We are happy to announce the acquisition of The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea – Syllas Tzoumerkas’ third feature after A Blast (2015) and Homeland (2010).
The film will have its premiere in Panorama section of Berlinale.
Syllas Tzoumerkas describes the rural Greece-set film as a tense drama-thriller, a film about dignity and redemption, his first take on genre film after his two controversial political dramas on his country’s recent turmoils. The film was shot in the city of Messolonghi and the surrounding province, a region of
striking beauty around the delta of the river Acheloos in the West coast of Greece.
For The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea, the director reunites with A Blast’s lead actress Angeliki Papoulia (The Lobster, Dogtooth) for the leading part of Elisabeth, a rough, foul-mouthed and promiscuous policewoman who sees her life sinking into the abyss in a swampy provincial town and has to solve a mysterious case.
A large supporting cast depicts the strange community of the city, Christos Passalis (Dogtooth, Black Field) as a local pop star singer at the sunset of his career, the film’s co-writer and Tzoumerkas’ frequent collaborator in both film and theater Youla Boudali (In the Fade, Homeland) as simple-minded
hatchery-worker Rita, Maria Filini (A Blast, Son of Sofia), together with Argyris Xafis, Thanassis Dovris, Laertis Malkotsis, Michalis Kimonas and Thanos Tokakis, all actors with rich background in Greek fringe theater.
Maria Drandaki, producer of all Tzoumerkas’ feature films, produces for Homemade Films, in co-production with Ellen Havenith (PRPL, the Netherlands), Titus Kreyenberg (unafilm, Germany) and Olle Wirenhed (Dragon Films, Sweden).
The film is also co-produced by Film i Väst and has been supported by the Greek Film Center, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Netherlands Film Fund & Film Production Incentive, Svenska Filminstitutet, ERT, Eurimages and Media.