PANOS KOUTRAS

The collective collapse of the Xenia hotels as a metaphor for the Greek dream has director Koutras making a road movie. He infuses it with melodrama, with clarity and tenderness, and looks straight at our inadequacies as individuals and as a society. — After their mother’s death, two brothers, 16 and 18 years old respectively, travel through Greece to locate their father, who abandoned them years ago. Their goal is to secure Greek citizenship; furthermore, the older of the two wants to participate in a song contest in Thessaloniki. Along the way, they encounter both foes and friends and are forced to grow up quickly; but they never give up on the right to dream of a better life. — Best Film | Chicago International Film Festival | 2014 Best Film | Hellenic Film Academy Awards | 2015 Best Fiction Film | Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival | 2014