Listen

LISTEN centres on a 16-year-old deaf girl forced to leave her progressive Athens school following financial upheavals and return to her father’s struggling island, where she’s confronted by prejudice and intolerance—including, most shockingly, her own.

Written and directed by Maria Douza and produced by Michael Sarantinos.

Director’s Note:
LISTEN is a film about communication and the need to belong. But it is also a reflection on the power of goodness in a world where cynicism passes for wisdom and evil as the only essence of human nature. My intention was to make a film, that would show the humanity we all carry in ourselves, our potential to choose goodness over hatred, understanding over intolerance, empathy over selfishness. I wanted to make a film that “would allow goodness its own speech” as Tony Morrisson would say, not to deny the existence of evil, but to counter it.

Awards:
Presented as work in progress at Cannes Marche du Film 2021, LISTEN has participated in many international festivals around the world (Tallinn Black Nights, Cairo IFF, Sofia IFF, Thessaloniki IFF, WoW festival, Galway Film Fleadh and more) and has won several awards and nominations (Best Feature at Dhaka IFF, Best Feature and Best Performance for Efthalia Papacosta at LAGFF (Los Angeles) and Best Feature at Salam International Youth Festival in Baku. It represented Greece at the European Union Film Festivals of Canada and India and recently at the International Peace Festival Toronto, where it was given an Honorary Award.

Cast:
Efthalia Papacosta, Dimitris Kitsos, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Nikos Koukas, Yoana Bukovska-Davidova, Evangelia Andreadaki

Bio:
Maria Douza, a graduate of the National Film and Television School of England is a Greek film director and screenwriter. Maria has directed a number of short and medium length films, lots of Commercials, Social Awareness Spots and a few Documentaries, before making her first feature film, THE TREE AND THE SWING (2013), with Myrto Alikaki and Mirjana Karanovic, bought by NETFLIX EUROPE in 2022. Since then, Maria has directed three Documentaries, a 54 episode World History Series and a 24 episode Greek History Series for Hellenic Parliament TV and ERT, and her second feature film LISTEN (AKOUSE ME). She is now working on her next film ENDPOINT, an anti-war fantasy.