Greek indoor cinemas are confirmed to reopen from July 1.
Georgis Grigorakis’ Digger, starring Vangelis Mourikis and Argyris Pandazaras, dominated the Hellenic Film Academy (Helfiac) Iris awards on June 16, winning 10 of the 14 awards for which it was nominated, including best film, director, first film and screenplay.
Digger tells the story of a father-son reunion set against the backdrop of rural and environmental issues.
The Greek-German-French co-production is a collaboration between Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Haos Films, Christos Konstantakopoulo of Faliro House, Fenia Cossovitsa’s Blonde and Gabrielle Dumon’s Le Bureau Films. It premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale...
Georgis Grigorakis’ Digger, starring Vangelis Mourikis and Argyris Pandazaras, dominated the Hellenic Film Academy (Helfiac) Iris awards on June 16, winning 10 of the 14 awards for which it was nominated, including best film, director, first film and screenplay.
Digger tells the story of a father-son reunion set against the backdrop of rural and environmental issues.
The Greek-German-French co-production is a collaboration between Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Haos Films, Christos Konstantakopoulo of Faliro House, Fenia Cossovitsa’s Blonde and Gabrielle Dumon’s Le Bureau Films. It premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale...
- 6/21/2021
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
A corporate destruction project offers a symbolic backdrop for this poignant drama about a father-son relationship
Its plot featuring a giant mining corporation known as “the monster” tearing up the landscape and causing bitter division among the hard-drinking local populace, this handsomely shot drama could be taking place in rust-belt America. But this is backwoods Greece, where forest rancher Nikitas (Vangelis Mourikis), first seen fending off a landslide caused by the miners’ activities, is fighting a running battle to keep them from despoiling the haven he loves. A motorbike throttle at midnight announces the arrival of his estranged son Johnny (Argyris Pandazaras), whose need to claim his inheritance adds to the pressure on Nikitas to ship out.
Related: Europe in 25 films: the critics’ choice...
Its plot featuring a giant mining corporation known as “the monster” tearing up the landscape and causing bitter division among the hard-drinking local populace, this handsomely shot drama could be taking place in rust-belt America. But this is backwoods Greece, where forest rancher Nikitas (Vangelis Mourikis), first seen fending off a landslide caused by the miners’ activities, is fighting a running battle to keep them from despoiling the haven he loves. A motorbike throttle at midnight announces the arrival of his estranged son Johnny (Argyris Pandazaras), whose need to claim his inheritance adds to the pressure on Nikitas to ship out.
Related: Europe in 25 films: the critics’ choice...
- 2/15/2021
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
A few minutes before the end of “Digger,” first-time feature director Georgis Grigorakis arrives at a closing shot for the ages: an ambiguous, breath-halting ellipsis that distills all the film’s themes of dueling familial, economical and community values into one spooky, funny man-versus-machine tableau. Except, as it turns out, it’s not the closing shot, as “Digger” continues into a needless bow-tying epilogue that double-underlines points the film has already made elegantly clear.
A little like the clashing men at its center — an estranged father and son fighting for family land in an absurd, escalating war of physical and emotional attrition — Grigorakis doesn’t exactly know when to quit. The rest of his debut, however, could hardly be more exactingly poised and composed, drenched in thick, cloudburst-blue mood that lends heft and consequence to its small-scale storytelling.
A Berlinale Panorama premiere which later resurfaced in the Sarajevo lineup, “Digger...
A little like the clashing men at its center — an estranged father and son fighting for family land in an absurd, escalating war of physical and emotional attrition — Grigorakis doesn’t exactly know when to quit. The rest of his debut, however, could hardly be more exactingly poised and composed, drenched in thick, cloudburst-blue mood that lends heft and consequence to its small-scale storytelling.
A Berlinale Panorama premiere which later resurfaced in the Sarajevo lineup, “Digger...
- 8/18/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
For a feature debut that he describes as a contemporary Western, Greek director Georgis Grigorakis settled on a familiar archetype — “a lonely guy with his horse, with his shotgun” — who, in keeping with the genre’s conventions, is drawn into a confrontation and is prepared to fight to the bitter end in the defense of his beliefs.
But while the battle lines may seem clear at the outset of “Digger,” which world premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival and now plays in the main competition lineup of the Sarajevo Film Festival, a more unsettling conflict takes shape for Nikitas (Vangelis Mourikis) when his son Johnny (Argyris Pandazaras) appears after a 20-year absence, demanding his share of the family’s land. An offer to buy the property for a princely sum pits the two men against each other, while exposing deeper rifts in a mountain community struggling for its survival.
But while the battle lines may seem clear at the outset of “Digger,” which world premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival and now plays in the main competition lineup of the Sarajevo Film Festival, a more unsettling conflict takes shape for Nikitas (Vangelis Mourikis) when his son Johnny (Argyris Pandazaras) appears after a 20-year absence, demanding his share of the family’s land. An offer to buy the property for a princely sum pits the two men against each other, while exposing deeper rifts in a mountain community struggling for its survival.
- 8/14/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
"Just sell it and give me my share. You owe me." The Match Factory has revealed an official sales promo trailer for a film called Digger, a Greek contemporary western that marks the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Georgis Grigorakis. This just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last month, playing in the Panorama section. Digger is about a father and his "long lost" son, who returns to his secluded home on a motorbike and demands the inheritance that he's owed. Berlinale describes: "Director Georgis Grigorakis sets his rain-drenched woodland Western against a majestic backdrop and finds robust yet tender images to tell this tale of rapprochement between two men. A story of resistance more powerful than the strongest excavator." Starring Vangelis Mourikis, Argyris Pandazaras, and Sofia Kokkali. From this footage, it reminds me a lot of the German film Western, which is also an examination of masculinity in modern times.
- 3/17/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Greek filmmaker Georgis Grigorakis' first feature is a contemporary western which will world-premiere in the Berlinale's Panorama section. We present the trailer for the first feature by Greek director Georgis Grigorakis, Digger, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale's Panorama section on Monday 24 February. Written by Grigorakis and with the story credited to him, Maria Votti and Vangelis Mourikis, who also stars along with Argyris Pandazaras and Sofia Kokkali, Digger is a contemporary western about a native farmer who lives and works alone in a farmhouse in the heart of a mountain forest in Northern Greece. For years now, he has been fighting against an expanding industrial monster digging up the forest, disturbing the lush flora and threatening his property. Yet the greatest threat comes with the sudden arrival of his young son, after a 20-year separation. They turn into enemies under one roof. Father and son...
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