Entwined is inspired by Greek folk tales and their rural customs. My intention is to offer a mystical story that feels familiar yet unique both in its execution and setting.

The idea behind the film germinated in my mind while living up in a secluded Cretan village. In such places, myths and villagers’ everyday behavior regarding superstitions and the supernatural is quite something! All these memories have firmly embedded themselves in my memory and my work.

Moreover, certain stories told by my grandmother where far from usual bedtime fairytales; it was the ‘legacy’ of her ancestors, who were ‘people of the land’ and this was their own perception of the world around them.

Growing up, my influences came to be from the Victorian Gothic and the work of Edgar Allan Poe, to the fairy tales by brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault but also the spiritual fables of Lafcadio Hearn. Despite their different origin, there seemed to be a thematic commonality.

The film is a ‘grounded’ tale that has the feel of magic realism. Avoiding extravagant special effects, the supernatural will be used to subtly highlight

the story’s human aspects, inspired by cinema where cultural heritage and superstition become allegories of universal themes such as Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu – 1953, Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes – 1964.

The main goal was to make the film feel authentic to the way these type of stories ‘felt’ in the first place. Hence, we shot the film on location in Mountain Parnonas in the Peloponnese peninsula – the birthplace of many ancient Greek myths (like the neireds, nymphs and nature’s spirits). According to legend this mountain was the residence of God Pan.

Entwined is the story of a doctor who falls in love with a tree spirit. This is the meeting point of two worlds: an expanding modern world and an ancient one;
rationalism against nature’s mysticism or the elaborate mind versus the animal instinct. These worlds must accept their differences otherwise they will suffer terrible consequences.

Today, this story is more contemporary than ever. We have an ambiguous complex relationship with nature, something emphasised in the Western culture. Inspired by an ancient truth, it reminds us of what we often ignore, even when it is so evident.