UNDER THE STARS

Christo Georgiou's auspicious debut feature, UNDER THE STARS, hails from a part of the globe known for wandering odysseys and heroic journeys ? although no demigod of old ever trafficked in black-market whiskey and ping-pong matches to reach home. For Lukas the world ended in 1974 with the Greek right-wing military coup that overthrew the autonomous government of Cyprus, followed by a Turkish invasion of the island nation. The geopolitical upheaval left the then-10-year-old boy's mother among those slain, United Nations troops trying to enforce a peace, and the capital city Nicosia as divided into zones as Cold War Berlin. Now, 26 years later, the hermit-like Lukas still considers himself a refugee as he dwells in seclusion in Nicosia, haunted by his memories and suspicion and mistrust of the Turks. Then he meets Phoebe, who was also displaced as a youngster. In contrast, however, she's a free-spirited smuggler who refuses to live in the past; she deals goods to Turkish and Greek guards alike on either side of the infamous ?Green Line.? Lukas pays her to help him navigate the treacherous path back to his childhood village, deep in forbidden Turkish territory. Too many guns and too much anger line the route. But perhaps no peril the protagonists face is worse then Lukas and Phoebe's own contentious personalities, as the odd couple seeks closure for personal and national wounds. (In Greek with English subtitles)