15/11/2012 - Alexander Nally’s feature debut, The Telemachy, transposes Homer’s tale of the son of Odysseus to the present

Besides Papadopoulos & Sons [+see also:
trailer
film profile], there was another UK-Greece co-production and first feature that impressed audiences at the recent Thessaloniki Film Festival: The Telemachy by Alexander Nally.

The film is inspired by the eponymous first part of Homer’s The Odyssey, which concentrates on Homer’s only son, Telemachus, though the film is set in the present, in which Telemachus (Patrick Fryer) is a half-Greek, half-British boy whose father is absent and whose mother (Lysette Anthony) has to entertain several suitors at her mansion.

Telemachus ends up looking for his father in Greece, where he finally finds Ilias (Constantinos Markoulakis), who turns out to be a fisherman who lives in a charming, dilapidated beach house on the island of Skiathos (where parts of Mamma Mia! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] were filmed as well).

Father and son try to bond, which is easier said than done, because they are so alike. Of course, in the end, they have to return to Penelope and deal with the suitors.

Nally, born in 1987, has a degree in Classical History and his interest in Homer clearly shines through. However, it also saddles the material with a problem in the sense that it would improbable that a boy named Telemachus and a father named Ilias, both knowledgeable about ancient history, can’t see where there own story is headed since it’s based on a part of the most famous Greek story of them all.

Shot on location in the UK and Greece, rookie cinematographer Gabriel Loukeris beautifully captures the very different countries in his digital images.

The film was produced by Dimitra Gyftopoulou for UK-based Matchbox Productions Ltd.