Xenia

Xenia is a 2014 drama film directed by Panos H. Koutras, who co-wrote the screenplay with Panagiotis Evangelidis. A co-production of Greece, France, and Belgium, it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

The story follows two brothers of Albanian descent who lose their mother: Dany leaves his home in Crete to join his older brother Odysseas in Athens. Effectively refugees in their own country, the pair travel to Thessaloniki to find the Greek father they never knew, hoping to secure citizenship through him. Ody, a devoted fan of Italian singer Patty Pravo, considers entering a singing contest in the city, and Pravo appears as herself near the end. Greece's submission for the 88th Academy Awards, the film won six Hellenic Film Academy awards; Koutras refused the screenplay and directing prizes in protest of the citizenship law affecting second-generation immigrants.