Section: MIDNIGHT MADNESS

LIGHT FALLS

LIGHT FALLS

Phedon Papamichael
GE/AL/GR/DE, 2023, 90 Min

A lesbian couple's dream vacation on a Greek island turns into a nightmare, when they go to an abandoned hotel for a photo shoot – the building is not at all as empty as it seems. It is inhabited by Albanian migrant workers. Classism and testosterone, existential anxiety, inner hierarchies and the language barrier lead to bloody consequences. A modern Hitchcockian horror thriller in a confined space with a “final girl”.

#feature #horror #queer

Performance

2024-11-09 | 21:00
Stadthalle

Papamichael is best known as a cinematographer and a two-time Oscar nominee for Best Achievement in Cinematography ((2014 for NEBRASKA, 2021 for THE TRIAL OF THE CHIGACO 7). However, he has also been working as a director since the 1990s. LIGHT FALLS, his latest directorial work, was shot by a small crew during a covid quarantine. A low-budget thriller turns into a true master class on how to make an exciting movie using minimal resources. Tension is built up by playing with lighting, camera angles and dramatic close-ups. Just as masterful are the minimalistic soundtrack and the perfectly chosen ominous location, an abandoned hotel for mass tourism from the 1980s. The film also has a social dimension. In it, not just people who do not speak the same language collide, but two worlds: well-off tourists from a wealthy country and disenfranchised migrant workers, living here illegally, toiling for a prosperity they will never achieve. At the same time, all the hallmarks of the genre are in place: violence, suspense, a tense game of cat and mouse, revenge and, of course, the final girl, the traditional character who will put an end to this bloody confrontation.

Text: Ksenia Reutova

09.11.2024 | 21:00 | Stadthalle (original version with english subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)

Drehbuch
Sven Dagones
Kamera
Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC, Akis Konstantakopoulos, GSC
Schnitt
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Nodo Nozadze, Levan Kukhashvili
Darsteller
Clara- Elensio, Ella- Nini Nebieridze, Veton- Silvio
Goskova, Eddy- Juxhin Plovishti, Altin - Jurgen Ma
Produktion
Phedon Papamichael, Sven Dagones, Genc Permeti
Co-Produktion
Sophio Bendiashvili, Bacho Meburishvili, Stamatis Athanassoulas, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel Music by Nick Athens
Phedon Papamichael

Phedon Papamichael - Twice Academy Award nominated cinematographer and director PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL was born in Athens, Greece. He counts over 50 feature films as DOP, of which 5 were nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. His directorial debut The Sketch Artist (1991), starring Sean Young and Drew Barrymore, won Silver Award for Feature Film at Worldfest Houston. The psychological horror From Within premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Phedon continued with Arcadia Lost, starring Nick Nolte, Lost Angeles (2012) and the short film A Beautiful Day, which screened at over 30 festivals garnering multiple awards.

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