Moon, 66 Questions

Original title: Selini, 66 erotiseis
Genre: Drama
Director: Jacqueline Lentzou
Country: Greece, France
Year of production: 2021
Czas: 108 min

Awards and nominations:
2022 Hellenic Film Academy Awards: Best Actor, Best Film Editing
2021 Sarajevo Film Festival: Best Film
2021 Reykjavik International Film Festival: Best Film, New Visions
2021 Seville European Film Festival: Best Film
2021 Festival du nouveau cinema in Montreal: Best Actress

An intimate and insightful study of a complicated father-daughter relationship. Artemis comes back to Greece to take care of her parent who needs constant attention due to a sudden illness. People closest to Paris, including his ex-wife and Artemis's mother, chose the girl to be her father’s nurse ignoring the fact that the duo feels uncomfortable and strange in each other’s company. The director tells a story of a search of identity and mutual understanding while exploring motifs of loneliness and love (or lack thereof). The film is set on the border between reality and dreams. Its title isn’t accidental as it refers to Tarot cards. The whole film is divided into chapters, the first of which begins with a card depicting a woman with her eyes covered. This woman is like Artemis who can’t imagine coming to terms with her father because of his emotional coldness. Present-day events are intertwined with old VHS recordings, which makes the film nostalgic in a natural way. In this aspect “Moon, 66 Questions” resembles “Aftersun”, another feature debut that turned out to be a revelation of the season. Its director Charlotte Wells exposes ties between a father and a daughter, similarly bringing back memories of deceptively cheerful summer through the lens of an analogue camera. But Lentzou was the first one to do it thus refreshing the meaning of the Greek New Wave. The two main actors in “Moon, 66 Questions” are also phenomenal: Lazaros Georgakopoulos in the role of the father, relentless and proud despite an incapacitating illness, and magnetic Sofia Kokkali, a regular collaborator with Jacqueline Lentzou, as his daughter.

Author: Karolina Sienkiewicz

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Jacqueline Lentzou – a Greek director and screenwriter, a graduate of prestigious London Film School. Her short films were screened at festivals in Berlin, Toronto, Locarno, and Chicago. She was awarded in Cannes. “Moon, 66 Questions” is her feature directorial debut which premiered at Berlinale in the Encounters section.