Arcadia

Synopsis

Radiant neurologist Katerina has to confront her worst suspicions as she accompanies Yannis, a former well-respected doctor, to identify the victim of a tragic car accident at an off-season seaside resort. Together, but also on her own nightly excursions to a mysterious rustic beach bar, they unravel a haunting tale of love, loss, acceptance and letting go. 

“Arcadia” has been chosen to represent Greece in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Academy Awards.

Director’s note

In mythology, Arcadia is referred to as a lost world of idyllic bliss, serving as a cautionary reminder of the transitory nature of life. It is a kind of magical realm, just like the local otherworldly tavern Arcadia in the film, where time seems to have stopped.

Arcadia deals with the riskier shores of human loss, ventures into a strange sexual territory and proposes an unusual dimension of the afterlife as the captured memories of the living. Eventually, the boundaries between the material and spiritual world become blurred and no one can easily tell the difference.

A dreamlike love story of saying goodbye.

Cast

Vangelis Mourikis, Angeliki Papoulia, Elena Topalidou, Nikolas Papagiannis, Flomaria Papadaki

Τrailer    Arcadia - Arcadia - Official Trailer - Eng Subs | IMDb

Press reviews

'Arcadia' Review: Grief Goes Strange Places in Yorgos Zois' Drama

'Arcadia' Review: It's Greek Weird Wave to Me

Critique : Arcadia - Cineuropa

Berlinale 2024 review: Arcadia (Yorgos Zois)

A few words about the director

Yorgos Zois is a Greek director based in Athens. He studies applied Math and Nuclear Physics at the National Technical University of Athens and film direction in UdK Berlin with a scholarship by Costa Gavras. He also worked as an assistant to Theo Angelopoulos in the film Dust of Time.

His debut short film Casus Belli premiered at the 67th Venice Film Festival in 2019 and travelled to over 200 film festivals. His second short film, Out of Frame, premiered at the 69th Venice Film Festival in 2012 and won the European Film Academy award for best European short. His first feature film, Interruption, made its world premiere at the 72th international Venice Film Festival. It raised highly acclaimed reviews all around the world about its meta aesthetics and daring narration. The film received nice nominations from the Greek Film Academy and won the best newcomer director award.

His third short film called Eighth Continent and his latest short film called Third Kind were also screened in many film festivals. Arcadia is his second feature film. It premiered at the 2024 Berlinale in the competitive Encounters section.