Info
Logline
Belgian actor Sam Louwyk plays the leader of a bizarre cult with a fetish for cleanliness and purity.
“A girl emerged from dirt and soil, different from all the others. Her teeth were white as snow. Her name was Hygeia.” This story is told by the orphans who were taken to a remote Greek island by a mysterious cult leader called Fust. Among them are Irina and Paul, two siblings who live in the dirty basement underneath the immaculate villa of their “savior.” There they make a special soap that promises absolute purity to the cult members as a sacrament. When Fust takes notice of Irina and has her move in with him, the siblings are separated for the first time in their lives. Irina is intoxicated by the new power she receives through Fust. She doesn’t notice how Fust is preparing his cruel endgame, in which he has assigned her the pivotal role of Hygeia: she is to rid the world of filth. Paul promises the other children of the basement that he will take up the fight against the powerful manipulator. Dirt must defeat purity, in contrast to what the mystery play prophesizes. Things turn violent.
You can buy tickets for the screening at the associated cinema ASTOR Filmlounge im ARRI here.
Meet the director
Nikias Chryssos
Nikias Chryssos was born near Heidelberg in 1978. He began his career working for film and TV productions in Munich. He then studied film and video production in England and directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. During his studies, he was selected as one of six international filmmakers for the Résidence du Festival de Cannes in Paris. His short films DOWN (2003), HOCHHAUS (2006), and DER GROSSVATER (2009) were screened at the Berlinale, Tribeca, Rotterdam, Oberhausen and other festivals and received various international awards. In 2012 he founded Kataskop Filmproduktion and co-produced his first feature film, the multiple award-winning drama DER BUNKER (2015), with Geissendörfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion. A PURE PLACE, which was shot in Greece, is his second feature film.