Greek comedy drama snares two wins in Spanish film festival - The Best from Greece

DESPITE its shoestring budget, Greek comedy drama Unfair World (Adikos Kosmos) scooped two of the top awards at the 59th San Sebastian International Film Festival, held in the northern Spanish resort town of Donostia-San Sebastian from September 16 to 24.

Greek actor Antonis Kafetzopoulos picked up the Silver Shell for Best Actor, while German-trained director Filippos Tsitos took home the Silver Shell for Best Director.

A favourite among Greek audiences for his domestic comedy work, this is the second major film festival accolade Kafetzopoulos has received in recent years.

Kafetzopoulos’ portrayal of an ethnocentric convenience store owner in Tsitos’ 2009 tragicomedy Plato’s Academy granted him a Leopard for Best Actor award at the 2009 Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. The film also garnered the Ecumenical Jury prize and third Youth Jury Award at Locarno. Tsitos’ debut feature My Sweet Home competed at Berlin’s film festival (the Berlinale) in 2001.

In Unfair World, Kafetzopoulos plays Sotiris, a police interrogator who decides, one day, to forgive every poor individual whom life has treated harshly. In his bid to save an innocent soul, he goes as far as to kill a shady security guard. Dora (Theodora Tzimou), a lonesome cleaning lady who leads a breathless life trying to survive, is the sole witness to the crime. Although Sotiris and Dora share a mutual attraction, love, honesty and justice prove an impossible combination.

At the September 24 San Sebastian award ceremony, Kafetzopoulos commenced his speech with a “Buenas noches, muchas gracias” and thanked the jury for the prize, pointing out that its chairman, actress Frances McDormand (Mississippi Burning and Fargo), “happens to be a colleague that I admire very much”.

“This prize gives me, our producer and our director and, mainly, all the colleagues in Greece a very strong incentive to continue what we are doing in these difficult times, because it’s not easy to make films in Greece right now,” said a visibly humbled Kafetzopoulos, speaking in English. Thanking Tsitos in Greek, he quipped, “Filippe, whenever you like, I’ll play in another film (of yours).” He noted:
“I suppose you can understand, in Donostia-San Sebastian, why you have to express some things in your own language.”

Shortly afterwards, Tsitos, appearing a little taken aback, took to the stage to collect his prize. “It was a very long process to make the film and it would be impossible” for him to withstand all the difficulties involved without his wife at his side, he said. She supported him with “such passion” that, at times, he felt that she had more faith in the film than he did. “We did the film with no money at all, so please allow me to dedicate this prize to all the good friends and artists who accepted to work in this film for free,” Tsitos said.

Unfair World is due to be screened at local cinemas in January 2012