“Broadway” is set to open at cinema theaters in Greece co-produced by Onassis Culture
Director Christos Massalas’ first feature film is co-produced by Onassis Culture.
Still from the "Broadway" movie
Flying in the face of her wealthy bourgeois family’s reprimands, Nelly starts work as a dancer in a strip club. There she meets Markos, a charismatic two-bit hustler who helps her give the henchmen her stepfather sent after her the slip. Markos, who becomes her minder and lover, takes her to his hideout – an abandoned amusement complex called Broadway on Athens’ Patission Street, where a gang of pickpockets now squats. With them lives a capuchin monkey called Lola, and a mysterious man wrapped in bloodied bandages who’s on the run from kingpins of the underworld. Nelly decides to stay with this Broadway band and, for a time, everything runs smoothly in their little world. But when Markos is arrested one day and sent to prison, the group dynamic shifts – and the consequences are unexpected.
The film stars a strong ensemble cast of young actors and performers (Elsa Lekakou, Foivos Papadopoulos, Stathis Apostolou, Rafael Papad, and Salim Talbi), with guest appearances made by Eleni Foureira and Lakis Gavalas. It also marks the major cinematic comeback of Hristos Politis, known for his legendary performance as Yiangos Drakos in the Greek television series “Lampsi” (“Splendor”). With original music by the Oscar- and Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriel Yared (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”, “The Lives of Others”, “The English Patient”). “Broadway” is produced by Neda Film (Greece) in partnership with
Blue Monday Productions (France) and Digital Cube (Romania). Le Pacte is handling international sales, and distribution in France.
Supported by: the Greek Film Center, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the Greek National Center of Audiovisual Media and Communication – EKOME, Onassis Culture, CNC Île-de-France, the Sundance Institute, and the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation
Making a film is like dreaming with your eyes open. And in films, like in dreams, you connect dots that were unconnected before and new shapes emerge. These shapes carry the mysterious essence of the world – your world, at least. It was 7 years ago that the dream of “Broadway” began. The colors were saturated and the feelings were sometimes red, sometimes blue and sometimes they smelled of gasoline. There were dancers, there were thieves and Athens was a sunlit stage where monuments of the 20th century stood glorious and rusty. The world of “Broadway” started building itself in my head, little by little, through the years. I went on to make short films in the meantime and, along the way, I met the people who would become the invaluable clan of “Broadway” – in front of the camera and behind. In these 7 years that have passed since that first daydream, the world has taken so many strange turns; and along with it, our collective fantasies kept palpitating in search of new rhythms, new rhymes, old worlds and urban myths for the days to come. And just like with urban myths, “Broadway” is as true as you want it to be. If you believe it, you might see the marquees lighting up one after the other. And maybe this time, you will be the star.
Written and Directed by: Christos Massalas
Producer: Amanda Livanou (Greece)
Co-producers: Bertrand Gore (France), Cristian Nicolescu (Romania)
Co-producer: Christos Massalas
Music: Gabriel Yared
Cinematography: Konstantinos Koukoulios
Editor: Yorgos Lamprinos
Production Design: Anna Georgiadou
Costume Design: Marli Aleiferi
Choreographer: Chali Jennings
Sound: Dimitris Kanellopoulos, Valia Tserou, Vincent Verdoux
Make-up Artist: Ioanna Lygizou
Hair Stylist: Chronis Tzimos
Production Managers: Katerina Seferli, Giorgos Stergiou
