Ilias, a young man in debt, crosses the sea to a remote island hoping to secure the inheritance of his late and estranged father, a doctor. He soon discovers that no will exists, and worse still, he is struck by a mysterious numbness in his limbs. Unwilling to return empty-handed to his creditors, Ilias is confined to the rental rooms where his father once lived and confronts a small community of locals centred around Karina, the owner of the rentals and his father’s former lover, and Kalliopi, a woman with dreams of fleeing the island, who works there. At the same time, inexplicable illnesses begin to spread, affecting not only him, but others as well. Tapping into the memory of a father and a life unknown to him, and with the troubles that brought him to the island in the first place still unresolved, Ilias and Kalliopi move closer to one another. Against all odds, love grows.

This is the synopsis for A Whole Person Almost, the first feature by Greek-German filmmaker Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis, the world premiere of which is taking place in the Proxima section of the upcoming Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (3-11 July).

"In a reality where an immobilising force binds Ilias to the island, along with the rest of the characters, grounding them, stopping them in their tracks, forcing them into an involuntary stillness, time to think and to feel, one could also read the film as a story of human touch, of physical connection as a means of emotional healing. I found my focus instinctively drawn to hands, hands gesturing, twitching, scratching, hands hitting, rubbing, caressing. Caring, connecting, ultimately even healing. I imagined Ilias and Kalliopi bound to one another, hanging on for dear life, as they hop, drag themselves and crawl across the hotel yard, submerged in the uncanny light of a sun that has already receded, their bodies struggling in unison, appearing from a distance like a strange, singular animal. What emerged for me was a way of thinking about the body not just as something that carries emotion, but as something that produces it, where contact becomes a form of language and limits imposed on movement open up other, less visible forms of connection, where the body reveals itself as a political site, making human touch feel almost urgent, even resistant," the director explains.

Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis has worked across film, installations and branded content. His films have screened at festivals including Venice (Astrometal, selected in the 2017 Orizzonti short films competition), Locarno (All the Fires the Fire and II, selected in the 2019 and the 2014 Pardi di Domani competition, respectively), Sarajevo (Unbuilt Light, selected in the 2017 short films competition) and Clermont-Ferrand.

Written by the director himself alongside Elizampetta Ilia Georgiadou, the film stars Anastasis Georgoulas, Flomaria Papadaki, Elena Topalidou and Konstadinos Avarikiotis. The movie is being produced by Yorgos Tsourgiannis for Horsefly Productions and co-produced by Veselka Kiryakova for Red Carpet, Nina Frese for Wunderlust, Stelios Kammitsis for Felony Film Productions and Anamaria Antoci and Anda Ionescu for Tangaj Production, with participation from Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), ARTE GEIE, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation/ERT, Faliro House Productions, Onassis Culture and Panta Rhei.

Check out our exclusive trailer and poster below: