The story of the near abandoned remote village of Elias in Karditsa is heading to the 92nd Academy Awards.
Directed by Marianna Economou and produced by Anemon Productions and Stefi & Lynx Productions, ‘When Tomatoes Met Wagner’ is Greece’s choice for the Oscars this year; a unique, heartfelt story of a tiny community rescued by organic tomatoes.
Running for 72 minutes, the doco will compete in the international feature category, with its heroes being the actual inhabitants of Elias village. The protagonists, a total of 33 people, the majority of whom are elderly women, are led by a duo of middle aged farmers, Christos and Alekos.
Christos is the one that saves the village, as he comes up with an eccentric idea that becomes a successful business plan.
They work on an organic farm and make tomato and honey products by hand, which they then export around the world.
Christos decides to turn to growing organic tomatoes, but the cultivation of the precious fruit has a very interesting, yet odd twist.
The inventive farmer ‘feeds’ his tomatoes with Wagner’s symphonies through loudspeakers.
When pasteurised and processed, the delicious product finds its way into health food shops around the world and becomes so successful it saves the crisis-stricken village from oblivion.
From a forgotten dot on the map without a school, a priest or shops, Elias becomes a beacon of hope for the entire area.
The 92nd Academy Awards take place on February 9, 2020.
Although Greece has been submitting films to the Academy Awards since the 1950s and has been nominated five times, it has never won an Oscar in this category.
The most recent Academy nomination for Greece was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth.
Watch the trailer here: