August in Athens. A time to escape. In the city center, the residents of an apartment block prepare to get away. Their final summer escape. In the blistering summer heat they journey to different parts of the Greek mainland. A journey that will unsettle their lives and bring them face-to-face with critical choices. In their absence a 17 year-old burglar on the run from the police invades the empty apartment block. There he finds a refuge from the outside world and through his prying eyes we uncover the secret lives of the main characters. Four parallel stories, conflicting takes on everyday life and the small everyday miracles that will unsettle the lives of our heroes...

The festival of the Assumption of the Virgin on August 15th is one of the most significant holidays in Greece. lt is the last frenzied celebration of the summer, which has its roots in ancient pagan traditions.
The major cities empty and millions of cars swarm onto the national roads in almost reckless abandon. The death toll during this holiday is tragic. I often think it is like a death wish. An almost irresistible urge towards annihilation. lt is almost like a blood tribute to the Virgin herself. And this bloodbath was one of my motives for writing the script.
I consider myself an atheist but confronted with the fact of death no one can remain unaffected. I saw my friends die of AIDS, I saw my cousin pass away at an early age of sickle-cell anemia. Another cousin killed in a traffic accident. There was no miracle for them.
In reality perhaps there is no miracle, but cinema can offer us an almost fairytale escape. lt can offer the hope that death can be vanquished.
The second major element within the film concerns the relation between mother and child. The mother whose child is ill. The woman who wants to have a child but cannot. The woman who renounces having a child and a family. The man who wants to remain a child. The boy who rejects his mother.
"Dekapentavgoustos" revolves around two axes: the realistic and the symbolic. lt takes the viewer on a journey, along primordial and pagan paths. Motherhood, the mother-child relationship, death, faith and the miracle that finally occurs. These are the elements that interest me. And I ardently believe that cinema is an art that can offer us hope. A symbolic miracle.

Constantine Giannaris was born in Athens in 1959. He graduated from the University of Keele (Joint Honours History/Economics). He did not complete his post-graduate studies at the University of Birmingham (Greek-Russian Post-War Relations) and alter a period he spent living in London he made his first independent short films. At the moment he lives and works in Athens.

Filmography:

1984 FRAMED YOUTH, short
1987 A MAN AND A WOMAN
1989 JEAN GENET IS DEAD
1989 TROJANS
1990 DISCO' S REVENGE
1990 SILENCES
1991 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
1991 GREEKS
1991 NORTH OF VORTEX
1991 CAUGHT LOOKING
1991 OUT OF TUESDAY
1992 A DESPERATE VITALITY - THE FILMS OF PIER PAOLO PASOLINI
1995 A PLACE IN THE SUN
1995 3 STEPS TO HEAVEN
1998 FROM THE EDGE OF THE CITY (APO TIN AKRI TIS POLIS)
2001 ONE DAY IN AUGUST (DEKAPENTAVGOUSTOS)