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Description

USA Premiere

Following the film, AFI FEST Lead Screening Committee Member Jesse Knight leads a conversation with filmmaker Christos Nikou.

A pandemic is sweeping across Greece, but it’s not COVID-19. Suddenly, thousands of cases of amnesia are spreading. The malady isn’t deadly, but there is no cure, and no one has recovered. Therein lies the fascinating and surreal premise for this understated, poignant and visually stunning drama, the first feature of director Christos Nikou. The lucky amnesiacs are claimed by family members. The unclaimed ones are hospitalized indefinitely or offered a recovery program to help them establish a new identity. Taciturn Aris (Aris Servetalis) and ebullient Anna (Sofia Georgovassili) tentatively navigate the world, trying to piece together who they might have been before their memories were wiped clean. Imagine a jot of Yorgos Lanthimos and a dash of Charlie Kaufman amid a wry, absurdist commentary on selfie culture and a moving meditation on loss.
–Claudia Puig