CM 2021

Heretic

Creative Europe 

Novak

Pitch video

Goals at CineMart
 We are interested in meeting potential co-producersand other financial partners along with sales agents and distributors. We are looking to create a four-party organic co-production with partners that have the experience to produce a challenging cross-over arthouse debut, which has the potential of casting a well-known actor for the lead role.Synopsis
 Dr. Novak, an ageing Serbo-Croat ex-neuroscientist, lives a grey, reclusive life in the suburbs of Athens, Greece. Having been branded a paranoid schizophrenic for his past radical research on the effectsof electromagnetic radiation on humans, he now keeps his old utopian dreams at bay with heavy psychiatric medication.When a young group of activists and admirers manage to track him down, they try to convince him to continue his research. Torn between maintaining his sanity and pursuing his cause of saving humankind, Dr. Novak finally decides to quit his medication and follow them to the New Atlantis: an intersectional art/science commune built on his old scientific theories.There, surrounded by young scientists, artists and dreamers, his life will acquire meaning again. But as his messiah complex resurfaces, Dr. Novak will keep pushing himself to the breaking point, risking his second chance of happiness in pursuit of a higher goal that might only exist in his mind.Director's Biography Harry Lagoussis was born in Athens, Greece in 1977. He studied filmmaking at the London Film School and worked as a commercial, music video and video art director as well as a cartoonist. His two short films,Maasai&nbsp;and&nbsp;Postcards from Manila, travelled to many international film festivals, while his video work has been screened in several galleries and museums around the world. Apart from his own short films he has co-written two feature films directed by Yannis Economides. His comics and artwork have been shown&nbsp;at group exhibitions in Greece and abroad and have been published in various international anthologies.

A reclusive old scientist leaves his solitary life behind in order to join a group of young admirers at the cost of his own sanity.