AMERICA SQUARE by Yannis Sakaridis
Athens today. A fast paced triptych revealing the opposing forces of today’s humanitarian challenges.
Nakos, a banal racist, had enough of the thousands of refugees in his neighborhood. Tarek, a Syrian ex-Military doctor is looking for a deal to smuggle out of Greece with his daughter. Billy a tattoo artist falls in love with Tereza, an African singer who is also looking for an escape by the sea. The three stories merge when Nako’s malicious acts stop Tereza’s and Tarek’s smuggler Hassan. Their illegal trip is interrupted and they have to find another way out. While time is running out for everyone, Billy steps in to organize the escape.
Busan IFF (Flash Forward - audience award candidate), Chicago IFF (comp.) / Kolkata IFF (comp.), Thessaloniki IFF (FIPRESCI award, special mention by the main jury to the actor Vasili Koukalani, special mention by the Youth Jury Awards), Trieste FF (Erasmus Jury Award), Hellas Film Box Berlin, Vilnius FF, Cleveland IFF, Festival Intl. du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Tétouan, Montreal Greek Film Festival, Istanbul IFF (comp.), Beijing IFF (Audience Award), LA Greek FF (Best Film), Ventotene FF (winner Open Frontiers competition), Burgas IFF (audience award and a special mention by the Jury), Divan FF, Monterrey FF, Otranto FFF, Intl Human Rights FF a.o.
Greek submission to the 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Nominated in six categories the film received the national film award for best editing in the Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2017.
Cast
Yannis Stankoglou / Makis Papadimitriou / Vassilis Kukalani / Ksenia Dania
Crew
Director: Yannis Sakaridis / Writer: Yannis Tsirbas, Vangelis Mourikis, Yannis Sakaridis, Based partly in Yannis Tsirbas novel "Victoria doesn't exist" / Producers: Yannis Sakaridis, Nikkos J. Frangos, George Th Lemos, Venia Vergou / Cinematographer: Jan Vogel / Production Designer: Alexia Theodoraki / Editor: Yannis Sakaridis / Sound Design, Mix: George Mikrogiannakis / Original Music: Minos Matsas / Production Companies: Ilioupolis Films, Marblemen Productions / Co-Producers: ERT, Athens Filmmakers' Coop, Pola Bousiou, Arctos, Scripta Manent Tattoo Studio, Antonis Valindras, Dimitris Sakaridis, True Motion Pictures / With the support of Greek Film Center
Technical Information
Original Title: PLATEIA AMERIKIS / shot in 4K ARRI / available for screenings in DCP 24fps / color / image format 1:85 / 86mins / sound format 5.1 / original language: in Greek, English, Arabic with english, french, german, chinese, italian, bulgarian subtitles / Greece, UK, Germany 2016