Behind the Haystacks - A film by Asimina Proedrou
Greece – Germany – North Macedonia | 2022 | Fiction | 118 min | Color | Aspect Ratio: 2:1 | 5.1
Language: Greek – English – Macedonian – Arabic
A middle-aged fisherman drowning in debt
a housewife who is seeking the truth in God's Word
and a daughter who tries to define her own life within an oppressive environment.
Until a tragic incident strikes the family pushing the three heroes to face their own personal impasses whilst having to deeply consider the price to pay for their actions.
LOGLINE
A tragic incident on Greece’s northern border strikes a local family of three pushing them to face their own personal impasses while having to deeply consider the price for their actions.
SYNOPSIS
A middle-aged fisherman living on Greece's northern border who is drowning in debt starts to smuggle migrants across the border lake in exchange for a hefty fee. His wife a housewife and devout churchgoer is seeking the truth in God's Word while their daughter tries to define her own life within an oppressive environment. Until a tragic incident strikes the family pushing the three heroes to face their own personal impasses and weaknesses whilst having to consider for the first time in their life the price to pay for their actions.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Behind the Haystacks is a social-family drama with crime elements taking place in 2015 in a lakeside village on the Greek Northern border where hundreds of migrants gather every day with the goal to illegally cross the border into Northern Europe.
The story is told from three different perspectives - those of three family members- while raising questions about how an entire society can corrode be led to crime deception submission and collective denial. Having the background highlighted by the hypocrisy of our ‘civilised’ Western societies which on the one hand shed crocodile tears for humanity but on the other hand become accomplices in the exploitation impoverishment displacement and even death of thousands of people the film is an exploration about where our modern societies are being led to and why and about the way human relationships collapse within these societies. An exploration which however has no intention of condemning the everyday man who – defeated – submits to corrupt social structures. On the contrary it attempts to shed light onto the darkness and unveil everything that is human and beautiful in his everyday struggle to survive from his need to love the other to enjoy his life and improve the world around him.
BIO - Asimina Proedrou | Writer – Director
Asimina was born in 1982 in Athens Greece. She studied music (piano degree in 2001) International Economics (BA in 2005 and MSc in 2007) and Film Directing (BA in 2013 MA in 2016).
Her short film Red Hulk (2013) which was produced written and directed by herself won the Best Short Film Awards at the two major film festivals in Greece. It was officially selected for more than sixty international film festivals including Clermont-Ferrand (International Competition 2014) and won seven international awards.
Her debut feature film Behind the Haystacks is a Greek-German-North Macedonian co-production developed through Berlinale Script Station and First Film First and supported among others by MEDIA ZDF-Arte and Eurimages.
The film premiered at the 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival in November 2022 where it won six awards (Special mention at the Meet the Neigbours Official Competition Fipresci award for Greek Premiere Greek Film Critics Award GFC award for Best Debut Film GFC award for Best Locations National TV award). The film was also officially selected for the 53rd International Film Festival of India (Goa) where it won the Best Debut Feature Award and it has already been very well critically acclaimed in Greece and Internationally. (Screen Daily The Film Verdict Variety Screen Daily New Talents Focus).
Event Venue
Ciné Utopia, 16 Av. de la Faiencerie, 1510 Limpertsberg Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
EUR 5.00 to EUR 10.00
