– The Greek writer-director works on the story of a girl who tries to find answers in a world that is slowly disintegrating
Eva Samioti and Myrto Meitani-Kastrinaki on the set of Riviera (© Chloe Kritharas)
Greek screenwriter and director Orfeas Peretzis has so far written and directed six short films, and recently completed an essay titled Iodine – Greece in the Ruins of Missolonghi which this year won the Audience Award from the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. He also just finished filming Rivierahis first fiction feature film.
The film follows Alkistis, who lives in a family villa with rooms to let, on the Athens Riviera, with his mother Anna and their only guests: Petros, a writer, and the Chatzivasilious, an elderly couple. She is completely devoted to two things: the memory of her father, who died in a water-skiing accident, and a palm tree called The Jerry that lives in the front yard of the house. Despite fierce protests from Alkistis, his mother decides to sell the villa. Riviera recounts Alkistis’ last summer in this house, as she tries to find meaning in a world that is disappearing around her.
The screenplay of the film is by Peretzis, and Alkistis is embodied by Eva Samioti, for the first time on screen in a feature film. The troupe also includes well-known actors, such as Maria Apostolaka, Kostas Koronaios, Christos Vasilopoulos, Sofia Seirli, Alkis Panagiotidis, Mihalis Siriopoulos and Myrto Meitani-Kastrinaki. On the team side, it’s Giorgos Valsamis (director of photography on the short film awarded the Palme d’or The Distance Between Us and the Sky of Vassilis Kekatos) who provides the image, and the editing was entrusted to Giorgos Zafeiris (Apples [+lire aussi :
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On what inspired him to make this film, Peretzis said: “Riviera is filled with memories of my teenage years, when I went on vacation with my grandmother to a seaside town not far from Athens. These memories consist of faded villas and dusty old BMWs and Mercedes, with flat tires, abandoned in garages. I heard stories about the owners: how they lived long before, the big parties they gave at one time. I grew up with stories about what looked like a glorious past, whereas now we are going through a problematic present made up of crises: economic, environmental and cultural. Riviera has become the formulation of an acceptance of this anxiety as a source of serenity rather than a curse, in these ever-changing times, and deals with it by rejecting a glorious past that is no longer possible. Alkistis is a character with a colorful personality, brimming with youth, who is forced to seek a ‘purpose’ beyond this place and this time.”
Riviera is a co-production between Greece and France produced by Konstantinos Vassilaros for Athenian society StudioBauhaus with Alexandre Gavras of KG Productionsin co-production with ERT S.A. and Micro Climate Studios. The film received support fromCreative Europe – MEDIAfrom Greek Cinematography Centerfrom CNCof the’Support for the co-production of Franco-Greek cinematographic works and National Center for Audiovisual Media and Communications – EKOME SA. The project was developed within the framework of MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2019 and MFI Script2Film Workshops.
(Translated from English)
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Orfeas Peretzis completes the filming of Riviera