Pendulus | Big Short Films 2023

The 24-year-old Arby has grown up in Athens. Following the events that took place during the football match between the national teams of Serbia and Albania, Arby will have to decide whether to attend his relatives’ wedding; whether to claim the girl he likes; whether he is Albanian or Greek.

Directed by Dimitris Gkotsis

Screenplay: Kostas Gerampinis

Producer: Nikitas Rafail

Director of Photography: George Kokkalis

Set Design: Vassilis Kyriakides

Editor: Christos Giannakopoulos

Original Music Score: Kyriakos Moustakas

Sound Recording: Vassilis Gerodimos

Sound Mix: Stefanos Douvitsas

Styling: Andri Andreou

Makeup: Dimitra Giatrakou

Color Grade: Manthos Sardis

Production: Rafilm / Byrd

Co-production: ERT SA, Rabbeats Music, Post Faust

Cast: Dimitris Kapouranis, Klea Diamanti, Yorgos Katsis, Giannis Eglezos, Nikos Gelia, Anastas Kozdine, Genovefa Redi

45th Drama International Short Film Festival (DISFF), 2022, Greece: Best Sound Award, Audience Award, Technical Excellence Award (awarded by ETEKT / the Union of Greek Cinema and Television Technicians) & Panhellenic Union of Cinema Critics Award

28th Athens International Film Festival (AIFF), 2022, Greece: Onassis Film Award

16th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TiSFF), 2022, Greece: Cinematic Achievement Award

Oaxaca Film Festival 2022, Mexico: Official Selection

20th In The Palace Short Film Festival, 2023, Bulgaria: Official Selection

Dimitris Gkotsis was born in Athens in 1987 and pursued film studies in Derby, UK. He started working as a director as early as 2009, mainly shooting commercials for television, while in 2012 he made his short debut with the film “Hidden Life.” In 2015, he directed “Spectrum,” which was screened at the Drama Short Film Festival as well as in several international festivals, receiving a Special Mention at Interfilm, the Berlin International Short Film Festival. Four years later, Gkotsis tried his luck in the documentary genre, with impressive results. His short film “The Fourth Wall” (2019) won the Hellenic Film Academy’s Iris Award for Best Short Documentary and went on to receive the Audience Award at both the ShortShorts Film Festival in Tokyo and Interfilm in Berlin. He is currently working on his feature documentary, “Sunken,” which was awarded (as a project in progress) at the Pitching Forum of the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival.