Athens-based boutique production and sales outfit Heretic has boarded “Magnetic Fields,” the feature directorial debut of Yorgos Goussis, as executive producers. The film has its world premiere in the Film Forward section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
“Magnetic Fields” follows solo traveler Elena, who after deciding to change course on a whim finds herself on a ferry. There she meets Antonis, who is traveling to an island cemetery to bury a box containing his aunt’s bones.
When his car breaks down Elena offers him a ride, setting them off on a series of misadventures. Having enjoyed each other’s company and formed an effortless connection, they decide to keep wandering around the island in search of a good place to bury the box.
Goussis said that the film’s journey began in December 2020, when two actors and six crew members set off on a road trip from Athens to the island of Kefalonia, bearing a story synopsis and a MiniDV camera.
“Our goal was to return 15 days later with a film, a road movie about two people who travel alone, they meet by chance, and their need to connect delays their separation and the return back to their lives,” the director said in a statement.
Goussis described “Magnetic Fields” as “a journey and a love story amongst the people that made it,” offering praise for the film’s two stars. “Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos and Elena Topalidou bared their souls and put their fantasy into motion through improvisation, and we tried to capture everything, as simple as we could, just like we were there, watching them interact,” he said.
“I heard about ‘Magnetic Fields’ a few days after it wrapped its guerrilla style of shooting early this year and I contacted Yorgos to learn more,” said producer and Heretic co-founder Giorgos Karnavas. “He is an artist I have been following both as a director and a comic designer and he was generous enough to share his material with me.”
The producer said he was moved by Goussis’ “tender and warm way of capturing human relations in this ordinary yet universal story,” calling “Magnetic Fields” “a film that speaks to the heart in a very special way.”
He added: “The fact that the film was made with such passion and with so little resources gave us an extra motive and made us love it even more. We are super excited to be presenting ‘Magnetic Fields’ to the world.”
Goussis is an award-winning comic book artist who’s penned numerous best-selling graphic novels. In 2019, he made his directorial debut with “The Arm Wrestler,” which won the Greek Film Academy’s Best Greek Short Documentary award in 2020.
“Magnetic Fields” is produced by miniFILMS, Naked Eye Productions and Heretic.