The summer with Carmen

SYNOPSIS

While enjoying a day at Athens’ queer beach, 30-something Demosthenes offers to

help his bestie and aspiring filmmaker Nikitas in drafting an idea for his feature debut,

inspired by the events surrounding a certain dog named Carmen. Two summers ago,

Demosthenes was stuck in Athens dealing with health issues of his father. This served

as an excuse to reach out to his ex, Panos. Meanwhile, Panos got the overly cute Carmen, something he soon regretted. Likewise, Demosthenes seems to have regretted breaking up with Panos. Or did he not? Struggling to transform real events into a hero’s journey, the two friends question the no.1 rule of script writing theory - the hero that changes - while turning a page in their long-lasting friendship.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN is an unapologetically out-and-proud comedy that spotlights the friendships between gay men, a complex and multifaceted

type of relationship that rarely holds the leading part in movies.

Demosthenes and Nikitas, the two queer bros, spend a day at Limanakia rocky beach at the south of Athens, a landmark for the LGBTQ community of the Greek capital. Surrounded by gay men, naked or in swimming suits, sunbathing or cruising for casual sex, the two friends recall the events of a recent summer hoping to turn them into Nikitas’ feature debut screenplay. Their day-long debate is intertwined with the action at the amphitheatrical rocks: friendly chats, blow-jobs, DIY fashion shows, a bit of Greek rebetiko music, a joint. This animated backdrop pays justice to cruising places, which are to the LGBTQ community way more than just a hook-up place. They are also a safe space where one can socialize, have fun or even write a script for a feature film.

The original soundtrack of the film creates a bridge between baroque music and rebetiko, the popular Greek music genre that is symbolized by the

bouzouki instrument. The “magic glue” is the timbre of the bouzouki which is surprisingly similar to that of baroque harpsichord. The two instruments play

alongside in baroque style compositions, “queering” the identities both of flamboyant, bourgeois baroque music and down to earth, popular and macho rebetiko.

This unorthodox blend is meant as an allegory of the social blending that occurs in places like Limanakia.

THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN has a film within a film structure. The narrative goes back and forth from present day at the beach to the events of the summer with Carmen, two years ago, that all take place at downtown Athens. The exterior scenes in the past

highlight the voluminous terrain of Athens, with all the action set in outdoor stairs, at the perimeter of the numerous hills of the city. While in present time the

characters run up and down the rocky slopes of the beach, in the past they walk up and down the stairs of the city center. This climbing rhyme abstractly unites

the two times of the narrative, along with the common struggles the characters face in past and present.

The root of Demostenes’ issues seems to be the little love he received from his camp mother Kate. In this frame, Carmen functions as a capital of love: Whoever needs love the most, gets the dog. Demosthenes often mimics Kate’s attitude when dealing with Nikitas. This mimesis highlights the family side of their friendship, Demosthenes being the mother and Nikitas the daughter.

The screenplay the two friends are writing is eagerly awaited by Jean-Sebastian, a French producer looking to shoot a queer, light hearted, low budget film in Athens. As the two work on turning the events of the summer into Acts and Plot Points, they simultaneously examine dramaturgical ideas that would make the story fit Jean-Sebastian’s prerequisites. Ideas that the audience sees in action in the flash-backs to the summer with Carmen. For example, if having a homophobic, old man in the script – Demosthenes’ sick dad, is not queer and light hearted, why not try to keep him out of frame? And so it is. We never really see this sick old man, although he is a catalyst in the unfolding of the events.

Following their writing brainstorm, the film gives the audience an inside look at the process of scriptwriting while constantly playing on the self-consciousness of the narrative. By the end of the movie, the audience realizes that THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN actually narrates the journey of its own creation, much like the

final twist in Spike Jonze’s 2002 “Adaptation”.

Struggling to turn real life into fiction, the two friends arrive to conflicting interpretations of Demosthenes’ actions. This points to the theme of the movie, that

being identity and more specifically the futility of knowing thyself. Truth be told, the wise astrologist was right: self-knowledge is nothing but a convenient

self-deception.

The idea for the film was inspired by real events that occurred in the life of my best friend and co-writer Xenofondas Chalatsis. Any resemblances with the

story are far from coincidental. Just like Nikitas and Demosthenes, we also struggled to turn real life into fiction. Many of our creative conflicts turned into scenes in the screenplay but, most important, just like Nikitas and Demosthenes, through the writing

of the script we turned a page in our long lasting friendship.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Zacharias Mavroeidis studied architecture in Thessaloniki, theater in Madrid, scriptwriting in Cuba and filmmaking in Athens. He is a Berlinale and Sarajevo Talents alumni. His debut feature, THE GUIDE, screened in Thessaloniki IFF and in LGBTQ

film festivals around the world. His sophomore feature, DEFUNCT, won the Young Jury and the Audience Award in the International Competition of Thessaloniki IFF and the Best Film Award in KINENOVA IFF 2020. He is currently participating

in Cinekid Script Lab, developing his first novel, NINE LIVES LEFT, as a feature animation film for young audiences. Since 2022, he serves as General Secretary at the BoD of the Greek Film Academy. He wrote the script of THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN

together with first-time writer and best friend Xenofon Chalatsis. The film won the first prize in Agora-Works In Progress of Thessaloniki IFF 2022.

FILMOGRAPHY

2023 The Summer with Carmen

2019 Defunct

2018 Across her Body (doc)