“An engaging and pointed parable about life at Ground Zero
in the global refugee crisis”
— Roger Moore, Movie Nation
“Mixing a kinetic visual style with ripped-from-the-headlines storytelling, Amerika Square is an unflinching look at the mass migration economy —
where ‘borders are business'”
— Linda McGuire, Hollywood Greek Reporter
“One of the best European films to date on the subject of immigration in all
its painful implications…directed with clarity and compassion.”
— Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
ADDRESSING THE TIMELY TOPIC OF REFUGEES, IMMIGRATION AND XENOPHOBIA, THIS BRACING DRAMA
WAS GREECE’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM AT THE 90TH ACADEMY AWARDS
AMERIKA SQUARE
Street Date: September 29, 2020
DVD/Digital: $24.95
Director Yannis Sakaridis’ Award-Winning Sophomore Feature Captured
the FIPRESCI Prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Audience Award
at the Beijing Film Festival and More
SYNOPSIS
A tattoo artist, his racist friend and a Syrian refugee collide in an Athens neighborhood, AMERIKA SQUARE, Yannis Sakaridis’ contemporary drama. An incredibly timely story of the opposing forces facing today’s humanitarian crises, the film that Greece selected at their “Best International Film” submission for the 90th Academy Awards® and is based on the novel by Yannis Tsirbas, will be available on DVD/digital this September.
Nakos (Makis Papadimitriou), an unemployed inhabitant of the small neighborhood of Amerika Square and, has had enough of the thousands of refugees in his neighborhood. Much of his frustration stems from his inability to do anything about Athens new demographics, a situation he spends most of his time brooding over instead of undertaking measures to address the bigger problem at hand – his dead-end life. Nakos’ only confidante is his childhood friend, Billy (Yannis Stankoglou), who doesn’t share his friend’s limited worldview and believes welcoming refugees is the correct response to the crisis of people fleeing war. While Nakos works a sinister plan to eliminate these illegals, Billy seizes upon an opportunity to help two migrants escape from Athens: Tereza, a beautiful African singer with whom he falls in love; the other, Tarek, a weary Syrian ex-military doctor escaping the war in Aleppo and trying desperately to reunite with his 9 year-old daughter who has been smuggled to Germany ahead of him.
All these stories merge when Nakos’ malicious acts stop their smuggler cold and Billy is forced to step in as time runs out. In the end, sympathy and selflessness resonate more brightly than intolerance and Nakos finds his anti-migrant attitude to have cost him friends, family and the shreds of pride and dignity that had been clutching all along.
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Type: DVD/Digital (iTunes, Amazon)
Running Time: 86 minutes
Genre: World Cinema/Drama
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Stereo
Language: Greek, Arabic & English w/English subtitles
About Corinth Films
Since 1977, Corinth Films has been distributing foreign and independent arthouse cinema to audiences in the US & Canada. Beginning with such classics as David Lynch’s Eraserhead and Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Corinth’s more recent releases have included films by up-and-coming international directors such as Nadav Lapid and Mika Kaurismaki, as well as acclaimed longstanding auteurs such as Andrei Konchalovski, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Edgar Reitz. As the film-viewing landscape changes, the desire for intellectually stimulating and entertaining films will not, and Corinth continues its mission to acquire and release undiscovered, international watch-worthy content. To discover and enjoy Corinth’s film releases, visit www.corinthfilms.com.
