A complex story set at the beautiful Dojran Lake, Behind the Haystacks explores how an entire society can corrode and be led to crime, whitewash, submission and collective denial. A middle-aged fisherman in northern Greece trafficking immigrants to pay the tax authorities for a petty fraud he once committed, soon becomes trapped in a deadly game between the local mafia, his conscience and duty to his family.
The action of the film takes place in 2015 and shows the life of the population on both sides of the border. The shoot launched on 13 January 2021 in Greece and wrapped on 24 February 2021 in North Macedonia. Most of the filming took place on multiple locations in Greece, and a smaller part in the Macedonian towns of Dojran and Gevgelija.
The Macedonian coproducers are Vladimir Atanasov and Angela Nestorovska through Sektor Film. The main producer is Argonauts Productions from Greece. Fiction Park from Germany is also coproducing in collaboration with ZDF/Arte.
Behind the Haystacks received 150,000 EUR from the Greek Film Centre, 97,000 EUR from the North Macedonia Film Agency and 160,000 EUR from Eurimages. The film also received the CNC Development Award & Initiative Film Services Award at Cross Roads Co-Production Forum 2016. The development was supported by MEDIA Creative Europe in 2017.
This is the first film between producers from Greece and North Macedonia in collaboration with Germany which received financial support from Eurimages.
Production Information:
Producers:
Argonauts Productions SA (Greece)
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Coproducers:
Sektor Film (North Macedonia)
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Fiction Park (Germany)
Credits:
Director: Asimina Proedrou
Scriptwriter: Asimina Proedrou
Producers: Ioanna Bolomyti, Markus Halberschmidt, Vladimir Anastasov
Executive producer: Panos Papahadzis
DoP: Simos Sarketzis
Cast: Stathis Stamoulakatos, Eleni Ouzounidou, Evgenia Lavda, Christos Kontogeorgis, Paschalis Tsarouchas, Dina Mihailidou, Nino Levi, Predrag Pavlovski