News

Lazaros Georgakopoulos and Sofia Kokkali in Moon, 66 Questions

There have been few films released this year which have as much visual impact as Jacqueline Lentzou’s Moon, 66 Questions, which is about to be released in UK cinemas. Though it was made on a low budget, its distinctive style grabs viewer attention and lingers in the memory. It addresses the experiences of Artemis (Sofia Kokkali), a young woman who has been living abroad but returns to Athens when her father (Lazaros Georgakopoulos) needs care because he has become severely ill with multiple sclerosis – and yet it is nothing like the average film about illness, focusing instead on how these two very different people relate to one another. Years, even decades can go by between the emergence of directors with such a singular vision, so I was pleased to get the chance to connect with Jacqueline and discuss it.

Jacqueline Lentzou

Her style,...

"He's right in front of me, but I can't see him. I can't talk to him, get to know him..." Film Movement has revealed an official US trailer for an indie drama from Greece titled Moon, 66 Questions. This premiered at various film festivals last year, including playing at the Berlin, Melbourne, and Helsinki Film Festivals, and is opening in the US in art house cinemas this July. After years of distance, Artemis has to get back to Athens due to her father's frail state of health. Discovering her father's well-kept secret allows Artemis to understand her father better, in a way she was not able before, therefore love him truly for the first time. A bittersweet story about a daughter and father reconnecting in tough times. The film stars Sofia Kokkali and Lazaros Georgakopoulos. It's described in reviews as "part coming-of-age, part illness narrative, the film is above all an intimate portrait of Artemis.

Jacqueline Lentzou’s highly anticipated debut feature follows a daughter struggling to reconnect with her ailing father

Jacqueline Lentzou’s debut feature is a difficult, elusive, but ultimately rewarding study of a daughter struggling to reconnect with her father: it’s a film which – initially at least – appears to occlude its own meaning with mannerisms which I associate with the absurdist style of the Greek new wave.

Sofia Kokkali plays Artemis, a young woman who has been away from her Athens family for a long time, but comes home when her father, Paris, (Lazaros Georgakopoulos ) suffers a stroke, rendering him hardly able to walk and all but speechless. Somehow, the responsibility of caring for Paris falls on Artemis while her extended family interview live-in caregivers and squabble about how to proceed. Meanwhile, her mother, estranged from Paris, seems detached from the whole situation, and Artemis is faintly disquieted to be...

The debut film by Yorgos Gousis won prizes for best film first-time director, screenplay and actress.

Newcomer Yorgos Gousis’s Magnetic Fields and Grigoris Karantinakis’ second film Smyrna have dominated the 2022 Iris film awards of the Hellenic Film Academy.

Magnetic Fields won for best film, first- time director, screenplay and best actress prizes, while Smyrna was awarded the trophies for best cinematography, production design and costume design.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Magnetic Fields is a road movie about a man and a woman who have met by chance on a boat and decide to stick together...

Modern Films has debuted the trailer and poster for Jacqueline Lentzou feature ‘Moon, 66 Questions.’

The movie focuses on Artemis who, after years of distance, has to return to Athens due to her father’s frail state of health. Discovering her father’s well-kept secret allows Artemis to understand her father in a way she was not able to before, and to love him truly for the first time.

The film is an intimate and touching portrayal of a teenager as she is forced to reevaluate her relationship with her father

Written and directed by Greek filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou, the film stars Sofia Kokkali (Thread) and Lazaros Georgakopoulos (The Other Me).

Having won critical success at Berlinale winning the Golden Puffin at Reykjavík International Film Festival, the film also won Best Actress at Nouveau Cinema and the Cineuropa Award for Best Film at Sarajevo.

Also in trailers – Dakota Johnson stars in...

Jacqueline Lentzou’s arresting and long-awaited feature debut, “Moon, 66 Questions,” has its national premiere this week at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, after bowing earlier this year in the Berlinale’s new Encounters competition section.

The film tells the story of a young woman, Artemis (Sofia Kokkali), who decides to return to Athens after a long absence because of her father’s (Lazaros Georgakopoulos) declining health. Though she’s expected to take up the responsibility of caring for him, the fractures in their relationship quickly come to the surface. Old battles are revisited and past wounds re-emerge, until the discovery of a long-buried secret offers the two a chance to achieve a kind of catharsis.

“Moon, 66 Questions” is produced by Fenia Cossovitsa, of Blonde Audiovisual Productions, in co-production with Hédi Zardi and Fiorella Moretti of Luxbox, which is also handling world sales.

Arriving in Thessaloniki straight from the Seville European Film Festival,...

Luxbox Films handles international sales.

Film Movement has picked up North American rights to Berlinale selection Moon, 66 Questions, which is currently screening at New Directors/New Films.

Greek filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou’s feature directorial debut was a Teddy nominee in Berlin and also played at Mexico’s Ficunam earlier this year.

Moon, 66 Questions will open theatrically this year follow by home entertainment and digital platforms and centres on twentysomething Artemis (Sofia Kokkali) who returns to Greece to care for her father (Lazaros Georgakopoulos) after he suffers a debilitating illness.

“Starting with her startling shorts, we’ve eagerly followed Jacqueline’s career,...

Consider an odd occurrence: my generation––the millennials––are really feeling tarot and astrology at the moment. There are many pop-psychological interpretations for this: trying to distinguish ourselves from the stricter religious beliefs of our elders, or growing up amidst an economic decline that has made our futures foggier and more provisional-seeming. But there’s an aesthetic explanation that chimes with the influencer-driven social media landscape of TikTok and Instagram, and which rising Greek filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou’s debut feature Moon, 66 Questions seems one of the first to properly capture.

The film, which enjoys its North American premiere at New Directors/New Films this month, is at once a familiar tale of parent-child estrangement and rapprochement, but also a formal experiment in finding a fresher cinematic language to probe these sensitive issues. Like Jane Schoenbrun’s internet odyssey We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, also premiering in...

"I have forgotten about the past. Both mine and his." Luxbox has revealed a new festival promo trailer for an indie drama titled Moon, 66 Questions, marking the feature directorial debut of the Greek artist / filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou. This Greek drama is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival next week, and is still looking for international distribution. After years of distance, Artemis has to get back to Athens due to her father's frail state of health. Discovering her father's well-kept secret allows Artemis to understand her father, in a way she was not able before, therefore love him truly for the first time. The cast includes Sofia Kokkali as Artemis, and Lazaros Georgakopoulos as her father Paris. This looks like a very tender film about forgiveness and vulnerability, I'm curious to give it a look at the festival. Check out the footage below. Here's the festival promo trailer for Jacqueline Lentzou's Moon,...

Day 3 of this year’s Berlinale announcements contain the line-ups for Encounters, Panorama and Perspektive Deutsches Kino. Check back in tomorrow for the Competition program.

Encounters was first introduced at last year’s festival to support new voices in cinema. A three-member jury will award Best Film, Best Director and a Special Jury Award during the industry event in March, with the prizes handed out physically at the summer event.

The selection consists of 12 titles from 16 countries, including seven debuts. Scroll down for the full list.

Over in Panorama, there are 19 titles including 14 world premieres. Several titles arrive from Sundance such as Prano Bailey-Bond’s UK feature Censor and Ronny Trocker’s Human Factors.

Perspektive Deutsches Kino will again present new views on German cinema, with six titles, all of which are world premieres. The full lists are below.

This week so far has seen the Generation, Retrospective, Forum, Forum Expanded and Shorts programs announced.