AFI FEST 2023 — THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN

This film is about friendship. I think queer [male] friendships are very rich, narratively speaking. It’s whatever a friendship between men can be—antagonistic, the “dude” side, but also a potential love relationship. And most importantly, a family relationship. For queer people, friends are a substitute for families in many different ways, whether spending Christmas together, or going to the hospital, etc. However, [this is] not the core of the narrative. What I mean is, the queerness of THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN is the setting. The actual story is about the friendship. So this could be a straight friendship, or any other sort of friendship.

It’s a very self-conscious film. From the beginning, it was a film within a film. With the writing it became more complex and layered—it’s also a film about the process of screenwriting, [which] has way more rules than what are needed. — Zacharias Mavroeidis*

Taking place in two time periods—present day Greece and two summers prior—THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN features director Mavroeidis’ signature mix of melodrama, sarcasm, and comedy. Two good friends (played by Yorgos Tsiantoulas and Andreas Lampropoulos) on a queer beach in Athens negotiate how to reconcile the narratives they construct from their memories—in this case, of an ex-boyfriend and a dog named Carmen.

THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN will screen twice at this year’s AFI Fest in Hollywood, with the director participating in a Q & A following the Sunday night show. See info and link below for screening details and tickets.

THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN

Directed by Zacharias Mavroeidis

AFI Fest 2023

Thursday, October 26, at noon

Sunday, October 29, at 9:05, followed by a director Q & A

Chinese Theatre

6801 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

https://fest.afi.com/2023/world-cinema-2023/the-summer-with-carmen-to-kalokairi-tis-karmen/

*Vittoria Scarpa and Emanuele Basso, “Zacharias Mavroeidis: Director of The Summer with Carmen,” Giornate degli Autori, Venice Film Festival, Cineuropa, 2023.

Zacharias Mavroeidis, The Summer with Carmen (2023), from top: Yorgos Tsiantoulas (left) and Andreas Lampropoulos; Nikolas Mihas (left) and Tsiantoulas; Tsiantoulas; The Summer with Carmen, Giornate degli Autori poster; Roubini Vasilakopoulou and Tsiantoulas; Tsiantoulas (left) and Lampropoulos.