September leads Greek entries in Rotterdam
- Penny Panayotopoulou’s long-awaited return to the big screen is coupled by Nikolaos Kyritsis’ short debut King Kong.
September [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Penny Panayotopoulou’s return to film-making after a ten year hiatus following her debut Hard Goodbyes: My father, will be Greece’s main entry at the Rotterdam fest (Jan 22 – Feb 2). Having had its world premiere at the main selection of the 48th Karlovy Vary fest last July, Panayotopoulou’s Greek-German co-production will be featured in Rotterdam’s Bright Future section, screening on Sunday 26.
Carefully juggling tones and emotions, Panayotopoulou finely threads intimate personal drama with psychological thriller tropes, in order to create a delicate portrait of a woman struggling to find her place in everyday life, once her only constant, her beloved dog, passes away. Exploring themes of loss and loneliness, much like in her feature debut, Panayotopoulou focuses on the exploration of a psyche designed to belong, in a sophomore project that was also featured at Toronto’s City to City programme last September.
Nikolaos Kyritsis joins Panayotopoulou’s themes of loss and belonging with King Kong. His short debut follows the story of an introverted zookeeper, who loses his job at the zoo, while struggling to keep up with his bedridden mother’s demands at home. His story is paralleled with that of Ivo, a silverback gorilla who is rejected by his mother and is forced out of his habitat by being moved to another zoo. The line that separates human and animal instincts of rejection and rage will be blurred at the film’s second screening on Saturday 25.
Tayfun Pirselimoglu’s loose variation on Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, titled I’m not Him [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], will also be carrying Greek flavours in the form of Nikos Moustakas’ producer credit in this Turkish-Greek-French co-production, while Nick Collin’s UK-produced short documentary Trissakia 3 will be emanating the aura of Byzantine Greece, via his exploration of the titular ruins.
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