Stella Theodoraki

Olga, a domestic worker originally from Albania, finds herself in a house she works in downtown Athens, at the right time. Or at the wrong one?

Greece, Russia, USA, Brazil, China, Senegal. Meeting young people in these countries we heard a ‘Rumble’ foretelling an impending explosion. The fall of communism, crisis of capitalism, ecological catastrophes, migration waves, globalization. The new generation is at the forefront, exposed, helpless without being able to envision a more optimistic future. This ‘Rumble’ comes from this young generation. Their words, images, sounds and music compose the notes of an audio-visual symphony entitled: ‘The Rumble of the World’.

Iris, a teacher in her early forties who works at a Fine Arts School, assigns to her students an exercise on a Free Subject. It is a time when social behaviours and values are being called into question. The 20-year-old students are thrilled at the idea of being free to choose their own subjects. They create an “imagination factory” that has no limits. After finding Iris’s lost cell phone, provocative Yorgos, bases his Free Subject on his fictitious recreation of his teacher’s life. Free Subject deals with the limits of individual freedom in contemporary Western societies.

The director creates a parallel of thirty years of her life (mid-1980s to 2012) and the evolution of her country, Greece. The loss of her lover, revived in archive photographs and 8 mm movies, is the background for her despair facing contemporaneous Greece, seen by her in the streets and viewed on television broadcasts from American and Russian channels.

The director creates a parallel of thirty years of her life (mid-1980s to 2012) and the evolution of her country, Greece. The loss of her lover, revived in archive photographs and 8 mm movies, is the background for her despair facing contemporaneous Greece, seen by her in the streets and viewed on television broadcasts from American and Russian channels.

The director creates a parallel of thirty years of her life (mid-1980s to 2012) and the evolution of her country, Greece. The loss of her lover, revived in archive photographs and 8 mm movies, is the background for her despair facing contemporaneous Greece, seen by her in the streets and viewed on television broadcasts from American and Russian channels.

The director creates a parallel of thirty years of her life (mid-1980s to 2012) and the evolution of her country, Greece. The loss of her lover, revived in archive photographs and 8 mm movies, is the background for her despair facing contemporaneous Greece, seen by her in the streets and viewed on television broadcasts from American and Russian channels.

A woman is trying to forget her traumatic past by living a parallel, fictional life.

A woman is trying to forget her traumatic past by living a parallel, fictional life.

This is not an easy mystery to solve in all its subtleties. In the last paragraph, I give my take on the characters. I won't give away the principal spoiler. Still, if you want to exercise your Sherlock skills to the fullest, skip that last paragraph. I'll warn you. A man leaves prison. He has been paroled. The best he can do at first is stay at a shelter for poor people and look for work. In the meantime he tries to reconnect with people he knows and to avoid the attention of several shady individuals that know him. That's the layout. The mystery elements arise from the fact that he is rejected by a few, pursued by a duo of suspicious looking men, and approached by a bunch of unsavory roughnecks that know him well. Why the rejection? Why the persecution? What is the gang about? The film is parsimonious about handing out hints and clues that we need to answer those questions. The best we can do is work out hypotheses and see if they pan out at the end.

Four women, who have been sterilized and are under constant toxic restraint and surveillance, are serving their term in a government-run brothel. The relations between them are at a critical point; food and water are scarce, their house is rotting and ready to collapse. Nothing on the outside exists any more. Nightmarish visions, simulated miscarriages, injections and nausea all make up their daily routine. Yet their dream – even though they have been sterilized by the State – is to have a child. One day, one of their customers disappears. The interrogation begins...

Everyone carries something, some burden that weighs him down. Some are crushed, others are freed, others just carry on. Eleven characters cross each others paths, unveiling their fears and desires, during the world weightlifting championship

A deep, unfulfilled love within an erotic triangle. A story of trust and betrayal. A story of present-day Athens, of onlookers, of hesitation. Where holding back is normal, no matter how self-destructive.

A deep, unfulfilled love within an erotic triangle. A story of trust and betrayal. A story of present-day Athens, of onlookers, of hesitation. Where holding back is normal, no matter how self-destructive.