TO A LAND UNKNOWN

BY MAHDI FLEIFEL

Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.

Cast:
Mahmood Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa, Αngeliki Papoulia

World premiere
56th Directors’ Fortnight – Cannes

North-American premiere
Toronto International Film Festival

Festival / Awards 
Shanghai IFF 2024, Mediterrane Film Festival – Malta 2024 (Winner: Jury’s Choice Golden Bee Award),  Shanghai IFF, Yerevan IFF 2024, Filmfest München 2024 (Winner: CineCoPro Award), Festival La Rochelle 2024, Whānau Mārama – New Zealand IFF 2024, Galway Film Fleadh 2024 (Winner: World Cinema Award), Taormina IFF 2024 (Winner: Audience Award), New Horizons IFF 2024, Sarajevo IFF 2024,  Zanzibar IFF 2024, Hamptons International Film Festival 2024,  Melbourne IFF 2024, Helsinki IFF 2024, San Sebastián IFF 2024 (Zabaltegi Tabakalera Competition), Nashville IFF 2024,  Twin Cities Arab FF 2024, BFI London Film Festival 2024 (First Feature Competition), Humans of Film IFF – Amsterdam (Winner: Jury Award – Best Feature Film), Human Rights Film Festival Lugano 2024 (Winner: Audience Award / NGO Award), American Film Institute – AFI FEST 2024, Cinemed – Montpellier MFF 2024 (Winner: Antigone d’ Or – Best Film), Thessaloniki IFF 2024 (International Competition), etc.
Breakthrough Director nomination – the Gotham Awards 2024

International Press 
“Palestinian filmmaker’s narrative debut channels the spirit of Bicycle Thieves. Mahdi Fleifel delivers a confident, fully-realized drama featuring a lead performance from Mahmood Bakri which should attract international attention for both actor and director.”
-Catherine Bray, Variety

“This Palestinian Twist on ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Is Full of Masterful Storytelling and Wrenching Humanity. To A Land Unknown is a social realist drama buoyed by two gorgeous central performances, a nuanced portrait of a mercurial male relationship told with assurance and steel. This is a tour-de-force of empathic storytelling, with its genre narrative bursting with an overabundance of humanity. Grade: A-”
-Sophie Monks Kaufman, Indiewire  

“Two desperate Palestinian cousins are hopelessly stranded in Athens, Greece, in Mahdi Fleifel’s heartbreaking migrant drama. Arrestingly plotted and bracingly acted, this story about the biting hardships faced by refugees who have left the danger of their homeland only to be left nationless could hardly be more relevant. The only Palestinian feature premiering at Cannes, To A Land Unknown is crafted with painstaking care, and features two strong lead performances that are thoughtfully translated to the screen by an empathetic lens.
-Robert Daniels, Screen Daily  

“Fleifel’s artistic choices in the film, everything from cinematography, locations, sparse score, and casting, rings so true that you forget at times that you’re watching a film. The actors bring such authenticity to their roles, the screenplay is refreshingly free of any grandstanding speeches and tired statements, and the actual locations (refugee dorms and hideouts) are so immersive that it feels as though they were not even altered for the making. Grade: A- 
-Mika Takla, AwardsWatch

Indiewire’s ‘The 15 Best Movies at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival

To A Land Unknown, feature film, dcp, UK-France-Germany-the Netherlands-Greece-Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Palestine, 2024, 105′

 

 

Director
Mahdi Fleifel

Writer
Mahdi Fleifel, Fyzal Boulifa, Jason McColgan

Director of photography
Thodoris Mihopoulos, GFC

Editor
Halim Sabbagh

Production designer
Ioanna Soulele

Costume designer
Konstantina Mardiki

Music
Nadah El Sazly

Sound
Steve Bond, Martin Hernandez, Montaser Abu Alul

Hair and make-up design
Vasiliki Yolanda Kita, Chronis Tzimos

Casting
Kleopatra Ampatzoglou, Luna Muallem

Executive producers
Francois De Villers, Frank Barat, Sawsan Asfari, Elisa Van Waeyenbergen, Jawad Botmeh, Asha Mansouri Elmasry, Hassan Elmasry, Mohannad Malas

Co-producers
Maria Drandaki, Layla Meijman,Maarten van der Ven, Francois Morisset

Producers
Geoff Arbourne, Mahdi Fleifel

Produced by
Inside Out Films (UK), Nakba FilmWorks (UK)

Co-produced by
Salaud Morisset (France), Homemade Films (Greece), Studio Ruba (the Netherlands), ZDF/ARTE & ZDF/DKF ERΤ S.A., Metafora ProductionThe Red Sea Fund

With the support of 
Greek Film Centre, NFF+HBF Co-Production SchemeAide Aux Cinémas du Monde – Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image AniméeInstitut FrançaisDoha Film Institute 

World Sales 
Salaud Morisset

Distribution
Eurozoom (France), Film Clinic (MENA), Watermelon (North America), Conic & Wildcard Distribution (UK & Ireland), etc. 

 

ARCADIA

BY YORGOS ZOIS

Radiant Neurologist Katerina and Yannis, a former well-respected doctor, are heading off to a deserted seaside resort. Silence spreads in the car as they travel across sandy dunes in a windy autumn, matching the less-than-pleasant occasion: Yannis had been called to identify the victim of a tragic accident at the hospital of the small town. When the local policeman informs them that the victim’s vehicle had plunged over the parapet of a stone bridge and leads them to the morgue, Katerina sees her worst suspicions confirmed. Together with Yannis, but also on her own nightly excursions to a mysterious, rustic beach bar called Arcadia, they begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together, revealing a haunting story of love, loss, acceptance, and letting go.

Cast:
Vangelis Mourikis, Angeliki Papoulia, Elena Topalidou, Nikolas Papagiannis, Vangelis Evangelinos, Asteris Rimagmos, Vangelio Andreadaki, Flomaria Papadaki, Elena Mavridou, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Yorgos Biniaris, Maria Diakopanagiotou, Daphné Patakia, Nikos Georgakis, Alexandros Voulgaris, Petra Kalampoka

World Premiere
74th Berlin International Film Festival – Encounters Competition

Festivals / Awards
Sofia International Film Festival 2024 (Special Screening – Out of Competition), Hong-Kong International Film Festival 2024 (Young Cinema Competition, Asian premiere – Winner: Best Actor Award for Vangelis Mourikis), Transilvania IFF 2024, Neuchâtel IFFF 2024, New Horizons IFF  2024 (International Competition), Sarajevo IFF 2024 (International Competition, Winner: Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director), La Roche-sur-Yon IFF (Compétition Nouvelles Vagues), Taifas 2024 – Timisoara, Thessaloniki IFF 2024 (International Competition), Cork IFF 2024,  etc.
Feature Film Selection 2024 – European Film Awards

International Press 
“Atmospheric. Eerie. Exquisitely wistful. Zois strikes a delicate balance between the banal facts of grief and the inventive framework of a parallel supernatural story. An intriguing metaphysical fancy.
-Wendy Ide, Screen

A film about love, loss, the acrobatics between here and there. Like a gentle, healing breeze from another world, that comes to embrace the soul.
-Deutsche Welle  

“Vangelis Mourikis and Angeliki Papoulia become the soul of this melancholic ode to love. A unique story of love that goes beyond conventions. Instead of being a mundane procedural thriller, it becomes an emotionally mature investigation of truth.
-Akash Despande, High on Films 

Almost a prime example of the Greek New Wave. Feels like a waking dream in limbo, like sleepwalking through the afterlife.
-TAZ

“Angeliki Papoulia is once again marvellous.”
-Gregory Coutaut, Le Polyester

Zois’ distinctive directorial signature is apparent for challenging and overturning genre conventions, bridging the real and the imagined. Angeliki Papoulia, the dame of indie and experimental arthouse, adds a unique depth to her portrayal of Katerina, a character navigating unfamiliar emotional and supernatural realms.
-Martin Kudlac, Screen Anarchy

Arcadia, feature film, dcp, Greece-Bulgaria-USA, 2024

 

Director
Yorgos Zois

Writers
Konstantina Kotzamani, Yorgos Zois

Director of photography
Konstantinos Koukoulios, GSC

Editor
Yannis Chalkiadakis

Production designer
Elena Vardava

Costume designer
Vassilia Rozana

Music
Peter Dundakov

Sound
Alexander Simeonov

Sound designer
Leandros Ntounis

Make-up designer
Kyriaki Melidou

Casting
Sotiria Marini, Sofia Dimopoulou

Executive producers
Lucan Toh, Babak Anvari, Cynthia Odier

Co-producer
Veselka Kyriakova

Producers
Antigoni Rota, Maria Drandaki, Stelios Cotionis

Produced by
Foss Productions, Homemade Films

Co-produced by
Red Carpet films

In association with 
Two and Two Pictures

With the support of 
Eurimages, Greek Film Centre, Bulgarian National Film Centre, EKOME, Onassis Culture, Flux

World Sales
Beta Cinema

ANIMAL

by Sofia Exarchou


Under the hot Greek sun, the animateurs at an all-inclusive island resort prepare for the busy touristic season. Kalia is the leader of the pack. Paper decors, glossy costumes and dance shows fill the stage. As summer intensifies and the work pressure builds up, their nights become violent and Kalia’s struggle is revealed in the darkness. But when the spotlights turn on again, the show must go on.

Cast
Dimitra Vlagopoulou, Flomaria Papadaki, Ahilleas Hariskos, Voodoo Jürgens, Chronis Barbarian, Ilias Chatzigeorgiou, Danai Petropoulea, Kristof, Elpida Orfanidou, Joanna Toubakari, Fay Tzouma, Nondas Damopoulos, Vangelis Evangelinos, Adrian-Florin Kolaritz

World premiere
76th Locarno International Film Festival – International Competition / Winner: Pardo for Best Performance (Dimitra Vlagopoulou)

Festivals / Awards
Thessaloniki International Film Festival – International Competition 2o23 (Winner: Golden Alexander – Theo Angelopoulos for Best Film, Best Actress for Dimitra Vlagopoulou, Crew United Award), Sarajevo IFF – International Competition 2023, Viennale ’23, Haifa IFF – International Competition 2023, Seminci – Valladolid International Film Week 2023 (Winner: Special Mention of the Jury), Vancouver IFF 2023 (Winner: Vanguard Award 2023), Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal 2023, 47 Mostra Sao Paulo, Cineuropa 37 – Santiago de Compostella (Winner: Best Screenplay Award for Sofia Exarchou), Cork Film Festival  2023 (Winner: Spirit of the Festival Award – Best Film), Cinemamed – Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival 2023(Winner: Jury Special Mention, Citizens’ Jury Award, Cineuropa Prize), Les Arcs FF 2023 (Winner: Best Performance for Dimitra Vlagopoulou), Mannheim IFF 2024 (FIPRESCI Award), Göteborg International Film Festival 2024, Luxembourg IFF 2024, Sofia IFF 2024, Uruguay International Film Festival – New Directors Competition 2024 (Winner: Special Mention of the Jury), D’A Film Festival Barcelona 2024, Istanbul IFF 2024, Cyprus Film Days 2024 (Winner: Best Director, Best Cinematography), Bellaria Film Festival 2024, LAGFF 2024 (Opening Film – Winner: Orpheus Award for Best Film, Best Performance for Dimitra Vlagopoulou), Raindance IFF, FEST New Directors New Films IFF 2024 (Winner: Honorable Mention for directing to Sofia Exarchou and acting to Dimitra Vlagopoulou and Flomaria Papadaki), Transilvania IFF 2024, New Horizons IFF 2024, Festival International du Film de Femmes de Salé 2024 (Winner: Special Prize of the Jury & Best Actress Award), etc.
EFP – Latin Film Critics’Award for European Film nomination 2024
Feature Film Selection 2023 – European Film Awards
Winner of 7 Hellenic Film Academy Awards (Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actress – Dimitra Vlagopoulou, Supporting Role Actress – Flomaria Papadaki, Best Editing, Best Sound) out of 14 nominations.
Lux Audience Award nominationClick to vote

International Press 
“For those fortunate enough to grab their own little piece of paradise during summer vacation, the memories can seem unforgettable. But there’s another side to those sunny holidays that are rarely posted on Instagram, involving the many hotel workers who labor in the background to make everything appear perfect, at least on the surface. Paul Verhoeven’s glitter-and-guts depiction of Las Vegas definitely comes to mind in this story of a dancer, Kalia (the excellent Dimitra Vlagopoulou), who choreographs numbers and trains new recruits at a Greek resort filled with foreign tourists. She constantly reminds her team to smile at the guests, and yet when she’s off the clock, Kalia’s growing existential crisis takes center stage.”
-Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“Dimitra Vlagopoulou gives a knockout performance in Sofia Exarchou’s resort-set second feature about a group of seasonal performers. Her performance here is truly something to behold. She takes us through her character’s emotional peaks and troughs with raw intensity and naturalism – coupled with expert editing and sound design, Exarchou proves that a film with a configuration as simple as this can reach a whole new dimension of emotional resonance.”
-Marina Ashioti, Little White Lies 

**** – “The director succeeds in attaching us to this woman, confronted with the dizziness of her existence, while constantly connecting her to the rest of the gang. Because it is from the group that the energy, the self-deprecation, the laughter are born, during rehearsals or after the shows…”
-Clarisse Fabre, Le Monde 

**** – “Through the portrait of the skinned and luminous Kalia, the filmmaker’s interest in the sublimated and martyred bodies of her characters, driven by self-destructive impulses and a desire to shine on all scenes, be they paltry.”
-Thierry Méranger, Cahiers du Cinéma

*** – “Exhilaratingly realistic, the almost documentary approach of Sophia Exarchou (whom we discovered in the summer of 2020 with her first feature film Park, appreciated in these columns) transcribes female pain as a collective experience with disturbing veracity.”
-Lucie Chiquer, Première

“Exarchou takes a documentary approach to the action, Monika Lenczewska’s camera getting close enough to see the straining muscles and effort being put into all this forced hedonism. Vlagopoulou’s performance has a raw intensity that you don’t dare question, less still look away from.”
-Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film 

“To counter this abstraction, the film adopts a corporeal aesthetic, where the camerawork by Monika Lenczewska exists as an entity in its own right. The camera lurks, curious; it roams and tracks the protagonist through her nightly escapades, resting for a minute to linger on her bruised body, naked in the shower. Exarchou makes a poignant point about the nature of labour, just by returning to the same events — shows and showers, among others — to show that the female body has always carried the marks of invisible labour. And that this labour has only been appreciated when made invisible. A heartbreaking rendition of Baccara’s 70s hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie is another motif, returning to haunt the film’s melancholy ending and confirm Animal as a profoundly moving work with a subtle political message to match its aesthetic accomplishments.”
-Savina Petkova, Cineuropa 

“This excellent competition entry film brims with sociological detail, touristic critique and intense character study, truly counting the cost of the holiday entertainment complex on the all-smiling, all-singing, all-laughing crew. Anchored by a gripping, fully-alive, three-dimensional performance by Dimitra Vlagopoulou as head animateur Kalia — the type of work that seems to dictate the tone of the film as opposed to the other way around —  Exarchou’s sophomore feature is a standout work that cuts straight for the heart, one insanely cheesy song at a time.”
-Redmond Bacon, Journey into Cinema

***** “A filthy genius sophomore feature by Sofia Exarchou!”
-Nataliia Serebriakova, Dirty Movies 

**** 1/2  “Exploring our instincts includes accepting that humans will never be fully animals. Sofía Exarchou works on this by making the contradictions felt in the gestures of Dimitra Vlagopoulou.”
-Eduardo Elechiguerra, A Sala Llena 

Video interviews: 

Animal, 116min., dcp, Greece-Austria-Romania-Cyprus-Bulgaria

 

Director
Sofia Exarchou

Writer
Sofia Exarchou

Director of photography
Monika Lenczewska

Production designer
Jorien Sont

Editor
Dragos Apetri

Additional editing by
Nikos Vavouris

Music
Wolfgang Frisch

Costume design
Vassilia Rozana

Hair & make-up design
Hronis Tzimos, Ioanna Lygizou

Sound engineer
Odo Grötschnig

Sound design
Sebastian Watzinger, Rudolf Gottsberger

Re-recording mixer 
Sebastian Watzinger, Thomas Pötz Kava

Casting
Kleopatra Ambatzoglou

Choreographer
Christos Papadopoulos

Associate producer
Kyveli Short

Co-producers
Lukas Valenta Rinner, Laura Sterian, Stelios Kammitsis, Vicky Miha, Ivan Tonev

Producers
Maria Drandaki, Maria Kontogianni

Produced by
Homemade Films

Co-produced by
Nabis Filmgroup, Digital Cube, Felony, Ars OOD, ERT S.A., Arctos Films S.A., Sofia Exarchou in collaboration with Wild at Heart

With the support of
Eurimages, Media Creative Europe, Greek Film Centre, Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, Salzburg City Film Fund, Centrul National al Cinematografiei, Mediacom, Bulgarian Film Center, Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture, ΕΚΟΜΕ, Region of Crete.

Distribution
France (Shellac), Greece (Weird Wave), Austria (FILMGARTEN), Chile-Argentina-Uruguay (Late Films), the Netherlands (Eye), etc.

World Sales
Shellac

 

 

WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL

BY Mladen Đorđević

A small-town labour union turns to the dark arts for empowerment against the corrupt forces in their community in Mladen Đorđević’s timely and disturbing socio-horror satire.

Cast
Tamara Krcunović , Leon Lučev, Momo Pićurić, Ivan Djordjević, Szilvia Kriszan, Mirsad Tuka, Lidija Kordić, Tomislav Trifunović, Olivera Viktorović, Stefan Sterev.

World Premiere
Toronto IFF 2023 – Midnight Madness

Festivals / Awards
Tallinn Black Nights 2023, Beograd IFF 2024 (Winner: Best Director Award – Main Competition Jury, Best Film of the Region Critics’ Prize, Best Euro-Mediterranean Film Critics’ Prize), Sofia IFF 2024, Maia IFF 2024 (Winner: Best Film Award), Ceau Cinema European FF 2024

Wold press
“A thoughtful effort from Djordjevic that finds its satisfying catharsis in the unlikeliest of places”.”
-Kevin Jagernaught, The Film Verdict

“A riveting political horror feature that deftly balances social commentary with occult chills..”
-Joseph Perry, Scariest Things

“A master class in escalation”.”
-Kurt Halfyard, Screen Anarchy

 

Radnička klasa ide u pakao, 127min. Serbia-Bulgaria-Greece-Montenegro-Romania

Director
Mladen Đorđević

Writer
Mladen Đorđević

Director of photography
Dušan Grubin

Production Designer
Zorana Petrov

Costume designer
Jelena Djordjevic

Hair, make-up, SFX make-up designers 
Evi Zafiropoulou, Petros Kondylis

Producers
Milan Stojanovič, Mladen Đorđević

Co-producers
Martichka Bozhilova, Maria Drandaki , Ivan Marinović, Anamaria Antoci

Produced by
Sense Production, Corona Film, Agitprop, Homemade Films, Adriatic Western, Tangaj Production.

Supported by
Film Center Serbia,  Bulgarian National Film Center,  Greek Film Centre, ERT S.A., Film Centre Montenegro, Eurimages.

World Sales
Patra Spanou Film

 

SILENCE 6-9

BY Christos Passalis

A man and a woman, Aris and Anna, meet in a dream-like coastal town. The town is full of antennas, which emit the voices of the Vanished Ones, inhabitants of the town that have suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. As we watch the daily life and the bizarre rituals of the inhabitants, rituals devoted to the lost ones, Anna and Aris fall in love. A few days later, Anna suddenly disappears.

Cast
Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis, Sofia Kokkali, Maria Skoula, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Thanassis Dimou, Rania Ikonomidou, Vassilis Karaboulas, Aris Armaganidis

World premiere
56th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – International Competition

Festivals / Awards
63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2022 – International Competition, Linea d’ Ombra 2022 (Winner: Best Film Award), Goa International Film Festival, International Film Festival of Kerala, Crossing Europe 2023 (Competition), SEEFest (Winner: Best Cinematography Award – Giorgos Karvelas), Cinequest Film and VR Festival 2023, Southeast European Film Festival 2023, the Greek Film Festival in Berlin 2023, Cyprus Film Days, Greek Film Festival Australia, etc. 
6 Hellenic Film Academy Awards Nominations 2023 – Best First Film Director, Supporting Role Actress (Marisha Triantafyllidou), Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, Hair and Make-up Design

World press
“An enigmatic, allegorical, slow-burn romance that wonders if love can live in limbo. Director-star Christos Passalis delivers an absorbing, surreal, retro- futurist love story in his beautifully crafted solo debut.”
-Jessica Kiang, Variety

“A smooth blend of style, substance, emotion and provocation that leaves the viewer with plenty to ruminate on.”
-Marko Sotjiljkovic, Cineuropa

“Passalis, who also plays the male lead here, has a long history in experimental theatre, which informs this sustained exercise in mournful absurdism, with its undertones of Beckett, Ionesco and David Lynch. The most uncompromising contender playing in the main Crystal Globe competition at Karlovy Vary film festival this week, Silence 6-9 is emphatically art-house in style, but still a boldly original work with potential cult appeal.”
-Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

“Passalis, its director of photography Giorgos Karvelas and its decorator Márton Ágh manage to create a curious scenery of SF, an apocalyptic place, breathless. The visual atmosphere is one of the successes of this aesthetically coherent and inspired film”
-Nicolas Bardot, Le Polyester

Ησυχία 6-9 | Isychía 6-9, 81min., dcp, Greece

Director
Christos Passalis

Writers
Christos Passalis, Eleni Vergeti

Director of photography
Giorgos Karvelas

Editors
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Marios Kleftakis

Production designer
Marton Agh

Art director
Maria Eva Mavridou

Costume designer
Vassilia Rozana

Sound
Nikos Exarchos, Persefoni Miliou

Hair and make-up designer
Sissy Petropoulou

Co-producers
Vicky Miha, Stelios Kammitsis, Grigoris Arvanitis

Producer
Maria Drandaki

Produced by
Homemade Films

Co-produced by
ERT, Asterisk Post

With the support of 
Greek Film Centre, EKOME, City of Athens Film Office

World Sales 
Homemade Films

Distribution
Weird Wave (Greece)

 

The City and the City

BY Christos Passalis AND Syllas Tzoumerkas

The untold story of the life and perils of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, in six chapters. The past and the present of a city, meet and converge at its cracks.

Cast
Vassilis Kanakis, Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Angeliki Papoulia, Argyris Xafis, Niki Papandreou, Vassilis Karaboulas, Themis Bazaka, Maria Filini, Laertis Malkotsis, Fritz Fenne, Jakob Leo Stark, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Fidel Talaboukas, Aris Armaganidis, Zoi Sigalou, Marina Siotou, Danai Primali, Andronikos Christaras, Michalis Kimonas, Vasia Bakakou, Nikos Chortarias, Andreas Stavrakakis, etc.

Η Πόλη και η Πόλη | Ι Póli ke i Póli, feature film, dcp, 87′, Greece

World premiere
72nd Berlin International Film Festival  – Encounters Competition

Festivals / Awards
New Directors New Films 2022 – MoMA and Film at Lincoln Center (North-American premiere), 24th TDF – Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Special Screenings – Out of Competition, JxJ – Washington Jewish Film and Music Festival 2022, Crossing Europe – Linz 2022, LAGFF 2022, Dokufest Prizren 2022, Zerkalo IFF 2022, Linea d’Ombra IFF 2022, Miami Jewish Film Festival 2023, etc.,  2 Hellenic Film Academy Awards Nominations 2023 – Best Documentary, Best Costume Design

World press
“An absorbing and appropriately disturbing indictment of man’s inhumanity to man. (…) A heartfelt, sorrowful and elegiac love-letter to Thessaloniki, which before the Second World War was a dazzlingly polyglot cosmopolis.”
-Neil Young, Screen Daily 

“The genius in The City and the City is the seemingly nonchalant and subtle amalgamation of the past and the present. The two cities in the name of the film refer to one singular Thessaloniki. It is the time that creates the duality, and not the space.Passalis and Tzoumerkas employ an ingenious technique here.”
-Suvo Pyne, High on Films

“***** – The creative choices employed by co-directors Syllas Tzoumerkas and Christos Passalis have led to a non-traditional war film that feels quite radical in the most beguiling way.”
-Oliver Johnston, The Upcoming

“**** – A brutal reimagining of true events that befell the Jews of Thessaloniki will shock you with cruelty, while also hypnotising you with beauty. (…) An incredibly humanistic film that covers a difficult subject, but does so with great respect, ambition, and a whole lot of beauty.”
-John McDonald, Dirty Movies

“****1/2 – Cinematically brilliant and thematically relevant”
-Meredith Taylor, FilmUforia

“A stylistically eclectic mix of documentary, fiction and essay united by its topic: the extermination of the Jewish population of Thessaloniki. The City and the City is really about the geography of memory and even more about the Thessaloniki of today than that of the past.”
-Vladan Petković, Cineuropa

“7/10 – Christos Passalis and Syllas Tzoumerkas spotlight the seldom-told story of how a city that had been multicultural since ancient times had its Jewish population all but eradicated almost instantly. (…) No punches are pulled.”
-Bradley Gibson, Film Threat

“*** – In this unsettling mea culpa, the Jewish community’s loss and fear are palpable.”
-Alex Goldstein, One Room With A View

“Alternating between staging, re-enactment and documentation, The City and the City reviews impressively the story of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki.”
-Thomas Hummitzsch, Intellectures (DE)

“A fragmented ode to the city of Thessaloniki. Only the city as a collective entity bears witness to the full extent of what happened, spilling over onto the present and generating a sense of urban memory and sorrow.”
-Tommaso Tocci, Montages International Edition

Video interviews
Christos Passalis’ and Syllas Tzoumerkas’ Berlinale meets… interview   by Sergio Fant

Christos Passalis’ and Syllas Tzoumerkas’ Cineuropa interview by Ana Stanic, Sylvie Lazzarini

Χρήστος Πασσαλής και Σύλλας Τζουμέρκας, συνέντευξη στο Nerdcult και τον Αλέξανδρο Παπαγεωργίου

Directors
Christos PassalisSyllas Tzoumerkas

Writers
Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Director of photography
Simos Sarketzis

Editor
Yorgos Zafiris

Costume designers
Marli Aliferi, Vassilia Rozana

Art director
Christos Passalis

Sound recordists 
Nikos Exarchos, Dimitris Kanellopoulos

Sound design & sound mixing 
Persefoni Miliou. Costas Varybobiotis

Hair & make-up designers
Ioulia Sigrimi, Evi Zafiropoulou

VFX designer 
Pantelis Anastassiadis

Executive producers
Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Curator
Orestis Andreadakis

Producer
Maria Drandaki

Production
Greek National Opera, Homemade Films

With the collaboration of
Thessaloniki International Film Festival

With the support of
Stavros Niarchos Foundation (ISN), Claims Conference, Deutsch-Griechischen Zukunftsfonds, Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, EKOME, Cultural Centre of the Region of Central Macedonia, MOMus, Greek Film Centre, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki

and the collaboration of 
City of Athens Film Office, Municipality of Thessaloniki, Municipality of Thermaikos

World sales
Syndicado Film Sales

Distribution 
Weird Wave (Greece)

 

THE VOLUNTEER

BY NELY REGUERA


Marisa, a retired doctor who is dying to have grandchildren, decides to travel to a refugee camp, where the children need, in her opinion, people exactly like her.

Cast
Carmen Machi, Itsaso Arana, Dèlia Brufau, Johan Levi, Arnau Comas, Henrietta Rauth, Yannis Tsortekis

La Voluntaria, feature film, dcp, 99′, Spain-Greece

World premiere
25 Festival de Málaga

Festivals / Awards
D’A Film Festival – Barcelona, HUMANS Fest, Cinemaspagna | Spanish Film Festival in Italy, Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, Amsterdam Spanish Film Festival, Catholic Film Festival, Made by Women International Film Festival, Thessaloniki IFF

Director
Nely Reguera

Writers
Nely Reguera, Valentina Viso, Eduard Solà

Director of photography
Aitor Echeverría

Editor
Aina Calleja

Music
Javier Rodero

Production designer
Stavros Liokalos

Costume designer
Aitziber Sanz

Sound
Amanda Villavieja

Make-up
Kyriaki Melidou

Producer
Adrián Monés, Maria Drandaki , Alex LaFuente

Produced by
Fasten Films, Homemade Films, Bteam

World Sales
Bendita Film Sales

Quicksand

BY MARGOT SCHAAP


Suze and her Estonian husband moved from Amsterdam to a small island in the Netherlands. They now live a warm-hearted, slow-paced life with their bubbly six-year-old daughter. Until the day, Suze’s colorful, extravagant mother Helena pays them a visit after a long radio silence. When Helena informs Suze about the tumor in her head, Suze decides to start travel back and forth to the city to help her. Being a theatre actress all her life, Helena knows how to sweetly manipulate her daughter into her reliance. Suze seems powerless to this force and slowly relapses into compulsive behavior. Torn between her mother and her daughter, Suze’s disorder swiftly gets worse and forces her to make an emotional but liberating choice.

Cast 
Hanna Van Vliet, Elsie de Brauw, Elin Koleci, Simeoni Sundja, Jade Olieberg

Festivals/Awards
Ghent Film Fest 2021, Thessaloniki IFF, Tallinn Black Nights IFF, Best Greek Minority Co-production nomination – Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2022

 

Drijfzand, feature film, 113′, DCP, color, The Netherlands-Estonia-Greece

 

Director
Margot Schaap

Writer
Margot Schaap

Director of photography
Emo Weemhoff

Production designer
Jorien Sont

Editor
Fatih Tura

Music
Thalia Ioannidou

Producer
Ellen Havenith

Co-producers
Maria Drandaki, Katrin Kissa

Produced by
PRPL, Homeless Bob Productions, Homemade Films

With the support of 
Netherlands Film Fund, Estonian Film Institute, Greek Film Centre, ERT, Media – Creative Europe

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea

by Syllas Tzoumerkas

 

In a small eel-farming town in the west of Greece, two women live solitary lives while dreaming of getting away. Elisabeth is a once-ambitious policewoman forced to relocate from Athens ten years ago and now living a joyless, hung-over life; Rita is the quiet, mysterious sister of a lounge singer in the local disco. When a sudden death upsets the town and turns the local community upside-down, the two women who had been ignoring each other’s existence begin drifting towards each other. As the secrets hidden in the swamps begin to surface, they will have a chance to become each other’s saviours.

Cast
Angeliki Papoulia, Youla Boudali, Christos Passalis, Argyris Xafis, Thanassis Dovris, Laertis Malkotsis, Maria Filini, Michalis Kimonas, Christian Culbida, Michalis Mathioudakis, Laertis Vassiliou, Alkistis Poulopoulou, Thanos Tokakis, Katerina Helmy, Romanos Kalokyris, Areti Seidaridou, Vassilis Darmas, Marianna Bozantzoglou, Vlassis Mizalos, Ektor Liatsos, Haris Attonis, Nikos Diotis, Vassilis Svigos

World Premiere
69th Berlin International Film Festival 2019 – Panorama

Festivals / Awards
Karlovy Vary IFF 2019, BFI London IFF 2019 – Dare, BiFan 2019 – Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (International Competition), FANTASIA International Film Festival 2019, Festival International du Film Policier de Beaune 2019 – Sang Neuf Competition, Istanbul IFF 2019, Crossing Europe EFF 2019, Transilvania IFF 2019, Bildrausch Filmfest Basel – Cutting Edge International Competition 2019, New Horizons IFF 2019, São Paulo IFF 2019, Ayvalik IFF, Haifa IFF, Bogota IFF, Thessaloniki IFF, Roma MedFesti 2019, Zagreb IFF 2019, Valencia IMFF 2019, Denver IFF, etc.

2 Hellenic Film Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Actress) and 12 nominations (Best Film, Screenplay,  Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing, Costume Design, Music, Sound, Make-up, Effects).

 

World Press 
“The latest film from Greek director Syllas Tzoumerkas stars Angeliki Papoulia in one of her best roles yet. Tzoumerkas does masterfully paint the stifling atmosphere of a godforsaken town where women’s dreams and potential have come to die. With a score that ventures into thriller territory, menacing zooms and eerily calm overheads shots, the film evokes a place that looks like a swamp ready to slowly engulf everything that comes near it.”
-Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

A Blast director Syllas Tzoumerkas returns with an agitated, atmospheric and sometimes confounding exercise in modern Greek tragedy. Tzoumerkas’ latest invites comparisons to the loopier, trash-skirting genre outings of Herzog or Lynch, with the gradual unpeeling of layered madness and corruption in the sleepy working town of Missolonghi occasionally calling to mind an aggressively sunburned “Twin Peaks’”.
-Guy Lodge, Variety

“*** A Lynchian psychodrama in the sun[…] A drumbeat of anxiety and impending violence thuds insistently from this opaque, disquieting spectacle from Greek film-maker Syllas Tzoumerkas”.
-Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“***** While the film is saturated with Biblical quotes, icons of saints, and church choir songs, its form attends equally to the lowly human, animal, and nature. Pacifying all forms of life under the flag of future deliverance, the promise that each being will attain their most perfect form and self, The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea provides a convergence between religious submission and humanistic agency.”
-Savina Petkova, Electric Ghost

“*** “Papoulia and Boudali give two visceral performances[…] The beautiful cinematography; close shots that capture the inner angst of these characters. The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea is visually compelling, and a show of great creative ambition from Tzoumerkas.”
-Victoria Ferguson, The Upcoming

The Miracle features two terrific female performances – one from co-writer Youla Boudali, the other from Angeliki Papoulia, [who] vibrates at an unnerving pitch that makes Nicole Kidman’s similarly styled characterisation in Destroyer look positively half-baked.[…] Tzoumerkas’s follow-up confirms that he’s a director of some brilliance and daring.”
-Jonathan Romney, Screen

“***** Syllas Tzoumerkas’ third film is as slippery as the eels that form its backbone. It’s intense, brutal and surprising – full of strange asides and meandering paths, held together by the suffocating setting of Mesolongi, characterised here as a swampy Greek backwater. […] Tzoumerkas’ vision isn’t overly optimistic, but it’s also not fatalistic or moralising. Police brutality, sexual abuse and other acts of violence aren’t treated clinically, but they are handled as facts. The small-town mentality – “where potential goes to die”, as he’s described it – is largely universal. But the clash of cynically resigned humour against anti-authoritarian rebellion is distinctly Greek. Perhaps that’s the common cultural thread of the so-called ‘weird wave’ – to revel in human absurdity even while extending understanding to it.”
-Alex Goldstein, One Room With A View

“**** The resolution of these constantly shuffling character arcs is dispatched with a clinical efficiency that recalls the unflinching pragmatism of Kieślowski’s A Short Film About Killing. Yet surprisingly, Tzoumerkas injects a soothing livener of optimism into the films final moments resulting in a restorative wave of catharsis. This is artistically satisfying, hermetically sealed cinema, with the confidence to embrace a wide range of genre elements and a first-rate thriller to boot. The grimly explicit sex, theological symbolism and wince-inducing violence will keep you on your toes. But ultimately, it is a masterful tale of redemption come full circle via the conduit of moral bankruptcy and how the oxygen of freedom can still exist in the ethical vacuum of oppression.”
-Bradley Hadcroft, The People’s Movies

” Syllas Tzoumerkas masterfully mediates between ultimate tristesse and inner hardcore brutality. He has plenty of time for silence, then again the cut is energetic. Both of them do justice to the violence, which is suppressed, then erupted all the more violent. The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea is a pretty big genre movie (finally!)”
– Barbara Wurm, TAZ

“There is much to admire in Tzoumerkas’ new film. Some of the early scenes, as well as some near the end of the movie, have an epic quality, thanks to Petrus Sjövik’s cinematography and Jean-Paul Wall’s orchestral score, as well as the dirty Athens setting and the corrupt beauty of the coastal town. Scenes of Elisabeth’s dreams, which overlap and mix with those of Rita’s, with their biblical imagery and unique visual style, transcend the film’s primary themes and add a mystical layer. Dedicated performances, especially Papoulia’s and Boudali’s, provide a powerful, dramatic gravity”
Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa

”Not since Gene Hackman’s Jimmy Doyle in The French Connection have we seen a nastier cop than the one embodied by Angeliki Papoulia.’
– Jörg Gerle, Filmdienst

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea, set in the inhospitable surroundings of a sun-parched Messolongi, is a metaphysical thriller loaded with biblical references, an unsettling and disturbing meditation on the concept of paradise featuring two women in profound existential crisis: Elisabeth, (a master Angeliki Papoulia) a disgraced policewoman confined in the province by her superiors following an unfortunate anti-terrorist operation; and Rita (the brave Youla Boudali, also co-screenwriter), a painful figure of a martyr besieged by visions of a mystical background. Tzoumerkas’ cinema is one that’s not afraid of risk or ridicule, one which in fact, has the clear intent of forcing the limits of both the police genre and the auteur film genre, seducing with the skill of its performers and its disquieting aesthetic choices that are never banal. After Homeland (2010) and A Blast (2014), The Miracle of the Sargasso is the third – and more complex – chapter of Tzoumerkas’ ideal trilogy on contemporary Greece.”.
– Massimo Lechi, Il Ragazzo Selvaggio

Video Interviews
Meet the Filmmakers – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Syllas Tzoumerkas

Angeliki Papoulia

Teddy TV – Berlin International Film Festival
Syllas Tzoumerkas & Angeliki Papoulia

Tο Θαύμα της Θάλασσας των Σαργασσών | To Thávma tis Thálassas ton Sargassón, feature film, 120′, DCP, color, Greece-Germany-Netherlands-Sweden 2019

Director
Syllas Tzoumerkas

Writers
Youla Boudali, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Director of photography
Petrus Sjövik

Editor
Andreas Wodraschke

Production designer
Jorien Sont

Costume designer
Marli Aliferi

Music
Jean-Paul Wall, drog_A_tek, Phoebus

Sound
Marco Vermaas, Felix Siewert

Hair, make-up and SFX make-up designers
Linda Boije af Gennäs, Evi Zafiropoulou

VFX supervisor
Luuk Meijer

Producer
Maria Drandaki

Co-producers
Titus Kreyenberg, Ellen Havenith, Olle Wirenhed

Co-producer Film I Väst
Anthony Muir

Associate producer ZDF/ARTE
Meinolf Zurhorst

Commissioning editor SFI
Yaba Holst

Associate producer
Jeroen Beker

Produced by
Homemade Films

Co-produced by
unafilmPRPL, Kakadua Films, Film I Väst, ZDF/ARTE, ERT, NOVA

With the support of 
Eurimages, Greek Film Centre, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Netherlands Film Fund, Swedish Film Institute, DFFF, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, Media Programme, Prefecture of Western Greece, Geitonas Eels

World Sales
New Europe Film Sales

Distribution
Greece (StraDa Films), Germany (Real Fiction), Poland (Against Gravity), Croatia (Kino Mediteran), MUBI, etc.

 

 

Her Job

BY NIKOS LABÔT

Panayiota gets for the first time a job as a cleaner in an attempt to support her family. While at her work environment she faces a ruthless system of exploitation, she spends the happiest period of her so far dull life. But this is not to last for long as the first layoffs are to arrive soon.

Cast
Marisha Triantafyllidou, Dimitris Imellos, Maria Filini, Konstantinos Gogoulos, Eleni Karagiorgi, Danai Primali, Orfeas Angelopoulos, Dimitra Vlagopoulou

World premiere
Toronto IFF 2018 – Discovery

Festivals / Awards
Haifa IFF 2018, Warsaw IFF 2018 (Winner: Best Film, F.I.PRES.CI. Award, Young F.I.PRES.CI. Award  – 1st/2nd Film Competition),  Thessaloniki IFF 2018 (Winner: Best Actress Award – Marisha Triantafyllidou), Rabat IFF 2018, Belgrade IFF 2018, Festival du Cinema Méditerranéen de Bruxelles 2018 (Winner: Best Film Press Award and Prix Special du Jury), Les Arcs IFF 2018, Göteborg IFF 2019, Bengaluru IFF 2019, Vannes EFF 2019, Kosmorama Trondheim IFF 2019, Sofia IFF 2019 (Winner: Best Balkan Film Award), Crossing Europe EFF 2019, Espoo Cine 2019, New York Greek Film Expo 2019, Festival de Cinema de Cinq Continents, Molodist Kiev IFF 2019, LA Greek FF 2019 (Winner: Best Actress Award), etc.
3 Hellenic Film Academy Awards – Best Debut Director, Best Actress (Marisha Triantafyllidou), Best Supporting Part Actress (Maria Filini) – Also nominated for Best Film, Best Script and Best Make-up.

World press
“A well-observed study of a woman’s unlikely liberation. The socioeconomic turmoil of contemporary Greece is distilled into the simple yet effective story of one woman who finds gainful employment as a professional cleaner in Her Job, which marks a promising feature debut for writer-director Nikos Labôt. Bolstered by star Marisha Triantafyllidou’s subtly touching turn and told in a straightforward, realistic manner that at times recalls the Dardenne brothers, the film reveals how one of the most basic and least valued vocations can still mean the world for someone struggling to support a family and, even more so, to find a sense of self-worth.”
— Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“Triantafyllidou expresses Panayiota’s evolving strength of spirit and independence in the tiniest of measures; a shift in her countenance or an adjustment in how she carries herself. It’s a Herculean turn by the actress, made all the more so because you can hardly see the muscles she’s using. Behind the camera, Labôt is equally modulated, unfolding the story with patient care across a slim eighty-nine minutes, and never betraying his tone for a grand finale of redemption and lesson-learning. Witnessing the spark of confidence come to life inside Panayiota, and the small rebellions that follow will leave your eyes stung with tears by the note-perfect ending. Her Job is not just about the dignity of work, but what the gift of employment can do to the dignity of a person .”
— Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist

” **** Her Job takes a sensitive look at how work and autonomy can change a person’s outlook. Triantafyllidou’s performance is gentle and nuanced, and her expressive face is often heartbreaking. Director Labôt’s first feature beautifully meditates on the mundane, and is an excellent reminder that all work can be meaningful.”
— Michelle Da Silva, NOW 

” *** A lively and empathetic journey.”
— Yulia Kuzischina, ION cinema 

“Thanks to Marisha Triantafyllidou’s organic and absorbing performance, Panayiota’s example sheds new light on the struggle for female empowerment in a toxic environment. When her initial feeling of financial ‘independence’ threatens to cause gender roles within the family to be swapped, the balance in the former pseudo-tranquil household is undone. At this point, the fight for personal autonomy becomes a battle for survival. A survival that can only be achieved through self-liberation.  Nikos Labôt delivers a strong drama on the aftermath of the Greek financial crisis and the need for female empowerment in a dislocated and wounded society”
— Vassilis Economou, Cineuropa 

Video Interviews
Les Arcs International Film Festival
Nikos Labot and Marisha Triantafyllidou

 

Η Δουλειά της | I Douliá tis, feature film, 89′,  DCP, Color, Greece-France-Serbia 2018

 

Director
Nikos Labôt

Writers
Katerina Klitsioti, Nikos Labôt

Director of photography
Dionysis Efthimiopoulos

Editor
Dounia Sichov

Music
Onno

Art director
Daphne Koutra

Costume designer
Vasilia Rozana

Sound
Yannis Antypas

Make-up designer
Kyriaki Melidou

Producers
Maria Drandaki, Julie Paratian

Co-Producer
Milan Stojanovic

Produced by
Homemade Films, Sister Productions, Sense Production

With the support of 
Greek Film Centre, ERT, the CNC and the GFC – French-Greek Co-production Fund, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Développement International, Institut Français, Film Center Serbia, Cineventure 3, SEE Cinema Network

World Sales
Jour de Fête

Distribution
Greece (Weird Wave), France Jour de Fête

 

 

The Gulf

BY EMRE YEKSAN

32-year-old Erkan moves back to his family’s upper-middle class house in Izmir, after a year of misery caused by unemployment and a bitter divorce. Having no plans for the future, he befriends a group of loafers. His aimless drift takes an unexpected turn, when a terrible smell that comes from the gulf starts to spread over the city.

Cast
Ulaş Tuna Astepe, Ahmet Melih Yılmaz, Serpil Gül, Müfit Kayacan

World Premiere
Venice IFF 2017 – Critics’ Week

Festivals / Awards
Rotterdam IFF, Hamburg IFF, Adana IFF, Sevilla IFF, Exground IFF, Crossing Europe EFF, Bruxelles IFF, São Paulo IFF, etc.

Körfez, feature film, 114′, DCP, Color, Turkey-Germany-Greece 2017

Director
Emre Yeksan

Writers
Emre Yeksan, Ahmet Büke

Producer
Anna Maria Aslanoglu

Co-producers
Maria Drandaki, Dirk Engelhardt

Produced by
Istos Film, BirFilm, Kundschafter Filmproduktion, Homemade Films

With the support of
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, World Cinema Fund, Greek Film Centre, Visions Sud Est

A Blast

by Syllas Tzoumerkas

BLAST LOGO

Maria is running away on the highway. She is alone in her roaring SUV. Behind her, fire and a case full of money. In front of her, the hopeless vastness of the motorway. Her crazy, accelerating course will stop at nothing.

Only a day before she was a caring mother, a loving wife, a responsible daughter. Today she has gone rogue: she is determined to sweep away everything she has ever cared for. Maria’s tragic tale of ascent to redemption is narrated through bits of the present that become tangibly interwoven with fragments of the past, creating a dazzling and devastating mural of contemporary Greece.

Cast
Angeliki Papoulia, Vassilis Doganis, Maria Filini, Themis Bazaka, Yorgos Biniaris, Makis Papadimitriou

World premiere
Locarno International Film Festival 2014  – International Competition

Festivals / Awards
Sarajevo IFF 2014 – International Competition, BFI London IFF 2014 – Dare, Rotterdam IFF 2015 – Limelight, Karlovy Vary IFF 2015 – Critics’ Choice: VARIETY’s 10 Directors to Watch, A.F.I. American Film Institute – European Film Showcase 2015, Hamburg Filmiest 2014, Seattle IFF 2015 – New Directors, São Paulo IFF 2014 – Nuevos Diretores, Hong-Kong IFF 2015, Joenju IFF 2015 – Fallen Myths – A Tribute to Greek New Wave, Athens IFF 2015 – Best Debut by an Actress Award – Maria Filini, Prishtina IFF 2016 – F.I.PRES.CI. Award, Tallinn Black Nights 2014, New Horizons 2014, Kolkatta IFF 2015, Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs 2014, Istanbul IFF 2015, Taipei IFF 2015, Haifa IFF 2015, Crossing Europe EFF 2015, Festival Cinematografico Internacional del Uruguay 2015, Espoo Cine 2015, Otranto FFF 2015 – Critics’ Prize, Ljubljuana IFF 2015, Tofifest 2015,, Luxembourg City IFF 2015, Cyprus Film Days 2015, Thessaloniki IFF 2015, Lichter Filmfest 2015, Rome Independent IFF, Marfa IFF 2015, Mucas IFF 2015, This Human World IFF 2015, etc.

World Press
“A black, bleak, urgently contemporary film. The frantic, unsettling and intriguing record of a woman’s journey, Syllas Tzoumerkas’ charged personal diatribe against an economic system seemingly designed first to make people, and then to break them.”
Jonathan Holland, The Hollywood Reporter

“Syllas Tzoumerkas’ striking soph feature tackles Greece’s ongoing financial crisis with aggressive gusto.”
Guy Lodge, VARIETY

“A punchy, difficult, allegorically urgent Greek tragedy. In A Blast, a narrative of personal liberation becomes a political allegory of powerful pessimism. Maria, like her country, may escape the shackles of unfair debt and struggle and poverty, but she can only do it by outrunning her pursuers, leaving a destabilized family behind and eventually facing the future in a state of staggering aloneness. (…) Tzoumerkas refuses to portray Maria as anything so uncomplicated as a victim. Maria is explicitly a woman – wife, daughter, mother, sister – and some of the scenes of most urgent, shocking power come from quieter moments when she simply, clearly negates or repudiates one of those prescribed roles”
Jessica Kiang, Indiewire & the Playlist

“If you ever wanted your own everyday saga of interpersonal collapse to be interpreted as a sexually heated, hyperkinetic, breathless action-thriller, then chances are it would look very much like A Blast, which takes all of the outwardly mundane rites of family life and refracts, intensifies and heightens them by seizing primarily just upon the peaks and nadirs, shifting back and forth in time to create an expressionist portrait of marital strife and psychological agitation that is more concerned with incendiary impact than polite plotting. The result often feels like A Woman Under the Influence as reinterpreted by early Nicolas Roeg.”
Travis Crawford, Fandor magazine

“Set against the volatile backdrop of the collapse of the Greek economy, Syllas Tzoumerkas’ freewheeling and full-on drama is a shrill expression of anger, driven forcefully and with a certain fearlessness by a striking lead performance by Angeliki Papoulia as a free-spirited woman who reaches the end of her tether. Syllas Tzoumerkas keeps the film tense and edgy as it spirals towards a moody almost existential ending.”
Mark Adams, Screen Daily

“Tzoumerkas directs each scene to its boiling point, resulting to montage sequences that stay in mind for long. Angeliki Papoulia, one of the most fearless European actresses, plays Maria without emergency breaks.”
Oliver Koever, Der Spiegel

“Filmmaker Syllas Tzoumerkas has condensed the Greek crisis into a superb drama of one woman’s journey of self-discovery. Tzoumerkas’ wild, anarchic style reminds us of the young Fatih Akin with his depiction of a society driven „against the wall“ by its own parental generation.”
 D.Kothenschulte, Frankfurter Rundschau

“An angry film that speaks its heart”.
Joost Booren, De Filmkrant

“A uniquely intelligent, unprecedented portrait that reveals the moods, secrets and deep divisions that run in societies in times of crisis. There has never been such a powerful film about it before”.
Janusz WroblewskiPolityka

“The most interesting thing in Tzoumerkas’ work is also the most universal: the rejection of illusion. We don’t really know what to do next, still it’s worth opening our eyes, regardless the price. ”
 Pawel T. Felis, Wyborcza

Video interviews
Syllas Tzoumerkas – Sarajevo IFF

Feature film, 83′, DCP, Color, Greece-Germany-Netherlands-Italy 2014.

 

Director
Syllas Τzoumerkas

Writers
Syllas Tzoumerkas, Youla Boudali

Director of photography
Pantelis Mantzanas

Editor
Kathrin Dietzel

Music
Drog_A_Tek

Art director
Elli Papageorgakopoulou

Costume designer
Marli Aliferi

Sound
Marco Vermaas, Dimitris Kanellopoulos

Make-up designer
Evi Zafeiropoulou

Hair designer
Lefteris Paraskevas

Producers
Maria Drandaki, Titus Kreyenberg, Ellen Havenith, Jeroen Beker

Co-producers
Constantina Stavrianou, Theodora Valenti-Pikrou, Mario Mazzarotto, Rena Vougioukalou, Panos Papadopoulos

Executive producer
Syllas Tzoumerkas

Produced by
Homemade Films, unafilm, PRPL, Bastide Films, Greek Film Center, Nederlands Film Fonds, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Pan Entertainment, Graal S.A., Marni Films, Mamoko Entertainment, Prosenghisi Ltd, Movimento Film production, in collaboration with ZDF/ARTE, with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Nipkow Programm, Eurimages co-production development award, Cinelink – Sarajevo Film Festival

World Sales
Homemade Films

Distribution / Theatrical Releases
Greece (Strada), the Netherlands (Filmfreak), Germany (Real Fiction), Poland (Against Gravity), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), North Macedonia (KT Films), Switzerland (Spot on Distribution), Australia (Bonsai Films), Iceland (Bioparadis), USA (Indiepix), etc.

www.ablastfilm.com

 

Interruption

by Yorgos Zois

INTERRUPTION LOGO

A post modern theater adaptation of a Greek tragedy takes place in a central theater of Athens. Like every night, the guests take their seats and the play begins. Suddenly, the lights on stage go out. Seven young people, carrying guns, stand up from the audience and come up on stage. They introduce themselves as the Chorus of the tragedy and they invite people from the audience to participate on stage. Gradually, reality and fiction blend. The audience doesn’t realize if this is part of the play. The play will come to its end at the usual time. Until then art will be interrupted by life.

Cast
Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Sofia Kokkali, Pavlos Iordanopoulos, Hristos Karteris, Romanna Lobats, Angeliki Margeti, Natassa Brouzioti, Aineias Tsamatis, Constantinos Voudouris, Maria Kallimani, Areti Seidaridou, Spyros Sidiras, Christos Sougaris, Alexandros Sotiriou, Elena Topalidou, Maria Filini, Vasilis Andreou, Daphne Ioakimidou-Patakia, Alexia Kaltsiki, Effi Rabsilber, Christos Stergioglou, Labros Filippou, Nikos Flessas

World premiere
Venice International Film Festival 2015 – Orizzonti Competition

Festivals / Awards
Torino IFF 2015, Mumbai IFF 2015, Thessaloniki IFF 2015, Kolkata IFF 2015, Goa IFF 2015, Palm Springs IFF 2016, Istanbul IFF 2016, Vilnius IFF 2016, Cyprus Film Days 2016, Catania FF 2016, LAGFF 2016, Pula IFF 2016, Sarajevo IFF 2016, Festival of Film Critics Camera Action 2016, Skopje IFF 2016, Sao Paulo IFF 2016, Hellas FilmBox FF – New Vision Award, etc.
Best First Film Director Hellenic Film Academy Award 2016

World press
Interruption is one of the most intelligent films I have seen lately and Yorgos Zois is one of the most unique voices in European Cinema today.”
— Ruben Östlund

Interruption takes Greek myths to tantalizing levels. My reaction was visceral and then I read up on Oresteia to see how amazing and genius Interruption really is. 10/10
— Bruce Fessier, USA TODAY

“Or we can bring to the extreme provocation of Zois, and see an image that is no longer the sign of a representation that does not belong to us but a reflection of an obscure mirror, as if the image was a black hole that attracts itself to the viewer who gets lost within it, until each of us becomes figure, ghost, opaque stain in black: and then the question that we should ask before the screen is no longer ‘what we see is real?’, but ‘are we really us real?'”
— Michele Sardone, Film parlato

“Watched Interruption by Yorgos Zois, really interesting Meta take on Oresteia.”
— Romain Gavras

Interruption proposes an ensemble of interesting actors, helped greatly by the complexity of their ambiguous identity on stage. Alexandros Vardaxoglou plays the god-like director, but his identity will soon evolve, stressing again and again the unpredictability of Zois’ beautifully layered screenplay. In other parts, Maria Kallimani, Alexia Kaltsiki, Christos Stergioglou and Maria Filini have their moments of glory in front of Yannis Kanakis’ fluid camera, which uses darkness and light to blur the boundaries between the stage and the audience”
— Stefan Doboiou, Cineuropa

“There is something paradoxical in the film that is such a clever metaphor of contemporary world that uses a form associated with ancient times. There is something bizarre in the fact, that it’s piece of art suspended between theater and film, stressing fakeness of the world portrayed on the screen and it’s still talking about social moods so close to ours. Despite all those walls of distance built from Greek dramas, theatrical environment and demanding narration, we are in the middle of our world, observed so accurately by the director. We are watching a film weaved from wise message, unusual form and dare-devil way of storytelling.”
— Urszula Lipińska, Stark Magazine

Feature film, 110′, DCP, Color, Greece-France-Croatia 2015

Video Interviews
Yorgos Zois and cast – Venice IFF

 

 

.

Director
Yorgos Zois

Writer
Yorgos Zois

With the collaboration of
Vassilios Kyriakopoulos

Director of photography
Yiannis Kanakis

Camera operator
Yorgos Karvelas

Editor
Yannis Chalkiadakis

Music
Sylvain Chauveau

Soundscapes and drones designer
Novi_sad

Art director
Spyros Laskaris

Costume designer
Zorana Meic, Eva Goulakou

Sound
Hrvoje Petek, Alexandros Sidiropoulos, Aris Louziotis, Hervé Buirette

Make-up designer
Anne-Valérie Chiabaut

Hair designer
Angeliki Balodimou, Lefteris Paraskevas

Producers
Maria Drandaki, Elie Meirovitz, Sinisa Juricic

Co-producers
Theodora Valenti-Pikrou, David Danesi, Victoria Sankina, Filippos Marmoutas, Panos Papadopoulos, Jean-Yves Rousseaux, Sylvain Fage

Executive producer
Constantinos Moriatis

Produced by
Pan Entertainment, EZ Films, JDP in association with Nukleus Film, NOVA, Marni Films, Cinephase, Digital District, Post Faust Ltd, Prosenghisi Ltd, Squaredsquare Films, Homemade Films with the support of the Greek Film Centre, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image Animée, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Développement International, Institut Français, HAVC, TorinoFilmlab, CNC Award – Cinelink Sarajevo Film Festival, Piraeus Bank and OPAP

World Sales 
Homemade Films

Distribution
Homemade Films (Greece)

www.interruptionfilm.com

Paradise

by Panagiotis Fafoutis

thess

The members of carnival float crew Paradise, dressed up as Adam and Eve, exotic birds, creepy crawly snakes and juicy red apples, take part in their local carnival, dancing to samba and techno under the drizzling rain.

Marianna returns to Greece on a whim to surprise her boyfriend, secretly plotting to stay with him forever, while Nikos is using the carnival as an excuse to confess his love to his unsuspecting boss. Eugenia hesitates to tell her daughter about her clandestine romance with the much younger carnival crew leader, while Ilias has no qualms about begging his estranged wife to come home. In the midst of carnival madness, four duets are staking their claim on their own private Paradise…

Cast
Natassa Zagka, Mihalis Fotopoulos, Constantinos Avarikiotis, Christos Loulis, Olia Lazaridou, Erricos Litsis, Maria Skoula, Andreas Konstantinou, Lila Baklesi, Vaggelis Alexandris, Thanassis Vlavianos, Liza Neohoriti

Festivals / Awards
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2011- International Competition, Cyprus Film Days 2012, Sao Paolo IFF 2012, Seville IFF 2012.
2 Awards by the Hellenic Film Academy.

Παράδεισος | Parádisos, feature Film, 105’, 35mm, Color, Dolby Digital, Greece 2011.

Director
Panagiotis Fafoutis

Writer
Panagiotis Fafoutis

Director of photography
Yorgos Papandrikopoulos

Editor 
Panos Voutsaras

Music 
George Pallikaris (GPal)

Art director
Pinelopi Valti

Costume designer
Ioanna Tsami

Sound
Dimitris Kanellopoulos, Aris Louziotis, Alexandros Sidiropoulos, Panos Voutsaras, Costas Varibopiotis

Make-up designer
Evi Zafeiropoulou

Producer
Maria Drandaki

Executive producer
Constantinos Moriatis

Produced by
Pan Entertainment, Greek Film Center, ERT S.A., Nova, Graal, Accelere, Panagiotis Fafoutis, Homemade Films with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union

Homeland

by Syllas Tzoumerkas

HOMELAND LOHO

Homeland is the story of a country and a family in free fall. Three generations of a family (the 50s generation, the one growing up during the restoration of Democracy in the 70s, and the generation of today) clash irrevocably over an adoption they decided to make 20 years ago.

Cast
Amalia Moutoussi, Thanos Samaras, Ioanna Tsirigouli, Errikos Litsis, Youla Boudali, Ieronymos Kaletsanos, Christos Passalis, Despina Georgakopoulou, Yorgos Valais, Marissa Triandafyllidou, Maria Kallimani

World premiere
Venice IFF 2010 – Critics’ Week

Festivals / Awards
Athens IFF (Best 1st Film Director Award), Tallinn Black Nights IFF 2010, Goteborg IFF 2011, Monaco CIFF (Best Director Award), Istanbul IFF 2011, Karlovy Vary IFF 2011, Voices IFF 2011, Era New Horizons IFF 2011, FIC Valdivia 2011, Manaki Brothers ICFF 2011, Mar del Plata IFF 2011, etc.

5 Awards by the Hellenic Film Academy including Best 1st Film Director.

World Press
“This is a film that dares to interweave a heavy individual tale with social evolution, a film that is challenging in terms of both art and politics, and that on top of all this manages to maintain high artistic qualities. Doesn’t that sound like exactly the sort of thing that nagging writers are always going on about? Viola! The feature debut of young Syllas Tzoumerkas has it all. It tells the story of a family tragedy afflicting three generations of a Greek family, while interweaving the nation’s history from the junta years of the 1960s, past the leftist 1970s and right up to the student revolts of today. Several aspects of Greek society are in for a beating; the patriarchy, the family and sanctimonious politics. You have to pay attention – as there are some chronological leaps here – but the viewer who stays alert will be richly rewarded.”
Gunnar Bolin, Sveriges Radio

Xώρα Προέλευσης | Chóra Proélefsis, feature Film, 107′, 35mm, Color, Dolby Digital, Greece 2010.

 

 

Director
Syllas Tzoumerkas

Writers
Syllas Tzoumerkas & Youla Boudali

Director of photography
Pantelis Mantzanas

Editor
Panos Voutsaras

Music
drog_A_tek

Production designer, costume designer
Mayou Trikerioti

Sound
Aris Louziotis, Dimitris Kanellopoulos, Panos Voutsaras, Costas Varybopiotis

Make-up designer
Evi Zafeiropoulou

Hair designer
Lefteris Paraskevas

Producers
Maria Drandaki, Thanos Anastopoulos, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Production
Fantasia Ltd, Greek Film Centre, ERT SA, Pan Entertainment, Ηomemade Films, DANZAprojekt with the support of support of G.S. MA.TH.

World Sales
Homemade Films

Distribution
Nutopia (Greece)

www.homelandfilm.gr