The 10th feature film by award winning Greek writer - director- producer Vassilis Mazomenos has began its international film festival run following completion.
The 95 minute drama/black comedy, filmed entirely in Greece, explores seven different stories about love in modern Greece, by people who seek it, find it, lose it.
In his director's statement, Mazomenos explains:
"The film is structured in seven chapters, an introduction and a finale. Shot in just 14 days, Purgatory revisits a prevailing theme, love, in a way that the heroes of the different stories come together, reminding us that what we see is part of an entire society. The title is reminiscent of the Middle Ages. It evokes souls, torture, eternal death or eternal redemption. How far away and yet how close to our time. A time of pandemic and disintegration of the social fabric. The film, tries to show this madness that prevails nowadays, but having as a constant love that all the heroes of the stories seek as a refuge. And even if it is not given to them or does not really belong to them, they grab it like a thirsty man in the desert grabs a bottle for the last drop of water."
The Story
A monk leads a procession in an attempt to open a temple, which the authorities have closed due to a pandemic.
A young girl, a victim of abandonment and exploitation, is rescued from prostitution when her long-lost father reappears.
Two college boys, scions of wealthy families, become perpetrators of violent incidents, unjustifiably injuring a woman.
A policewoman convinces an elderly man suffering from dementia that he is her father.
A couple tries to recover their broken relationship ending in loneliness.
A woman expresses her anger to a civil servant after losing her husband because of his indifference.
A middle-class man sneaks his best friend, who is suffering from cancer, out of the hospital to give him a beautiful end by the sea.
Production Companies
Horme pictures [gr]
Prosenghisi Film & Video Productions [gr]
Ekome - National Centre of Audiovisual Media
Hellenic Radio & Television (ERT)
Vasilis Alatas TV Film [gr]
Story by Vassilis Mazomenos
Written by Vassilis Mazomenos, Vassilis Goudelis
Directed by Vassilis Mazomenos
Main cast
Maria Zorba as Electra, Kostas Baras as Monk, Nefeli Kouri as Aphrodite
Yannis Kokiasmenos as Father, Thodoros Katsafados as Old man
Electra Gennata as Woman in black, Angeliki Karistinou as Officer's wife
Christos Zaxarof as Young man A, Dimitris Fourlis as Young man B
Vangelis Psomas as Officer, Nikos Pantelidis as Clerk
Andreas Natsios as Vassilis, Thanassis Chalkias as Colleague
Maria Karakitsou as Souliotisa, Katerina Tsasi as Young man's mom
Adrian Frieling as Elvis, Anna Goula as Self, Dimitris Siganos as Diakos
Producers Vassilis Mazomenos , Panos Papadopoulos
Co-producer Vasilis Alatas
Executive producer Lampros Georgopoulos
Original music by Alexander Christaras , Michalis Nivolianitis
Cinematography by Fotis Mitsis
Film Editing by Alexander Christaras , Evi Loi
Production Design by Vassilis Mazomenos
Art Direction by Dimitra Panagiotopoulou
Costume Design by Sophia Katsoura
Makeup artist Afroditi Misiakouli
Hair stylist Alex Scissors
Sound designer Costas Chrysogelos
Sound recordist Antonis Samaras
