Interview with Director Mary Zournazi on Compassion, Care and the Stories We Overlook

Photo offered by : Mary Zournazi and Brent Clough

The modern world is being dominated by fast-moving headlines and endless scrolling. Mary Zournazi, filmmaker and author, strongly believes that some of the most important stories are the ones that asks us to slow down. Instead of offering definitive answers, her documentaries urges audiences into conversations and thoughts unlike others; about empathy, care and our shared responsibility towards one another, even animals that live alongside us. 

I had the chance to interview Mary, who premiered Acropolis Cats and Other Wondrous Animals at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, completing what she describes as her ‘Greek Trilogy’ alongside Dogs of Democracy and My Rembetika Blues. While each film explores a different aspect of contemporary Greece and the animals of them, the films dive deep into human reflection on displacement, belonging and compassion.  

Before stepping behind the camera, she spent years creating radio documentaries, where she learned the foundations of storytelling. “When I moved into film. I already understood how stories could be built” said Zournazi. For Zournazi, filmmaking was never just about making movies. The passion of it all drew her towards people and animals; stories that rarely make the front page. “I love telling stories about people you hardly hear about,” said Zournazi. They’re more marginal stories, but presented in a way that audiences can engage with.

Acropolis Cats and Other Wondrous Animals centers on the thousands of stray cats roaming Athens. Zournazi, on the other hand, insists that the film is not simply about animals. Zournazi found herself captivated by Greece during its economic crisis. Soon, the lives of stray dogs and cats became an unexpected lens through which to understand human society.  “I think you can understand a society by looking at its most vulnerable,” she says. Rather than portraying cats as passive subjects, Zournazi gives them presence and personality throughout the film. Their interactions with volunteers, rescuers and everyday Athenians expose both the cruelty and tenderness that co-exist within humanity. 

Beneath the charming images of curious felines lie a deeper question that pushed the entire documentary. 

What is wrong with our species? 

It’s a question that extends well beyond animal welfare. For Zournazi, violence towards animals cannot be separated from violence towards one another or the planet itself.  The common theme running through Zournazi’s work is the idea that care is not merely an emotion; it is an action. Throughout filming, she found herself continually inspired by ordinary people whose compassion often went unnoticed. 

“I don’t really know what I'm going to find,” said Zournazi. “Every encounter with a character or with an experience is totally new”. That exact openness extends to her audience. Rather than presenting a fixed argument, Acropolis Cats and Other Wondrous Animals encourages viewers to reflect on violence, compassion, empathy and responsibility through their own experiences.

“ I want audiences and people to kind of drop into the film, engage with it, go with the feelings and emotions that are being carried, but also, start to think about some of the questions that are being raised, about violence, about cruelty, about compassion.”

Throughout the interview, one idea remained constant; empathy becomes forgotten. Thankfully, Zournazi has no intention of stepping away from these conversations. She is currently working on a new documentary which continues to explore questions surrounding identity, belonging and humanity. Through all of that, she openly acknowledges that independent documentary filmmaking remains challenging, especially when funding stories that prioritise reflection over commercial appeal. 

In a media landscape increasingly driven by speed, Mary Zournazi’s films offer something quieter; an invitation to pause and observe compassion in unexpected places. 

Acropolis Cats and Other Wondrous Animals recently premiered at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and won Best Australian Documentary. Dogs of Democracy and My Rembetika Blues available on demand. Do keep a look out for these screening later in the year.