Onassis

Babis Makridis’ mercilessly black comedy premieres at the Onassis Stegi. What happens when a sensible husband and father realizes that he can only find happiness in pity?

Photo: Margarita Nikitaki

What a… pity! The Onassis Stegi opens its 2018-19 season with “Pity”; with pity and laughs — feelings which many times are hard to separate. The award-winning tragicomedy by Babis Makridis deals with a man’s quest for sadness, which becomes an end in itself, in a world not cruel enough for him. The director has co-written the script with Efthymis Filippou and the film will be screened from 28 September to 7 October, exclusively at the Onassis Stegi Upper Stage.

“Pity”, a black tragicomedy about our penchant for dramatizing situations, is co-produced by Onassis Culture and is the first film to be screened exclusively at the Onassis Stegi. Babis Makridis is our guest of honor, and it is a great pleasure for the Onassis Stegi to present a film that makes us smile for a hero who always wants to be in tears. The Onassis Foundation aims to fund and sponsor but also to collaborate in producing cultural events that surprise us, stimulating our spirit and provoking our feelings; it is thus participating for a third time in producing a Greek film. The script is co-written by Efthymis Filippou, an old friend of the Onassis Foundation, having already written two plays for the Onassis Stegi (“Aimata” [Bloods] in 2014 and “Rob” in 2018).

How does unhappiness mix with happiness? Our hero’s daily ritual begins with a satiating sobbing session in his bedroom. When tragedy knocks on his door, the people around him stand by his side. Drawing a sense of satisfaction from all the compassion, kindness and attention of his peers, the middle-aged lawyer becomes addicted to their pity, so much so that he now feels unhappy when he’s happy and he’s happy only when he’s unhappy.

He cannot accept other people’s unhappiness, only his own, and while most people strive for happiness, our hero strives for unhappiness. The macabre meets the comical in "Pity", which, following on from its selection for the International Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival and its success on the international festival circuit, receives its Greek premiere at the Onassis Stegi.

Credits

Script: Efthimis Filippou, Babis Makridis

Director: Babis Makridis

Director of Photography: Konstantinos Koukoulios

Set Designer: Anna Georgiadou

Costume Designer: Dimitris Papathomas

Sound Designers: Stefanos Efthymiou, Leandros Ntounis, Kacper Habisiak, Marcin Kasińśki

Editor: Yannis Chalkiadakis

Music: Mikolaj Trzaska

Cast: Yannis Drakopoulos, Evi Saoulidou, Makis Papadimitriou, Nota Cherniavsky, Georgina Chrysikoti, Nikos Karathanos, Panagiotis Tassoulis, Evdoxia Androulidaki, Kostas Xikominos, Kostas Kotoulas, Marissa Triantafyllidou, Victor Arditis

A Neda Film, Faliro House, Beben Films, Madants (Poland) production.

Co-produced by: Onassis Foundation, Eurimages, ΕRΤ, Greek Film Center, Polish Film Institute, ORKA, Foss Productions, Filmprodukcja

Produced by: Amanda Livanou, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Klaudia Śmieja, Beata Rzeźniczek.

Distributor: StraDa Films

World Sales: New Europe Film Sales

Read more

Babis Makridis calls his film a tragicomedy or "tragic comedy", while international reviews speak of “a Greek ultra-black comedy” (Variety) and “a universe parallel to reality, only bleaker and funnier” (Cineuropa). Babis Makridis has co-written the script with Efthimis Filippou, who worked with Yorgos Lanthimos on the scripts of such films as "Dogtooth", "Lobster" and "The Killing of the Sacred Deer". This is Makridis’ and Filippou’s second collaboration, following "L", Makridis’ award-winning first feature film, in 2011. With a revelatory performance in a minimalist vein by Yannis Drakopoulos, and also starring Makis Papadimitriou, Evi Saoulidou and Nikos Karathanos among others, the film, which is co-produced by the Onassis Foundation, begins its Greek screenings by premiering at the Onassis Stegi.

"Pity" received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2018, in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section (as did Makridis’ debut film, "L"). It continued its festival tour, receiving its European premiere at the Rotterdam Festival and going on from there to many other film festivals around the world. At the Odessa International Film Festival (OIFF), "Pity" won the awards for best picture and best director. At the Montenegro Film Festival, it won awards for best picture and best actor in a lead role for Yannis Drakopoulos. At the Valletta Film Festival, it received the award for best director, while at the Luxembourg City Film Festival it received a special mention. The film has also been nominated for the European Film Awards 2018, Feature Film Selection.

The first to see “Pity” were the audience at the Sundance Film Festival. The Onassis Foundation works alongside Sundance, supporting the Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop organized by Christos V. Konstantakopoulos’ Faliro House Productions (“The Founder”, “Lobster”), in collaboration with the Sundance Institute, which is hosted at Costa Navarino every year. This workshop supports emerging filmmakers from Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal, with a filmmaker from Lebanon joining them this year. Following "Pity", Babis Makridis joined forces with Nikos Karathanos once again, as he filmed the long journey of the play "Ornithes" (Birds) all the way from Athens to St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn New York, in May 2018, this being the first film by the Onassis Stegi, with Makridis directing “a story about birds and about humans, a story about bird humans”, as he notes.

Babis Makridis was born in Kastoria, Greece. He graduated from the Stavrakos Hellenic Film and Television School. In 2005 his first short film, "The Last Fakir", won the best new director award at the International Short Film Festival in Drama. "L", his first feature film, was screened at top international film festivals, such as Sundance, Rotterdam and Karlovy Vary, and received First Prize (Grand Prix) at the Molodist Film Festival, Kiev Ukraine. "Pity" is his second feature film.

What they said about the film

A Brilliant Portrait of Dangerous Self-Victimization.

Screenanarchy

Propelled by the winningly odd deadpan performance of Yannis Drakopoulos (Chevalier), the film is an art house natural that won't need anyone's pity.

The Hollywood Reporter

"Pity" sharply observes the human condition which is often stranger than fiction itself.

Highonfilms

An eye-catching central performance from comedian Yannis Drakopoulos, which combines deadpan, almost Keatonesque absurdity with spikes of utter malevolence.

Screen International Daily

"Pity" keeps the tone and pace austere, its stray lunges of overt gallows humor sticking like a knife between the ribs.

Variety