Oscars 2023: Greece’s ‘Behind the Haystacks’ Up for Best Int’l Feature Film Award

Behind the Haystacks. Photo source: Behind the Haystacks fb page.

The Greek Ministry of Culture recently announced that the film ‘Behind the Haystacks’ will be Greece’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category at the 96th “Oscars” Academy Awards.

The Oscars 2024 ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honor films released in 2023, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, California on March 10, 2024.

According to an announcement by the culture ministry, the film ‘Behind the Haystacks’ was chosen to represent Greece because it manages to “portray the country’s moral and economic crisis with clarity, frankness and sensitivity, with the drama of the refugees acting as a backdrop.”

The film’s director Asimina Proedrou. Photo source: Behind the Haystacks.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports, responsible for Contemporary Culture, Christos Dimas accepted and ratified the proposal that will see Greece’s entry compete with more than 70 other entries from around the world for a spot on the Best International Feature Film final nominations list.

Behind the Haystacks

The film, a Greek, German and North Macedonian co-production, tells the story of a middle-aged fisherman living on Greece’s northern border, who is drowning in debt and starts to smuggle migrants across the border lake, in exchange for a hefty fee.

His wife, a housewife and devout churchgoer, is seeking the truth in God’s Word, while their daughter tries to define her own life within an oppressive environment. Until a tragic incident strikes the family, pushing the three heroes to face their own personal impasses and weaknesses, whilst having to consider, for the first time in their life, the price to pay for their actions.

Written and directed by Asimina Proedrou, ‘Behind the Haystacks’ won 16 awards at the Thessaloniki International film Festival and the Hellenic Film Academy’s Iris awards and the Best Debut Feature Film award and the India International film Festival.

This is Greece’s 4th nomination in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars directed by a female director since 2013, and the 7th overall since 1957.