Greek film ‘Behind the Haystacks’ will premiere in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival this weekend. The writer and director of the multi award wining film spoke to Neos Kosmos upon landing in Australia this week.
The film has won 6 awards at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Best Debut award at the International Film Festival of India, and is nominated for 17 ‘Iris’ awards from the Hellenic Film Academy, which is a record for nominations in the history of the Academy.
The film takes place in 2015 on the border between Greece and North Macedonia, at a time when many European countries had shut their borders, leaving many refugees stranded on the northern borders of Greece.
It follows the story of a fisherman who smuggles refugees on his boat out of Greece, towards northern countries. The story is told from three different perspectives; That of the fisherman, his wife who is heavily involved in the church and that of their daughter, who is trying to pave her own path in an oppressive environment.
Through the film, writer/director Assimina Proedrou examines family dynamics, and the pressure that society puts upon families and the individual.
Assimina Proedrou was born in Athens. She completed her studies at the Athens University of Economics and Business. While working, she began her studies in film and during that time, directed the short film ‘Red Hulk’ (2013). ‘Red Hulk’ received the first prize at the National Short Film Festival in Drama, Greece.
Whilst undertaking long distance postgraduate studies in film at Staffordshire University, in collaboration with Raindance Film School, she wrote the script for ‘Behind the Haystacks’ in 2014.
Proedrou wanted to focus on how every day people are trapped in a system of corruption. The director reveals that she found out about Lake Doirani through a friend of hers, and while she had never been, she decided to visit the location with the aim of making her film there.
The first night she was there, she discovered that in the same hotel that she was staying, there were 30 Syrian refugees. That’s how she decided to incorporate the refugee crisis in her film.
The director admitted that she faced a lot of difficulties in the early stages of producing the film. The main obstacle was the budget.
“A difficulty many directors and producers face in Greece, let alone a debutant director,” Proedrou said.
She spoke with gratitude about the team who worked on the film, who invested a lot of effort, time and put all their love into the film… “This is how we make films in Greece”, she said laughing.
The filming took place during the second Covid lockdown, something that proved to be a great feat. The weather was a major obstacle, as it snowed heavily in the winter of 2021.
The 10 hour long filming sessions, most of the time took place in conditions of -10 degrees. In one instance, it snowed so much that the production were unable to transport the actors from Athens to Kilkis.
‘Behind the Haystacks’ has found a dedicated audience in Greece with people who love the film. It’s still being shown in cinemas five months after its release, a major achievement in the era of streaming.
At the premiere of the film in Thessaloniki, Proedrou reveals that she was very stressed, since it was her first time a full audience had watched the film.
The moment the film ended, the audience began asking questions and exchanging warm comments towards the director and film. The conversation lasted so long, that director along with the audience were asked to take the conversation outside.
‘Behind the Haystacks’ is executed in such a way that the viewer is able to find similarities between themselves and the characters, with its human portrayal. Proedrou has managed to ‘condemn society, and not the people’.
Assimina Proedrou was born in Athens. She completed her studies at the Athens University of Economics and Business. While she was working, she began her studies in Film and during her studies, she directed the short film ‘Red Hulk (2013)’. ‘Red Hulk’ received the first prize at the National Short Film Festival in Drama, Greece. Whilst she was undertaking her Postgraduate studies in Film at a University in England, she wrote the script for ‘Behind the Haystacks’, which will be screened at the Sydney Film Festival this coming weekend.
‘Behind the Haystacks’ screens at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday 10/6 at 6:30pm, and on Sunday 11/6 at 12:30pm.
