A Pure Place

Director Nikias Chryssos | 2023 | Mystery, Drama | German & Gree

Winner – Best Director – Munich Film Festival
Winner – Best International Feature – Chattanooga Film Festival 2022
Winner – Randfilm Award – Randfilmfest Kassel 2021
Winner – Best Screenplay – Grimmfest UK
Winner – Best Music – German Film Critics Association
Nomination – Best Actor – German Film Critics Association
Official Selection – Popcorn Frights Film Festival 2022
Official Selection – Chattanooga Film Festival 2022

5/5
“A PURE PLACE IS SIMPLY ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST … WITH HIS SECOND FEATURE, NIKIOS CHRYSSOS HAS CREATED A SINGULARLY WEIRD, BUT UTTERLY COMPELLING SYNTHESIS OF FALSE RELIGION, BIOPOLITICS, LATE CAPITALISM IDEALS, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES THAT SHOULD APPEAL TO FANS OF BOTH GREEK AND GERMAN CINEMA AND IS ONE OF THE MUST-SEE MOVIES OF 2022.”
– GRIMOIRE OF HORROR

“A TRIUMPH OF FANTASY.”
– TAGESSPIEGEL

 “SOMEWHERE IN THE REALM BETWEEN DARK FARCE, GREEK TRAGEDY, GLOOMY NEO-NOIR FAIRYTALE AND WEIRD WAVE.”
– KINO-ZEIT

 “THE GREEK NEW WAVE WITH THEIR IMAGES OF UNDISGUISED BRUTALITY MEETS A DEEPLY ROOTED GERMAN IDEOLOGY OF PURITY.”
– NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG

 “PURE CINEMA.”
– FILMDIENST

 “IMPRESSIVE IMAGES BURSTING WITH IMAGINATION AND IMAGES LOADED WITH CINEMATIC EFFECTS.”
– FESTIVAL JURY MUNICH

 “A FINE EXAMPLE OF WHAT VISIONARY AND DEMENTED GERMAN-LANGUAGE CINEMA SHOULD, CAN, AND MUST BE.“
– SLASH FILM FESTIVAL VIENNA

 “ONE OF THE MOST RADICAL GENRE FILMS IN GERMANY IN THE LAST YEARS.“
– EPD FILM

 “PART FABLE, PART LYNCHIAN NIGHTMARE, AND AN EQUAL DOSE OF A SOCIALIST PARABLE, A PURE PLACE IS A DEFTLY CONSTRUCTED SATIRIC HORROR THAT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE.“
– JOONATAN ITKONEN, TOISTO MAGAZINE FINLAND

 “AN UNSETTLING AND DARKLY WITTY ALLEGORICAL FAIRY TALE OF EX-NAZIS, MAD MESSIANIC AMBITION, AND ARCANE CULT ACTIVITY IN THE GREEK ISLANDS.”
– GRIMMFEST, UK

 “SLICKLY STYLISED ‘CULT’ MOVIE EXPOSES THE FASCISTIC FLAWS AND FILTH IN ONE MAN’S INSULAR UTOPIA.”
– PROJECTED FIGURES, UK

“A SATIRE OF WHICH YOU NEVER UNDERSTAND TO WHAT EXTENT IT SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND A CUTTING STORY AT THE SERVICE OF A FAIRYTALE AND AT THE SAME TIME DISTURBING STYLE. IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT CHRYSSOS HAS BEEN CALLED THE GERMAN GASPAR NOÉ AND ONE OF HIS INSPIRATIONS IS LANTHIMOS, WHEN ALREADY IN 2015 HIS FIRST FILM THE BUNKER WAS GERMANY’S ANSWER TO DOGTOOTH . WE ADD SOME MIDSOMMAR FOLKLORE AND NICHOLAS WINDING REFN’S NEON LIGHTS, AND A PURE PLACE IS READY TO WIELD ITS SPELL, AMIDST INTOXICATING IMAGES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND THE CLASSICAL MUSIC THAT ACCOMPANIES THEM. AT PURE PLACE SHOWS THE TOTALITARIAN MECHANISMS OF CULTS, SECTS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES. IT IS A CAUSTIC FARCE ABOUT THE OBSESSION WITH CLEANLINESS OF OUR TIME, A STUDY OF A RIGID SOCIETY REPRODUCED ON A SMALL SCALE, A COMPLICATED MULTI-LAYERED AND THEN AGAIN PLEASANTLY CLEAR, TERRIBLE AND FUNNY AT THE SAME TIME. BEHIND THE SURFACE OF THE GENRE LIES A POLITICAL ALLEGORY THAT INCLUDES THE TERROR OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALISTS, AS WELL AS OTHER IDEOLOGICAL CURRENTS, WHO WANT TO REALIZE THEIR IDEAS ABOUT WHAT THEY SEE AS A PURE WORLD, AND BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.”
– THE HOT CORN, ITALY