A short documentary about a coast guard captain saving refugees from the sea and a dystopian dark comedy directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos are amongst the nominees announced today for Hollywood’s most prestigious awards, the Oscars.
Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek documentary filmmaker who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She returned to Greece last fall to make a film about the refugee crisis that had overcome her nation.
She told The New York Times that she discovered a situation that she never imagined possible. She followed a coast guard captain for three weeks and filmed during harrowing rescues.
“I followed a coast guard captain for three weeks as he pulled family after family, child after child, from the ocean and saved their lives,” she said.
The New York Times featured Matziaraki’s complete documentary, 4.1 Miles. Watch it here.
Greek writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster received critical acclaim, which included praise for Colin Farrell for his performance. Lanthimos and his co-writer Efthimius Fillippou received the Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay after winning the Best European Screenwriter award at the European Film Awards in December 2016.
Watch the trailer of The Lobster here: