Beta Cinema has acquired all rights except Greece to Yorgos Zois’s Arcadia which world premieres in the Berlinale’s Encounters section.
Greek director Zois’s second feature is a drama fantasy starring Vangelis Mourikis, who was at the Berlinale in 2014 with Yannis Economides’ Stratos and in 2020 with Georgis Grigorakis‘ Digger, and Angeliki Papoulia, best known for her performances in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth and The Lobster.
Arcadia follows neurologist Katerina and Yannis, a former well-respected doctor, heading off to a deserted seaside resort where Yannis has been called to identify the victim of a tragic accident. Together with Yannis, but also on her own nightly excursions to a mysterious, rustic beach bar called Arcadia, they begin to put the pieces of the puzzle of the accident together, revealing a story of love, loss, acceptance and letting go.
The film is produced by Antigone Rota and Stelios Cotionis for Foss Productions, the production company behind Milky Way, Echoes of the Past and The Beach, and by Maria Drandaki (Animal, The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea, Electric Swan) for Homemade Films.
Zois’ debut feature Interruption played in Venice Horizons in 2015, and he has made four acclaimed short films including the EFA nominated Titloi telous. Ηe was also member of the official Jury “Lion of the Future” at the 74 Venice film festival.
Zois said: “I always wanted to make a metaphysical love story and I feel moved coming back to Berlin to present the film to the world, the city that I fell in love with as a residence fellow and never let it go.“
Arcadia marks the first time that Foss Productions and Homemade Films have worked together, although each of Arcadia’s three producers has worked with Zois separately on all his films since his debut short, Casus Belli, premiered in Venice in 2010.
The producers said: “When Yorgos told us that he wanted to make a love story where love and loss would coexist between real and imaginary worlds, we immediately realised that this film was a natural sequel to his work and wanted to support it.”
“We are proud to have found a true gem with Arcadia,” said Tassilo Hallbauer, head of sales and acquisitions at Beta Cinema. “It is a beautiful, magical tale with a profound emotional impact and shows the unique handwriting of the extremely talented Yorgos Zios. Its universal topic will speak to audiences all over the world.”
Arcadia is co-produced by Red Carpet (Aga, Alienation) in association with Two & Two Pictures and was supported by Eurimages, Greek Film Center, Bulgarian National Film Center, Ekome, Flux Laboratory Athens and Onassis Culture.
It was written by Konstantina Kotzamani and Yorgos Zois with cinematography by Konstantinos Koukoulios (GSC). Elena Topalidou (Magnetic Fields, Bella) Nikolas Papagiannis (Echoes, Silent Road) and Vagelis Evangelinos (Amercement, Animal) round out the cast.
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