Wide Management has acquired world sales rights to Christina Ioakeimidi’s “Medium,” a story of first love set against the stifling heat of an Athenian summer that world premieres Aug. 14 in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
based on a novel by Giorgos Sibardis, the film follows 16-year-old Eleftheria (Aggeliki Beveratou), who escapes the suffocating reality of the Greek countryside to visit her pregnant sister (Katerina Zisoudi) in Athens. It is August, during a terrible heat wave, when most Athenians abandon the city, and Eleftheria feels likewise abandoned: still grieving the loss of her mother, while her sister is preoccupied by her pregnancy and her father has just started a new family back in the village.
Suddenly, Eleftheria meets a mysterious neighbor, Angelos (Nikolakis Zeginoglou), a 26-year-old medical student who invites her into his fascinating grown-up world. A stranger in a strange land, she roams the scorching city streets on his bike, embarking on a journey to discover herself through the ferocity of first love.
Adapting another creator’s work for the first time, Ioakeimidi — who also wrote the film’s script — said she was instantly grabbed by Sibardis’ atmospheric book.
“When I read the novel, I recognized themes that keep appearing in my work: intense family relations, unexpressed trauma, sudden loss,” Ioakeimidi told PvNew. “There was also the atmosphere of a hot Athens summer that was so strong in the novel, that as I was reading it, images would leap out of the pages. I have a love-hate relationship with Athens, a city of such contrast, that quickly became the third protagonist in the film.
“But it was the main character that I fell in love with. A seemingly naive and lost woman that proves to have an inner strength and beauty that I found unique,” she continued. “‘Medium’ is a character film. It relies little on dialogue and plot, and more on observation and the importance of small moments that can prove to unexpectedly affect our lives.”
At its heart, Ioakeimidi said, it’s also a film about the transformative power of first love. “There is a special beauty in allowing ourselves to become vulnerable to the other person even though it can prove to be painful. As we grow older and ‘wiser,’ it gets more and more difficult to put ourselves through that without any protection,” she added. “only first-time love has this fascinating quality. From then on, we know better.”
“Medium” is produced by Yorgos Noussias and Louizos Aslanidis for Athens-based Ekso Productions and co-produced by Veselka Kyriakova of Bulgaria’s Red Carpet and Ioakeimidi, whose directorial debut, “Harisma,” premiered in 2010.
“We are thrilled to work with Christina Ioakeimidi on her beautiful second feature,” said Maxime Montagne, head of acquisitions at Wide. “A subtle first-love story, full of poesy, set during a stifling summer in Athens. We’re confident that this story will resonate with the audience and festivals around the world.”
The Sarajevo Film Festival runs Aug. 11 – 18.
