Baptism

Set in 1949 at the height of the brutal Greek civil war, BAPTISM is the story of a chance encounter between two soldiers who assume they are on the same side. The two men seem to know each other but have never met. The burden of not knowing - and their mutual insistence of rather not knowing - draws them close on one level, yet drives them further apart on another. The claustrophobic backdrop of Grammos mountain serves as their joint refuge against an unseen enemy. They discover that they share a common belief, as though their lives are stuck on repeat and that any choice they make will bear absolutely no consequence to the already pre-determined end result. The tense, slow mood and claustrophobic setting lead the men to make those very choices brashly, however to them these are the only choices available. As the serene Mediterranean countryside is intermittently set alight by a seemingly invincible higher power, names and memories spewed out by the men seem to line up in their pre-war lives. Each begins to feel a strange familiarity as their encounter unfolds. Surprisingly, the political and ideological war that rages outside of their refuge bears little to no influence on their exchange. Set during the Greek civil war, this new film project will be a screenplay entirely in Greek with English subtitles. While based on true stories and interviews with those that lived through it who then migrated to Melbourne, it will be a work of fiction.