01/03/2017 - The acclaimed Homeland and A Blast director is to begin shooting his genre effort The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea this summer

First presented as an in-development project in 2015 at the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express (the joint CineMart and Berlinale Co-Production Market programme), where it was awarded the Special Mention of the Eurimages Jury, Syllas Tzoumerkas’ third feature (following Homeland [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Blast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Syllas Tzoumerkas
film profile]) is shifting up a gear as it enters pre-production, after securing support from Greek, German, Dutch and Swedish co-production partners.

Set in a small, austerity-riddled, decaying town in Greek suburbia, The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] is set to be Tzoumerkas’ first foray into genre narratives, as the script, co-penned by the director and his regular collaborator Youla Boudali, follows two women (a law enforcer and an eel hatchery worker) who get involved in a mysterious suicide case. As the case’s secrets are uncovered, the two unlikely heroines will discover striking similarities between them, as in this senseless, bland world, neither seems too eager to abide by the law.

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea will mark a change in pace for Tzoumerkas, who garnered international praise and acclaim both with his Venice-premiered, politically charged feature debut, Homeland, and with the biting social commentary of A Blast, his Locarno-contending sophomore film, which went on to screen at over 70 festivals and was released in 15 territories around the world. 

Up-and-coming German film editor Kathrin Dietzel, who edited A Blast, will be working with Tzoumerkas on The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea as well, as will the director’s regular collaborators drog_A_tek, an electropunk band that will compose the film’s original soundtrack.

Pending casting announcements soon to be made public, Tzoumerkas’ regular producer Maria Drandaki, of Homemade Films (Greece), will spearhead the project, along with Unafilm’s Titus Kreyenberg (Germany), PRPL’s Ellen Havenith (the Netherlands) and Dragon Films’ Olle Wirenhed (Sweden).

The film will be supported by MEDIA, the Greek Film Centre, the Nederlands Filmfonds, Film Väst, Film und Medienstiftung NRW and ERT SA.