Yanni’s mum is on her way to audition for a role as Shakespeare’s Viola, when she learns that her young son has been left home alone. Through a series of phone calls, she fights to balance the most important roles of her life, whilst walking in the most controversial area of central Athens, Patision Avenue.

PATISION AVENUE is my attempt to understand my mother; a creature of admirable sensitivity, torn between her female nature, stereotypes about women and her true desires. What I can now see is that she tried hard winning battles but losing others. As a Filmmaker this short was my personal Everest; a demanding single-long-take-shot in central Athens.

I’m an artist who would love to make a difference, through my movies but also through my actions. I love communicating with the audience and my biggest dream is to leave a small mark in the cinema world. I would love to experiment, narration-wise, as I believe only by taking risks can you develop the art that matters, and that feels relevant to the viewers.

Thanasis Neofotistos is a film director, writer and architect from Athens, Greece and a Berlinale Talents 2016 alumnus. He initially studied Architecture and afterwards continued by studying Film Directing and Acting (AKMI). One of his characteristic assets, Scenography/Art Direction, is an influence from his studies. GREEK SCHOOL PRAYER (2014) was his successful thesis, and SPARKLING CANDLES (2019) is his LGBTQ+ sparkling short film. He is now in the financing stage of his debut feature film, which he envisions as a dark, coming-of-age folktale, PETER AND THE WOLF; the film got the main GFC & Media funding and has been developed, amongst others, at First-Films-First, MFI, Sarajevo Script Station. His next feature film project, WILD BOARS, is developing in Torino Film Lab & MFI.

Filmography:
2019 - ROUTE-3, short
2019 - SPARKLING CANDLES, short
2018 - PATISION AVENUE, short
2017 - FOUR DIMENSIONS AND ONE LAMP, short
2015 - POGONISKOS, short
2014 - GREEK SCHOOL PRAYER, short
2013 - THE SUN AND THE WIND, short

How long did it take to make your short?
It took about two years to develop and fund it, three months of intensive rehearsing, one general rehearsal to establish the quality and only a single long-take-shot to make PATISION AVENUE! It took a lot of great, dedicated partners and some courage to make some bold choices.

Was it difficult to get financing?
In Greece the general rule is that it is difficult to finance anything around the film industry. So, the main difficulty is that I had to wait for quite some time, but thankfully we got the little funding we needed!

Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”?
A “European Cinema Community” is, for me, a community that believes in auteurs, a community that collaborates when talent is there to help it surface, a community that believes in films as cultural products and a precious form of art. Finally, it is the community that enjoys films from artists dedicated to authentic filmmaking, through which they try to approach their own truth. It’s a film-family that I love to be part!

If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen?
It depends on my guests of course! I could choose from Terry Gilliam to Aronofsky, from Fellini to Almodóvar, from David Lynch to Charlie Chaplin.

What is your next project?
I have two new short films, after PATISION AVENUE, that just premiered in prestigious film festivals: SPARKLING CANDLES in 43rd Frameline IFF 2019 & ROUTE-3 at 44th Toronto TIFF 2019). I’m also working on my debut feature film PETER AND THE WOLF that we just got the initial funding from the Greek Film Center & Media and I’m also in developing stage of my second feature film project WILD BOARS.