Greek filmmaker Sofia Exarchou’s drama “Animal,” which world premieres Aug. 3 in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, has secured its first distribution deals and released a teaser (see below).
The anticipated follow-up to Exarchou’s first feature, “Park,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the New Directors Award in San Sebastian, “Animal” will be distributed in France by Shellac and in Austria by Filmgarten. Shellac is repping the film’s world rights.
“Animal” takes place under the scorching Greek sun as a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort prepares for the busy tourist season. As the summer intensifies and the pressure builds, the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent; in the darkness, the struggles of the group’s leader, Kalia (Dimitra Vlagopoulou), are revealed. But when the spotlights again turn on, the entertainers learn that the show must go on.
“Animal” is produced by Maria Drandaki and Maria Kontagianni for Homemade Films, and co-produced by Lukas Valenta Rinner (Nabis Filmgroup), Laura Sterian (Digital Cube), Stelios Kammitsis and Vicky Miha (Felony), Ivan Tonev (Ars Digital) and Exarchou. It was lensed by Monika Lenczewska, who was named one of PvNew‘s 10 Cinematographers to Watch in 2016.
Exarchou’s debut, a raw snapshot of Athenian youth set against a backdrop of blight in modern Greece, was made at the height of the Mediterranean nation’s economic crisis in 2016. For her sophomore effort, she said in a director’s statement that she “wanted to make a film about work and working conditions in the Western capitalist world, exploring harsh labor conditions.”
Greece’s tourism industry, which generates nearly a quarter of the country’s income, struck the director as an obvious starting point “to talk about people in these structures and the precarity, darkness and exhaustion they experience.”
“Since I was a child, I had stayed in hotels during the summer and was familiar with the tourist season on the islands and how all these places drastically change during this time of year,” Exarchou said. “It was in the ’80s and ’90s, when mass tourism literally exploded. Inside this touristic machine, the animateurs are the employees who provide entertainment. Their unique characteristic gave me the opportunity to explore, parallel to labor, the role and power of entertainment in Europe and the Western world as a critical component for capitalism’s survival.”
In describing the inspiration behind “Animal,” Exarchou also noted that the film’s title alludes to “anima” — the Latin word for soul. “The word animateur also derives from anima — the occupation whose goal is to animate, to cheer up other people, to make them feel happy and alive,” she said.
“I also liked the idea that anima can have a completely different meaning by simply adding the letter ‘L’ to the end of it, bringing up all the violence and aggression, as well as the intensity and energy of this working environment, the inner struggle of those who work in it, and the significance of their own bodies,” she added.
Shellac founder and CEO Thomas Ordonneau said: “We were instantly impressed by the powerful and poignantly accurate filmmaking of Sofia Exarchou. With her second feature film, she confirms her immense talent and sensibility to tackle with care and empathy the issues of our contemporary society. We are convinced the French audience will relate to Kalia’s and her colleagues’ journey through the aftermath of the wearing tourism and entertainment industries. We are looking forward to bringing ‘Animal’ to theaters across the country next year.”
Watch the teaser for “Animal” below.
