The international premiere of the Greece/UK production The Winter was hosted this week at the 21st Delphi Bank Greek Film Festival in Melbourne and Sydney.
A visually engrossing, supernatural story of a young man’s homecoming and the laying to rest of the ghosts of his past, The Winter features a romantic writer, heavily in debt, who escapes London and returns to his abandoned family home in a remote Greek mountain village, only to be haunted by his imaginative father.
A young writer Niko (Theo Albanis) runs away to the Greek mountain town of Siatista, the place where his father (Vangelis Mourikis) died years earlier under mysterious circumstances.
Having left as a boy, and finding his family home in an unexpected state of disrepair, Niko attempts to settle in amongst familiar ghosts and strange dreams, hoping to finish his first novel and learn more of his father’s final days. Hiding his presence in Greece from his mother, Niko lies that he’s living a successful life in London, complete with fictional girlfriend.
Suspect in the eyes of the local priest (Andreas Andreopoulos), and a target of curiosity in the village, Niko finds an unexpected friend in his concerned elderly neighbour, Philio (Efi Papatheodorou). When a girl at the local internet cafe catches his eye, Niko’s hopes brighten as he fantasises about their potential happiness.
Haunted by his father’s despair and pursued by debt collectors, will Niko fall under the spell of his inherited fantasy world, or follow his dreams in real life?
“The Winter for me is an exploration of the realm of dreams and fantasy played out against the backdrop of an atmospheric setting; an ancient, crumbling house in the mountains of Siatista, steeped in superstition and family ghost stories. Indeed, the kind of memories that still echo between the walls of the empty house,” director Kostas Koutsoliotas said about his first feature-length film as a director and writer.
As a 3D animator and visual effects artist, Kostas has worked on numerous commercial projects, including Hollywood features Guardians of the Galaxy and 300. The Winter made its world premiere at the 54th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, proving very popular with audiences, as one of the top picks in the Industry Screening room.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/thewintermovie