Asimina Proedrou’s debut feature Behind The Haystacks swept the board at Greece’s Iris Awards this week, winning the prizes for best film, director, debut director, screenplay, actor, supporting actress and actor, cinematography, editing and sound.
The film is about a family forced to take part in the trafficking of illegal migrants from Turkey to Greece and into the EU.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
It premiered at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in November 2022 where it was awarded the Fipresci prize as well as the best debut director award.
The producers are Ioanna Bolomyti with Panos Papahadzis’ Argonauts, with support from the Greek Film Centre, Ekome and ERT Public TV together with Fiction Park from Germany and Sektor Film from North Macedonia. The project secured backing from Eurimages and Creative Media Europe. Italy’s TVCO has international sales rights.
Behind The Haystacks is playing widely on the international festival circuit. It is at Sydney this month before playing at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.
The Awards provided the perfect occasion for the local film community to voice its hopes and ambitions to the newly re-elected centre-right prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Filmmaker Lefteris Haritos, the new president of the Greek Film Academy, used his address at the awards to tackle the lack of funding for local production through the state-subsidised Greek Film Centre.
Among the other pending matters are a long-awaited reshuffle of the film law, the creation of a university-level film school and the protection of historical film venues from demolition. There was also relief that culture minister Lina Mendoni was reappointed in her post allowing the continuation of the merger of the Greek Film Centre, Ekome, the agency that runs the cash rebate and the tax relief schemes, and Eopi, the agency for the administration of Intellectual rights, into one organisatin. The restructuring had been paused for the election.
However, the film community along with Greece’s wider cultural sector remains skeptical about the government’s commitment to the cultural industries. No party offered a structured and viable programme for culture during their pre-election campaign. An additional worry comes from the rise of the extreme right political wing in Greece. Three parties garnered 14% of the vote and there are concerns their presence In the parliament may impact issues of free expression and tolerance.
Iris winners 2023
Best feature film, fiction
Behind The Haystacks by Asimina Proedrou
Best feature film, documentary
Arm Wrestler (Heiropalestis) by Giorgos Gousis
Best feature film, fiction (Greek minority co-production)
Burning Days directed by Emin Alper (Turkey), produced by Yorgos Tsourgiannis (Horsefly Productions)
Best director
Asimina Proedrou for Behind The Haystacks
Best screenplay
Asimina Proedrou for Behind The Haystacks
Best debut director
Asimina Proedrou for Behind The Haystacks
Best actress
Eleni Kokkidou, Black Stone by Spiros Iakovidis
Best actor
Stathis Stamoulakatos, Behind The Haystacks
Best supporting actress
Dina MIhailidou, Behind The Haystacks
Best supporting actor
Christos Kontogeorgis, Behind The Haystacks
Best cinematography
Simos Sarketzis, Behind The Haystacks
Best editing
Elektra Venaki, Behind The Haystacks
Best music
Gabriel Yared for Broadway by Christos Massalas
Best sound
Nikos Papadimitriou, Elektra, Persefoni Miliou, Kostas Varibopiotis, Behind The Haystacks
Best production design
Ana Georgiadou, Broadway
Best costume design, special effects
Marlie Aliferi, Broadway
Special effects
Thomas Duval, Fabien Guiliani, Antonis Kotzias, Eirini Vianelli, Mihalis Neromiliotis, Dodo by Panos Koutras
Iris honorary award
Actress Bety Livanou
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