Plato’s Academy

  • a film by Filippos Tsitos
  • feature film
  • 103 min
  • 2009

Stavros is a selfish, simple minded, nationalistic Athenian, who leads a parasitic life, in a xenophobic environment – until one day, he gets to know, that he’s not Greek, but Albanian.

TrailerOnline stream
Info

  • Genre

    • Tragikomödie

  • Countries of Production

    • Deutschland / Griechenland

  • Language

    • Griechisch / Albanisch

  • World premiere

    • 13th August 2009 – Locarno IFF

  • German cinema release

    • 22nd July 2010

  • a production by

    • Twenty Twenty Vision, Pan Entertainment S.A.

  • in co-production with

    • ZDF-Das Kleine Fernsehspiel

  • in association with

    • ARTE, ERT S.A., Graal S.A., Digital Creations

  • with the support of

    • MBB - Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Eurimages, MEDIA Program, Greek Film Centre

  • Distribution

    • Neue Visionen Filmverleih
Synopsis

Athens, Plato’s Academy district. A small, quiet junction with three tobacco stores and a dog.
Stavros owns one of the stores. His wife has left him and refuses to come back; his mother has already had a stroke and he must take care of her 24/7.

The favourite hobby of the three tobacconists is counting the Chinese, who are setting up their shop across the street. It is an everlasting hobby because the Chinese appear to multiply by the day. They only stop counting if an Albanian goes past them. Then, they bet on whether the dog will bark at the Albanian or not. This is their second favourite hobby. That is how they spend their life, idly and merrily, watching life go by, outside their stores.

However, Stavros is constantly worried. He is inexplicably unhappy. At night, he suffers from insomnia, but he is not able to pinpoint what is wrong with himself. Until one day, an Albanian, who goes past the three men (and gets barked at by the dog), recognises Stavros’s mother as his own long-lost mother.

Cast

  • Stavros

    • Antonis Kafetzopoulos

  • Marenglen

    • Anastas Kozdine

  • Mother

    • Titika Saringouli

  • Nikos

    • Giorgos Souxes

  • Argyris

    • Konstantinos Koronaios

  • Thymios

    • Panayiotis Stamatakis
Crew

  • Written by

    • Alexis Kardaras
    • Filippos Tsitos

  • Directed by

    • Filippos Tsitos

  • Producers

    • Thanassis Karathanos
    • Constantin Moriatis

  • Director of photography

    • Polidefkis Kirlidis

  • Editor

    • Dimitris Peponis

  • Set design

    • Spyros Laskaris

  • Music

    • Enstro

  • Sound Design

    • Eric Horstmann, Yiorgos Askiotis

  • Mixing Engineer

    • Costas Varibopiotis, Matthias Schwab
Festivals
  • Locarno IFF - Weltpremiere
  • Nominated for LUX-Prize / European parliament
  • Tirana IFF
  • LA Greek Film Festival
  • Venice FF
Awards
  • Leopard for the Best Actor (Antonis Kafetzopoulos) / Locarno IFF
  • Eucumenical Jury Prize / Locarno IFF
  • Youth Jury Prize / Locarno IFF
  • Film Music Award / Max Ophüls Preis

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