email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

PRODUCTION Cyprus

Smuggling Hendrix earns Eurimages support

by 

- Marios Piperides’ film will seek to blend Cyprus with a humorous take on its political divisions

Smuggling Hendrix earns Eurimages support
Director Marios Piperides

Now nearing the completion of an impressive pre-production circuit, Marios Piperides’ film Smuggling Hendrix [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marios Piperides
film profile
]
has taken one step closer to realisation, after having been approved for Eurimages funding (see the news). The project, which has been in development since 2014, will be co-produced by Cyprus’ AMP Filmworks and Germany’s Pallas Film

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Set in a modern-day Cyprus still recovering from its economic crisis, and with talks of reuniting the island back on the table, the film will follow Yiannis, a 45-year-old musician fresh from a sorrowful break-up and entangled in a web of mobster creditors breathing down his neck. His plan is to leave the island once and for all as soon as possible, but his one true companion, his dog Jimmy (named after rock idol Jimi Hendrix), has different plans.

Everything is set, so long as they can lay low for a few more days, but then Jimmy runs away and crosses the buffer zone to the Turkish-controlled side of the Cyprus divide. Yiannis’ relief when he finds Jimmy is short-lived, as his real problem emerges when he is confronted with a European law prohibiting the crossing of animals from the Turkish to the Greek side. Infuriated by this ludicrous legislation, Yiannis is stuck on the Turkish side, pondering a way to bring his dog back. 

Having won top prizes at both the Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest and the Scriptwriters Guild of Greece Awards in 2014 for Smuggling Hendrix, Piperides went on to partake in the 2015 MFI Script 2 Film Workshops before being selected to spend three months in Berlin as part of the Nipkow Programm residency.

Directed by Piperides and aiming for an early 2017 completion date, the film will be produced by Piperides and Thanassis Karathanos, with The Match Factory handling world sales.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy