A PLACE CALLED HOME (2013)

Original title: Το Δέντρο και η Κούνια

Produced by: Steficon SA.
Producers: Michael Sarantinos, Helen Atsikbasis
Co-producers: Greek Film Centre, IntermediaNetwork (Serbia), ERT, Nova Satellite TV, Stefi Productions, TownFilm, Phos Productions
Director: Maria Douza
Screenplay: Maria Douza
Director of Photography: Michael Sarantinos
Production Designer: Jiovanni Janetti
Editor: Yannis Kostavaras
Music: Anna Stereopoulou
Duration: 110mins
Production Year: 2013
Release Date: February 2014
Cast: Myrto Aikaki, Elias Logothetis, Mirjana Karanović, Nikos Orphanos, Iris Mitta, Eleni Kouletsi, Melina Lilaliou, John Bicknell, Gennadios Patsis, George Souxes
Genre: Family/Social Drama

SYNOPSIS:

Eleni is a successful professional woman of Greek origin lives and works in London, for the last fifteen years. Kyriakos, her father, lives in Greece, the mayor of his native hometown. A refugee child in Serbia after the war who battled his way back home, Kyriakos has never forgiven Eleni for leaving her country. One day, Eleni’s British husband Harry loses his job in a big corporation and is posted to China indefinitely. The prospect of a new uprooting prompts Eleni to make a “return” trip to her homeland. Before embarking upon a distant journey, Eleni wants to bridge the distance between her and her father, but also give her daughter Anna a “home” if she ever needs it. On a deeper level, though, what she really needs is to find a way back “home” herself. On the pretext of responding to one of her father’s calls, she takes Anna and comes to Greece, for Easter holiday. But when she reaches home nothing she finds is as she expects.

Set in the overburdened atmosphere of the Greek Easter, the story interweaves present reality, and political history in a modern tale about the relentless movement of people, repentance, acceptance and love.

In the words of Maria Douza, the director, “In our efforts to implement this project, we had had the good fortune to come across IntermediaNetwork, a Serbian team looking for an opportunity to collaborate with Greek film-makers, and initiate a long term creative relationship. In my mind, this collaboration of Greek and Serbian production companies is more than business. It embodies the idea of the film, the belief that we can construct new alliances and community, and that we can live and work together in a truly pluralist world.”