Alexis Alexiou returns with new film 'Sea of Glass'

Greek writer/director Alexis Alexiou has unveiled his third feature and his first since 2015’s award-winning “Wednesday 04.45.”

“Sea of Glass,” now complete, is a country noir road movie following two women in an off-season Greek seaside resort who unexpectedly come together to confront the past, family stereotypes and the closed provincial community. The film has already been acquired by Greek boutique distributor Weird Wave (“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, “It was Just an Accident”) with a theatrical release scheduled for Greece and Cyprus this fall.

Co-written by Afroditi Nikolaidou and Alexiou, the film stars Evangelia Adreadaki (“Arcadia,” “Little England”) and Christiana Matelska Toka in her debut feature role, alongside Michalis Iatropoulos (“Cheap Smokes,” “Digger”), Nikos Georgakis (“Truants”), Thanos Tokakis (“Tokakis or What’s My Name”) and Dimitris Tzoumakis (“Wednesday 04:45”). Simon Sarketzis (“Little England,” “Behind The Haystacks”) served as cinematographer.

“Sea of Glass” follows 65-year-old Vangelio, who is a prisoner in her own home, caring for her bedridden husband. Trapped in her routine and cut off from her two sons, she makes do with leafing through her collection of old guidebooks. But the sudden death of her husband encourages her to make a ‘reckless’ decision: to go on holiday. She books a room at a tourist resort a few kilometres outside Chalkida, the capital of Evia. It’s March in the off-season, and there are very few people around. At the fish tavern below the rental property, she meets 23-year-old Vicky, who runs the family business and looks after her difficult alcoholic father, who spends his days drinking with his buddies. One evening, when he turns on his daughter, Vangelio steps in to protect her. Violence rears its ugly head in the small seaside town, and like the waves of the stormy sea, the impact will be devastating.

Inspired by films including “Thelma & Louise” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” the film grafts elements from the rural gothic noir tradition and road movies onto the Greek countryside, and is described as a “compelling and poignant story focussing on two women thrown into an unexpected alliance.”

Said Alexiou: “What connects them and poisons both their lives is domestic violence and oppression. But they are also linked by a common goal: the need to break free and find themselves.”

Alexis’ first feature “Tale 52” played in competition at Rotterdam and more than 40 other festivals, including Toronto and Sitges, where it won the best screenplay award. His second film “Wednesday 04:45” screened in competition at Tribeca and at numerous festivals including Karlovy Vary and BFI London. The film received nine awards from the Hellenic Film Academy, including best film and best Director. Both films were voted best Greek Film of the year by the Greek Film Critics Association. In 2022 Alexis directed “Iota Period Omega,” a short sci-fi docufiction entirely shot on 8mm which was presented in competition at Dok Leipzig.

“Sea of Glass” is a Greece-Bulgaria-Cyprus co-production, produced by Tugo Tugo Productions in Greece in co-production with Portokal (Bulgaria) and Bark Like a Cat Films (Cyprus) and in collaboration with Felony Film (Cyprus), Marni Films (Greece), Jungle Films (Greece) and Cinnerent (Serbia). It was made with the support of the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center, ERT, Eurimages, Creative Europe, the Bulgarian National Film Center, Film Center Serbia, the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Office in Greece and the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture.

-Variety