Dystopian novels have been popular with filmmakers lately, in times when dark prophecies resonate. But sometimes life’s pens are a lot better than any screenwriter can do, as with Julia Amati’s “Christos, the Last Child,” which had its world premiere Friday in Venice Days, a sidebar from the Venice Film Festival. Deckert Distribution based in Leipzig has taken over the global sales duties.
Arki is a small island on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea, inhabited by approximately 1,000 goats and 30 people. There is no mayor, no pharmacy, no police station, no cinema. But there is a school – and it has only one student, Christos. If the boy wanted to continue his education, he would have to leave his home and family. Will he decide to take a risk? Or will he stay with his loved ones to help preserve the family’s business and ancient traditions?
Brilliant documentary director Amati (“Shashman”, “This is my land… Hebron”) remembers Arki well from her childhood. “We used to sail it with my dad,” she recalls. When my father passed away a few years ago, fate brought me back [there]. I visited with a journalist friend who, sometime after that, sent me an article about the last kid on that island. I was so touched and wanted to meet the boy.”
Over time, the intimate idea of a short document turned into a feature film.
In her previous films, Amati has successfully portrayed closed societies and over the years “has become a kind of specialty in accepting herself”. Disinformation is a big moral no, no for a director, so she had to really understand her heroes and their priorities and goals.
Maria, Christos’ teacher, was enthusiastic from the start. Amati immediately related to the boy, whom she described as “extremely cute and smart”. The whole project relied on the parents. This was probably the most difficult part to deal with. I’ve been going there every month for a year. That’s a lot. There were moments when they felt a little embarrassed. Amati, who after finishing her film was able to feed a baby goat in its sleep, remembers why someone filmed her when they were selling goats?
Christos, the last child left on the island, with his teacher Maria
The film was shot amid the Covid pandemic. “Of course, we had difficulties like everyone else, but it was also good to be on the island, in nature, at a time like this.”
Amati seeks no distraction while following in the footsteps of Christos and his family. Although focused on Christos and his life here and now on the island, the story is open to drawing contemporary references. Making a film about a child’s right to finish compulsory education would be easier. We live in a society where institutional education is something that has been shaped over the centuries and it is important to give this right to children. But in the process I realized it was much more complicated than that. Christos may not be great at socializing but he is a very mature boy for his age. His family also provides him with a great deal of knowledge, knowledge that school cannot provide: the process, the connection with nature, which can be so powerful and important in our digital age, and is almost fundamental.”
Watching “Christos…” one can easily contemplate the nature of the demographic crisis. or analysis of changing social patterns and gender dynamics. Such connotations are no surprise to Amati, who may not appear outward but is well aware of it.
“In the past, Arki men would only marry on different islands, and girls born in Arki were given as wives to men on other islands, and these were arranged marriages. Christos is the last child of this system. Today, no woman will agree to go to an island where there is no pharmacy or cinema.
But its goal was not to build a social analysis but rather to make an example. “It was important to me to shoot the movie in such a way that the audience wouldn’t really know if the movie was filmed in biblical times, in the 60’s or yesterday. If there are any visible signs of that now, I would ask that it be concealed, eg power lines In the setting. On a narrative level, I wanted the story to be simple. In my mind I was thinking a lot about Greek tragedy. First of all, it’s the story of coming of age where this child loses his innocence.”
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