Hystera
Date:
December 15, 2022
Hystera
Hystera
by Asimina Proedrou
Wild At Heart | Greece and co-produced by Fiction Park | Germany
Live-action feature | 2nd feature
Logline
The lives of three Greek women in Athens intertwine, as a series of incidents makes them radically question their identity, in a story about motherhood, gender roles, and breaking free.
Synopsis
CHRISTINA (30) recovers from a miscarriage after yet another unsuccessful IVF attempt. While YORGOS (38), her husband, and his mother, NIKI (75), keep pressuring her to have a child, Christina gradually realizes she does not want to be a mother. Her cousin-inlaw, STAVROULA (40), a talented painter, now pregnant with her third child, has abandoned her art to raise her children.
When her friend and art curator LYDIA (37) comes back into her life, Stavroula’s longing for both Lydia and her free lifestyle, force her to re-examine her own needs leading to conflict with her husband. Niki returns to her marital home in the village, where she faces the grief about her husband’s death, her loneliness and the difficulty to ‘walk’ in a patriarchal environment without a man next to her. Expressionist sequences break through these stories, exploring the beauty, pain and violence in women’s relationship with their body and their true self, while society constrains their power and sexual expression.
Director’s Profile
Asimina is a writer/director based in Greece.
She has written and directed two multi-awarded short films. Her debut feature film, BEHIND THE HAYSTACKS (2022), was developed at the Berlinale Script Station and First Film First, and supported among others, by ZDF-Arte and Eurimages.
BEHIND THE HAYSTACKS was critically acclaimed, and was described as “an intriguing and deft debut of an intense psychological study of murky morality” (Screen Daily) and “a contemporary Greek tragedy” in which Proedrou juggles “multi-character complexity and non-linear narratives with impressive dexterity” (The Film Verdict).
The film premiered at the Thessaloniki IFF where it won six awards, including Fipresci Award, and at the India IFF, where it won the Best Debut Award. It was selected, among others, for the Palm Springs IFF and Sydney IFF (in collaboration with EFP).
BEHIND THE HAYSTACKS was the Greek Entry for the 96th Academy Awards, it was chosen for the European Film Awards’ Feature Film Selection 2023, and won 10 awards at the Greek Film Academy awards, including the Best Film Award.
This achievement marks a record-breaking number of nominations in the history of the institution, as the film got 17 nominations for 16 categories. It is also among the 10 films selected for the Goya Spanish Academy Awards, and among the 5 films nominated for the 2023 Casting Semiramis Award by the ICDA. The film was a great success in Greece, with a cinema release of more than 30 consecutive weeks.
Company Profile
WILD AT HEART is an Athens-based film production company,
established in 2021 by producer Maria Kontogianni.
The company’s aim is to produce international films of unique cinematic culture and to foster collaborations between foreign and national talent.
Filmography:
NINE LIVES LEFT, in development, 2D animation feature by Zacharias Mavroeidis.
Kids Kino Industry 2021, Animalab – WEMW 2022, Cinekid Script
LAB 2022 and CEE FORUM 2023: Winner of Best Feature Film
Pitching
ANIMAL by Sofia Exarchou, 116’, 2023
in collaboration with Homemade Films. Developed in Cannes IFF
2020 (L’Atelier-Cinefondation) and MIA IFF 2020.
Locarno IFF 2023 – Int. Competition, Winner: Pardo for Best Female Performance Thessaloniki IFF 2023 – Int. Competition, Winner: Golden Alexander Award, etc.
BLACK STONE by Spiros Jacovides, 86’, 2022
Hellenic Film Academy, 2023 – Nominated for 7 Iris Awards, Winner: Iris Award for Best Leading Actress Trieste IFF 2023 – Audience Award of Best Feature, Special Mention of the Jury Award
Thessaloniki IFF 2022, Winner: GFC Best Newcomer Director, Audience Award Meet The Neighbors, Audience Award (M. Cacoyannis), Best Feature (Youth Jury) etc
CAT POSTALE by Zacharias Mavroeidis, 2D animation, 9’, 2022
Olympia IFF for Children and Young People, 2022. Winner: Best
Animation Short Film by the Young Jury (13+)
Hellenic Film Academy – Nomination: Best Animation
Animasyros Int. Animation Festival 2023 – Int. Competition
Reykjavik IFF 2023 – Int.Competition