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PRODUCTION Greece

Pantelis Voulgaris returns with a German occupation drama

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- The Final Note will recount the dramatic events surrounding the execution of 200 Greek resistance fighters during the German occupation in 1944

Pantelis Voulgaris returns with a German occupation drama
Director Pantelis Voulgaris

Following up on his box-office record setter Little England [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a period piece focusing on the community of seamen on Andros in the 1930s and 1940s, Pantelis Voulgaris will once again revisit Greece’s turbulent past, this time reviving one of the darkest episodes of the German occupation. Titled The Last Note [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the film commenced shooting on 20 March and depicts the execution of 200 prisoners of war in Kaisariani, who were gunned down on 1 May 1944 in retaliation for the death of four German officers following an ambush by Greek resistance fighters in Laconia. 

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The two-time Golden Bear-nominated director of such films as Quiet Days in August and The Striker with Number 9 is once again working off a script penned by his wife and regular collaborator, acclaimed novelist Ioanna Karystiani. It recounts the dramatic events leading up to this mass execution, as witnessed and transcribed on the titular final note of one of the event’s victims, Cretan fighter Napoleon Sokatzides.

The director’s son and influential composer Alexandros “The Boy” Voulgaris will provide the original soundtrack, Andreas Konstantinou (Little England), André Hennicke (Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile
]
) and Melia Kreiling (Guardians of the Galaxy) topline the international cast, and Voulgaris’ regular DoP, Simos Sarketzis (Little England, Xenia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Panos H. Koutras
film profile
]
), is lensing the film, which will be edited by Takis Giannopoulos (Little England, Brides).

Produced by Giannis Iakovidis for Black Orange, with local cable network Cosmote TV on board as a co-producer, the production is expected to be supported by the Greek Film Centre and state broadcaster ERT SA. Having already secured local distribution by Tanweer, the movie is expected to hit local theatres on 26 October in order to coincide with the national celebration of the country’s rejection of the Axis powers’ request to surrender on 28 October 1940.

Voulgaris’ previous film, Little England, which had been staged by a collective including non-film professionals confident in the veteran director’s vision, had seen its €2 million budget swiftly recovered by box-office receipts, as the movie achieved record-breaking figures, ending its theatrical run as one of the country’s biggest domestic successes in years, as well as one of the year’s greatest hits, surpassing such behemoths as Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile
]
.

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