Prosefhi

Despite its short form, this film manages to encompass one of life's bitter and seemingly endless cycles: the beauty of a young love that's forbidden, the ever-present poison of a religion that forbids it and the intergenerational manifestation of this repression through physical violence.

This cycle completes itself with the resort to self-defence and learning to cope with an imperfect life. It's a story that's been familiar for too many of us through the ages.

The actors portrayed their roles with an honest intensity without resort to cliché. Yet somehow, despite the film depicting this bleak reality, the strength of the piece shone through to make it a thing of beauty.

The kick to see this film was, in my case, the clear - teen beauty of Christos Karavevas. But the story, exploring , in fair terms, feelings of lonely teen , is more significant. A film about desire, revenge, truth, Our Father and forms of cruelty. The looks changed in final are the axis of this story about Dimitris, the hero of high school, vulnerability in different aspects and birth of maturity. Short, just admirable crafted.

My eyes didn't wander for a second from the screen as I watched this short. It encapsulated everything that might afflict modern teens in the context of a disciplinarian, old-fashioned school system. I had never realised how backward Greece was in its infrastructure and mores particularly compulsory catechisms in the mornings somewhat akin to the collective act of worship meant to start UK schooldays off.

Closeted guys are always more hateful and Vassilis fits the bill. Yet we see his longing and teasing when he plays basketball in front of Dimitris, exposing his chest and wiping his sweat. The caveat is that this is when they are alone. In front of his mates he's a nasty piece of work.

The explosion, when it comes, is both tragic and deserved. It's true to life - I did something similar to my tormentor at school. But no lesson was learnt. Vassilis just moves on to an easier boy to bait. The link between the two boys will never be indulged in any meaningful way. At least Dimitris can move on.

We first saw the film «Prosefhi» at Drama film festival, where the film actually won the fist prize. The young director, Thanasis Neofotistos manages to create a breathtaking realistic and at the same time dreamlike atmosphere with his cinematography. Both the two protagonists act wonderfully, especially the main character, Dimitris, who has a haunting face full of emotions in his very mature performance.

Prosefhi: Greek School Prayer is basically a short film about the problems of young students at school and dealing with the arising bullying phenomenon. At a second level, the film is about the coming of age, the right to defer and the awakening of sexual awareness.

This film is another result of new Greek cinema's creative power and we are looking forward to see the director's -Thanasis Neofotistos'- first feature film.