Christos Loulis
In 414 B.C., Aristophanes wrote the comedy Ornithes, in which two men leave their birthplace in search of a better life. They arrive in the woodland of the birds and meet Hoopoe, the man who became a bird. This Greek comedy is a contemplation, a voyage of discovery, an essay and perhaps even an indictment. The film mixes talking heads with theatre, street scenes and splendid panoramas. Based on the desire for freedom, but also the obstacles humanity imposes upon itself to find this freedom – walls around countries, social conventions, rules. Children play on swings to feel that tingling in their tummies, the evolutionary memory of flying through the air.
A universal theme: a story of people trapped in an inhuman network of power. The brutal circle of the Eurogroup meetings, who impose on Greece the dictatorship of austerity, where humanity and compassion are utterly disregarded. A claustrophobic trap with no way out, exerting pressures on the protagonists which finally divide them.
A small-time crook agrees to star in a viral video that will restore the image of a businessman who acts against the law. When he realizes that he is the next victim in this man’s list, he struggles to save himself at any cost, in this suspenseful action film.
A couple hires a young migrant to be their surrogate mother and moves her to their beautiful villa. While the man is away for work, the woman and the girl start to bond and enjoy the couple's wealthy way of life. But behind her forced cheerfulness, the woman seems more and more depressed. After a few drinks with the girl, she goes for a drive. The next morning, her husband gets a call: his wife is dead, her burned body was found in her wrecked car.
Twice-orphaned Jace, a seven-year-old Albanian of Greek origin, witnesses a massacre that wipes out his entire foster family in Argyrokastron, and then falls in the hands of a bunch of ruthless gangsters who "export" children abroad for various profitable reasons (ranging from beggary to organ trade). Jace ends up in Athens, Greece, begging at street corners, exploring the secret horrors of brutal institutions for young offenders or, much later, serving obscure patrons, in an underworld where violent loss seems to be his only destiny. The movie follows Jace's inverted Odyssey in a dark universe of abuse, murder and fear, as he desperately (and silently) seeks for a "family" of his own or, at least, for a sense of belonging
Marianna returns to Greece on a whim to surprise her boyfriend, secretly plotting to stay with him forever, while Nikos is using the carnival as an excuse to confess his love to his unsuspecting boss. Eugenia hesitates to tell her daughter about her secret romance with the much younger carnival crew leader, while Ilias has no qualms about begging his estranged wife to come home. Four couples, each one desperately trying to either rescue or escape their relationship, lose themselves in the intoxicating atmosphere of the carnival before they finally reveal their true colors, hidden behind the masks. In the midst of carnival madness, four duets are staking their claim on their own personal Paradise…
Genteel aristocrats and the terrible impasse erect in front of them their debts, forbidden loves and marriages interests, passions and conflicts.
Manos (Christos Loulis) seems to have problems with his love life. He leaves the capital and coercive girlfriend to be close to his only relatives in the province. There, apart from his uncle (Paul Chaikalis) - that is looking frantically for donuts with honey - and beloved aunt (Bright Baxevani), he will meet Xenia (Fay Xila), an old friend who now works in the funeral home. With the help of the clever and cute pink piggy Marikaki he will try to reveal a old secret on the whole village and break out the lies that prevent redemptive truth.
