Feature film Voices in Deep begins shooting in Athens

Principal photography has begun in Athens on Voices in Deep, the second feature film from Australian writer/director Jason Raftopoulos, pictured. 

Voices in Deep is supported through the Producer Offset and the Greek funding body EKOME, with development funds from Screen Australia and Film Victoria. 

The film is produced by Alexandros Ouzas and Tessa Mansfield-Hung for Melbourne-based Exile Entertainment, with Raftopoulos producing through Small Village Films. Arcadia is the Greek production company, with George Linardakis serving as producer. 

The story explores how a tragedy at sea connects three lives – those of Bobby (played by Hannah Sims) and two orphaned refugees, Tarek and Zaeed, as they fight for survival in present day Athens. Bobby is an Australian humanitarian who compulsively exposes herself to strangers to dull the tragic memories, while Tarek and Zaeed fend for themselves on the streets. 

Raftopoulos said: “For centuries, Athens has been a place where the lives of millions have intersected; it’s a city that has been both conqueror and conquered, a place of great enlightenment and great oppression, a melting pot of religions ideas and sexual ambiguity. 

“It is for these reasons that I chose Athens as the setting to explore ideas of time, desperation, identity and freedom.”