Maya & Samar Premieres at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival

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Maya is a young journalist chasing stories on sex and subversion for a hip online magazine. Samar is a queer Afghan refugee who escaped the Taliban and now dances in Athens’ underground clubs to stay alive. When their worlds collide, what begins as attraction spirals into something far more confronting — a reckoning with the politics of desire and the quiet cruelties of privilege.

Samar, the queer Afghani protagonist at an Athens nightclub ©Nikolopoulos

The film premieres on November 4 at the John Cassavetes Theatre in Thessaloniki. Shot almost entirely in Athens, the film captures both the city’s electric pulse and its deeper, uglier underbelly.

“I’m grateful to premiere Maya & Samar in Thessaloniki, a city forged by crossings, offering refuge to the exiled for centuries. I hope to derange a bit with a story of a saviour’s assumption crashing against the strength of the other’s agency,” says Doron.

In Maya & Samar, Athens isn’t picture-postcard pretty. Bt it provides a natural backdrop in which paradoxes co-exist; where privilege, desire and survival intertwine in ways that feel all too relatable and real. The cast spent severa weeks getting to know the city quite intimately.  “Everyone is so social,” says Nicolette Pearse, who plays Maya, “I felt like the city was just buzzing around me all the time. And I could feel the warm, excitable, intelligent energy of the people and our crew. I’ve never felt so connected with a crew. Everyone was so talented and professional. I felt like everyone I worked with became my friend very literally.”

Maya and Samar whose brief yet torrid affair propels one towards danger, the other towards fame ©Nikolopoulos

Where love, power, and privilege collide on the restless streets of Athens

The explosive affair between the two min characters begins as a fleeting encounter and spirals into a collision of desire and power. With Samar, Maya crafts her next headline; with Maya, Samar crafts an unexpected twist — one that strips away the illusions of privilege to expose the raw truth beneath.

Produced by Robert Lantos (Barney’s Version, Eastern Promises, Crimes of the Future), Julia Rosenberg (Meadowlarks, Out Standing), and Laura Lanktree (Crimes of the Future), with Nikolas Alavanos (When We Were Sisters) as co-producer and Steve Solomos (The Shrouds, Seven Veils) as supervising producer, the film is a stellar example of a growing roster of collaborative Canada–Greece co-productions.

Executive producers include Anant Singh and Sanjeev Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Yesterday, Sarafina!), along with Aida Tannyan, Harry Grivakis, Ernie Grivakis, Javi Hernandez, and Claire Peace-McConnell.

With Christina Moumouri (The River) as Director of Photography, Konstantinos Skourletis (Milky Way) as Production Designer, and Marli Aliferi (Two Tickets to Greece) designing costumes, Maya & Samar grounds its emotional intensity in grit and lyricism.
Composer Katie AUSTRA Stelmanis (Swan Song) and editor Mikaela Bodin (Last County) complete the film’s music score.

“Having shot the majority of Maya & Samar in Athens, it feels only fitting to bring it back to Greece for its premiere,” says Lanktree. “There’s something poetic about ending where it all began.” For Nikolas Alavanos of Filmiki Productions, Thessaloniki is the film’s natural homecoming: “This city understands stories that cross borders — stories of displacement, longing, and hope.”

Maya & Samar is a Serendipity Point Films, January Media, and Filmiki Productions co-production. The Canada-Hellenic Republic co-production is produced in association with Telefilm Canada, Greek Film Centre, Distant Horizon, Bell Media, CBC, Ontario Creates, and the Harold Greenberg Fund, with the support of EKOME.