Unfortunately, I received bad news yesterday from Miltos in Athens, Greece regarding our friend Bill Barounis of Onar Films.
Bill was hospitalised over a week ago for a condition I don't have much info about but according to Miltos it's stress related and serious. However, Miltos did actually speak to Bill over the phone yesterday and Bill said he would have to stay in hospital for a few more days but that he is all right. I don't wish to sound pessimistic but as I'm sure you know lots of people minimise their bad situation when they speak to someone else in order not to make them worry. I hope he's right, of course.
In contradiction to Miltos who is also located in Athens, I live far from Greece (at the other end of Europe) but even so it's no secret Bill burns his candle at both ends with his hectic life that includes a fulltime job, tons of work with Onar (and if anybody thinks it's "just" a cheap hobby they'd be in for a major surprise. Buying film rights and putting out DVDs is a very costly and time consuming affair), and not least Bill has a family to take care of.
So if you get to read this, Bill, it goes without saying thateveryone at Cinehound, Miltos, and myself, are crossing our fingers hoping you're gonna get well soon and have a complete recovery.
The photo is one of the rare ones of Bill that I've seen; It's from last year and Bill is standing outside an old closed down cinema on the isle of Crete. Here's what he said about it on Cinehound in August of last year:
Hey, I still can't forget my recent vacation on the MAGICAL island of Crete for dozens of reasons.
One of them is an unexpected discovery.
While passing from a mountain remote little village I discovered an abandoned CINEMA! I stopped there and wanted to cry.
I immediately asked around and managed to find the owner!
It was an old widow woman, now running a local small coffee house for old people.
I even took a small "interview" from her.
The village has 1000 (one thousand) inhabitants.
They opened the Cinema in 1970 and closed it down in 1987.
It had 250 seats and in some cases, when they screened some greek commercial film there were long queues and people were even standing in the theater!
Now, she uses it as a storehouse.
She looked so enthusiastic about it and I know she thought I was crazy for looking so excited about this.
Next time I go there I'll take pictures from the inside etc etc.
