Tomato Industrial Museum is honored to host the screening of Zacharia’s Mavroides documentary “Across Her Body”.
Every year, on July 31, Mrs. Irene and the last remaining “fifteeners” return to the Monastery of the Accession, on the south end of Therasia, the little known sister island of cosmopolitan Santorini. They spend the next two weeks living in the cells of the obsolete Monastery, honoring their life-time vow to the Virgin Mary and continuing the tradition of “Fifteen”.
Every morning, they pray for the eternal rest of their beloved deceased ones. Every afternoon, they pray for the health of the living. In between, they recall the past while gazing at the tourist traffic across the volcanic bay.
The film documents the fading tradition of “Fifteen” set across the breath-taking volcanic landscape of Santorini, focusing on two elderly women: Mrs. Irene, the social center of the ephemeral community and Miss Magda, the once prestigious daughter of the deceased priest of the Monastery.
“Across her body” questions issues of faith, identity and gender by correlating three female bodies: the deserted body of the once upon a time fertile Therasia, the sacred body of the Virgin Mary and the aging, human body of the “fifteeners”. It’s homage to an archetype of Greek motherhood that has become obsolete in modern Greece.
DAYS AND SCREENING HOURS
15/6/19-15/9/19
Daily 12:00 & 14:00 (except Mondays)
Duration – 84 min
Language – Greek with English subtitles
COST: 5€
CREW LIST
Director / scriptwriter – Zacharias Mavroeidis
Director of photography – Zoe Manta
Editing – Smaro Papaevangelou
Production – Zacharias Mavroeidis, Vicky Miha
Production company – Boo productions Co-producers – ERT S.A., Momento Films
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
March 2018 / International Competition, Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
July 2018 / Special mention, Burgas International Film Festival
September 2018 / Official selection, Athens International Film Festival
November 2018 / NYC Greek Film Festival
November 2018 / Docfest Chalkida Documentary Film Festival
DIRECTOR’S CV
Born in Athens, Greece. Studied Architecture in Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, theater in RESAD, Madrid, filmmaking in NYC, Athens, and scriptwriting in EICTV, Cuba. He has participated in both the Berlinale and the Sarajevo Talent Campus. He has written and directed various shorts and two feature films, “The guide”, (fiction, 2011) and “Across her body” (documentary, 2018). He has published the novel “Nine lives left”. Since 2014 he has been teaching scriptwriting in SAE Athens. His second fiction feature “The veteran” is currently in post-production.