Mysterious caves, Nettle Pies and sudden betrayal encourage two childhood pals in Bear Cave, the feature-length debut from co-writers and administrators Stégios Dinopoulos and Krisanna Papadakis romantic journey.
The movie, which stars newcomers Xara Kyriazi and Pamela Oikonomaki, is at the moment in post-production and this week gained the highest prize within the Works in Progress part of the Thessaloniki Movie Competition’s business programme. It’s produced by Dinopoulos, Papadakis, Arsinoi Pilou and Thanasis Michalopoulos of Greece’s Pameligo Collective and Emily Sky Hickin of Pucci Productions.
“The Bear’s Cave” is customized from Dinopoulos and Papadakis’ 2023 brief movie of the identical title, which gained the Golden Dionysus Award for Greatest Movie on the Greek Dramatic Shorts Competition and screened on the Athens Worldwide Movie Competition. Movie Competition and BFI Flare.
The movie tells the story of Algiero (Kiriazzi), described by the filmmakers as a “badass peasant”, and her greatest pal Anita (Okonomaki), a A manicurist, she can be an area “It” woman dwelling in a distant mountain village in northern Greece. Earlier than Anita and her police officer boyfriend begin a brand new life within the metropolis, they hike to a mysterious bear cave—a bit of folklore that has fascinated them since childhood.
The choice to seek for the cave triggers a sequence of sudden betrayals that problem the muse of their lifelong friendship. Because the stakes are raised and their true emotions are revealed, Argyro and Anita should grapple with the query of whether or not they are going to find yourself collectively.
In keeping with the filmmakers, The Bear’s Cave “gives an untold have a look at the lives of two younger queer girls in Greece. It explores their relationship by means of the lens of youth, mild and humor, and is as near what we have come to count on. The distinction between the darkness and ache of rural queer life is stark.
The movie is the end result of a friendship that started when Dinopoulos and Papadakis met whereas finding out at Harvard. The 2 returned to Greece individually through the pandemic — what Dinopoulos describes as a “second of returning to our roots” — and started in search of methods to collaborate. “We have been actually desirous to shoot one thing,” he stated, including that the pair started filming “a really small, impartial, experimental, easy, low-budget undertaking.”
Their crowdfunded brief movie was produced in lower than six weeks — a “fever dream,” in line with Dinopoulos. It additionally got here at a pivotal second within the filmmaker’s life, with Papadakis “slowly stepping again” [to Greece] With no actual long-term plans,” Dinopoulos plans to return to the US for graduate faculty.
Finally, he opted for a grasp’s program, and each discovered themselves rooted of their house nations. “This plan is basically our means of committing to life in Greece,” Dinopoulos stated. “By the top of filming, all of us knew this was an even bigger undertaking and we would have liked to get on with it.”
The movie is financed by the Greek Pameligo Collective, based by the filmmaking workforce, and supported by the Hellenic Movie Middle Micro-Funds Financing Program. Higgin of UK-based Pucci Productions additionally joins as co-producer.
The filmmakers say the collective was shaped to showcase “new views on the filmmaking course of and politics conceived by means of a grassroots collectivist strategy.” “We’re a bunch of individuals, lots of whom put on many hats. [who] “We wish to construct a collective of inventive individuals in Greece,” Dinopoulos stated. “It happened organically within the course of of constructing the movie, however we wished to proceed to construct it.”
“That is just like the reasonably priced mannequin that Greg Kwedar utilized in Sing Sing,” Higgin added. “The construction and nature of it is extremely horizontal and really centered on giving individuals the respect they deserve once they’re doing impartial manufacturing.”
Thessaloniki Movie Competition runs from October thirty first to November tenth.
