Hostage (2005)
Directed by Konstantinos Giannaris
Duration: 105 mins
Inspired by the real-life story of a bus hijacking in Northern Greece, HOSTAGE explores the sensitive issue of Greek-Albanian relations through a young Albanian who takes over an intercity bus. Upon hijacking the bus, he takes the seven passengers hostage and demands a ransom of half and million euro, and safe passage to his homeland of Albania. Surrounded by police, the bus trundles towards the Albanian border and the tension mounts until the final harrowing conclusion.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Konstantinos Giannaris is a Greek film director. He studied Finance, History and Philosophy at the Universities of Kiel and Birmingham. His cinema career started in England where he completed independent short films of short budget. His first Greek film, Mia Thesi Ston Helio (1995) was awarded with the Best Greek Film Award at the Short Film Festival of Drama in Greece. Also in 1995 another film was released, 3 Steps To Heaven, and in 1998 From the Edge of Town film which was awarded the Second-Best Film Award by the Greek Ministry of Culture. In 2001 Giannaris filmed Dekapedavgustos and in 2004 his Omiros. His films have been shown in many international film festivals and talked about in various fora. His first long film 3 Steps To Heaven was financed and set in London. Today he lives and works in Athens, Greece.