HIGHWAY TO HELLAS

The Germans are coming! To nose around and control the Greeks; because they are — as always — under suspicion of lying and cheating. With good reason! Joerg Geissner, employee of the Munich AVA bank, arrives on the Greek island Paladiki to check a loan granted some years ago. He has the suspicion that the hospital and power station set as collateral do not exist at all. But the Greeks aren’t foolish: Geissner, constantly accompanied by German-Greek Panos, a clever gigolo who ensures that Geissner won’t be too fast with his investigations, shall come and prove that there are no collaterals at all. An odyssey begins for the bank employee, him against the rest of the island. But the more Geissner gets to know about Paladiki’s people, the more he becomes aware of the significance of his own role: The result of his visit will settle the future of the island. So Geissner has to ask himself to whom he really feels responsible — the bank or the people of Paladiki.

Director

ARON LEHMANN was born in Wuppertal in 1981. He worked for several television production companies from 2003-2005 before starting his studies in Film Directing at the “Konrad Wolf” University of Television and Film in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His films include: LIED (short, 2006), SO G'SELL SO (short, 2007), LIEBE GEMEINDE (short, 2008), GERHOLD SELLE — RENTNER (short doc, 2009), MONDWÄRTS (short, 2010), and his graduation film KOHLHAAS OR THE PROPORTIONALITY OF MEANS (2012), which won the Audience Award at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken.

photos © Pantaleon Films/ARRI Film & TV Services/Warner Bros. Entertainment