !!