THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN (TO KALOKAIRI TIS KARMEN) World Cinema

North American Premiere

Screening on Oct. 29 to be followed by a conversation with director Zacharias Mavroeidis.

Demos and Nikitas are best friends, actors and writing partners. Nikitas is fed up with only being considered for stereotypical queer roles and sets out to create the representation that he desperately yearns to see by directing his first film. As the two bare-chested best friends soak in the hot Greek summer sun on a lively nude beach, they brainstorm a script based on the dramatic events of their previous summer. Arranged as a film-within-a-film, writer/director Zacharias Mavroeidis joyfully prods at the “golden rules of screenwriting” in this metatextual delight that is instantly endearing. Playfully shifting between timelines and boasting bronzed bodies and steamy scenes, THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN is a breezy, lighthearted romp that will leave Greek Weird Wave in the dust as the “Greek Queer Wave” takes over. –Julia Kipnis