At Thessaloniki Agora 2024, director Eirini Vourloumis and producer Leonidas Liambeys of Greek outfit Boulis Films presented their Docs in Progress project The Secrets of the Owl, which they billed as “a portrait of Athens told through the lives of three taxi drivers,” as “they roam the streets but dream of nature, acting and singing.”
Director Vourloumis is a Greek-Indonesian visual artist, photographer and filmmaker based in Athens, whose work has been exhibited internationally. The Secrets of the Owl is her debut feature. She first presented the project at the Thessaloniki Agora Pitching Forum three years ago.
“It’s not just a story but also a visual, musical and mystical journey crafted through the lens of Eirini’s intimate relationship with the city she loves and her multifaceted background,” explained Liambeys.
Speaking about how she got inspired to make the film, Vourloumis commented: “Having taken taxis since I was a teenager, I’ve always found the world of taxi drivers enigmatic. Yet, I always found an affinity towards them. I see them as lyrical voices of a city that can reflect its soul. This film is my ode to Athens.”
“Each of our characters drives those streets to make a living but have parallel dreams which they use to transcend their reality. This is a story about resilience in a city that is changing rapidly and emerging from multiple crises. This is a film about a city’s traumas and the fantasies that allowed its citizens to overcome them.”
The director then touched on her three protagonists. Puma loves nature and for more than 30 years started each working day with a sort of “ritual meeting with an owl,” which embodies “the [very] same owl of Athens.” Sunny is a Nigerian screenwriter who came to Greece to pursue his dreams, but he now sacrifices his art to support his family. Yorgos is an aspiring singer who lives to perform old songs in the afterhours clubs of the city.
“Through Puma’s mystical connection to the owl as our film’s shaman, our characters fulfil their own myths. [..] Our film also uses choreographed musical scenes which we’ve emphasised in the clips we’ve shown. Our film’s final scene will be accompanied by an original song in which all our characters come together, dancing and singing.”
That scene, argues the helmer, acts as a metaphor of a city that has suffered, but is also able to lift its spirits. “It’s a cathartic ending for our characters and, we hope, for our audience [too],” she clarified, before calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and inviting everyone to speak up “as artists, storytellers and human beings.”
After winning the ERT Award at the 2021 Pitching Forum, the team has made significant progress, said Liambeys. “We went to the MFI Script Workshop. We’ve secured 80% of our financing through IMedD, the Greek Film Centre and ERT. We’re seeking partners for music rights and post-production. We’ll be at Cannes Docs in May, and will have a rough cut ready in late spring/summer, with completion [set] in the autumn of 2024. We’re also looking for partners in sales, festival strategy and distribution.”
