''Christmas Tango'' (, translit. To tango ton Christougennon) is a 2011 Greek

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Nikos Koutelidakis Nikos (, ''Níkos'') is a Greek given name. It originates from Greek ''Nikolaos'', which means "victory of the people".Liddell & Scott, Abridged Greek Lexicon Although used as a proper first name, Nikos is also a popular nickname of the original Nik ...

Plot

''Christmas Tango'' is based on the novel by . An unexpected meeting between the sixty-five-year-old Lazaros Lazarou and a young man, on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

brings back hidden memories from 1970 when a sensual tango at a Christmas celebration at an army camp in Evros was the focus for the intersection of four lives: an introverted soldier; a harsh lieutenant; a strict and very conservative colonel; and Zoi Loggou (Vicky Papadopoulou), the colonel's wife. Zoi Loggou's life is suffocating until she discovers a secret admirer in the barracks who forces one of his soldiers to teach him how to dance the tango for the Christmas party so that he can get close to Zoi and reveal his love for her. Coming back to the present and Zoi today is aged about sixty-five and also suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Cast

Yannis Bezos Giannis Bezos (; born 10 September 1956) is a Greek actor, theatre director, television director and singer. He considered one of the best Greek comedian actors of his generation, performing on TV and in the theatre. Biography The person who ...

as Manolis Loggos * Antinoos Albanis as Lazaros Lazarou *

Yannis Stankoglou Yannis (or Yiannis) Stankoglou (; born 10 January 1974) is a Greek actor. Biography Yannis Stankoglou was born in Athens, and worked as a builder and construction worker in his teens, before discovering theatre. He attended the Athens Drama Scho ...

as Stefanos Karamanidis * as Zoi Loggou * Eleni Kokkidou as Paraskevi * Vassilis Risvas as Notis Voskopoulos * Giannis Papagiannis as Anastasiou * Foivos Kontogiannis as Balaskas * Giorgos Papageorgiou as Doctor *

Vangelis Romnios Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic music, electronic, Progressive rock, progressive, Ambient music, ambien ...

as Bakas *

Thanos Chronis Thanos () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 (cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant ...

as Kallergis

Production

Filming began in January 2011 in

Aliartos Aliartos () is a small town and former municipality in the Boeotia regional unit, Greece, at 109 kilometres from Athens and about 18 kilometres west of Thebes. Since 2011, it is part of the municipality Aliartos-Thespies. The 2021 census recorded ...

, where part of the shoot took place at the buildings of the Kopais Organization. In March 2011, the production moved to

Karoti Karoti is a village in Sirohi District of Rajasthan state in India. It is situated southwest of the Sirohi Sirohi is a town, located in Sirohi district in southern Rajasthan state in western India. It is the administrative headquarters ...

, where an abandoned military camp was cleaned and suitably modified to meet the needs of the shoot. Filming also took place in the village of

Metaxades Metaxades (Greek language, Greek: Μεταξάδες, ) is a large village, municipal unit and a former municipality in the Evros (regional unit), Evros regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. This lowland settlement, situated at an alt ...

in the Evros region, as well as in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, since the weather conditions in Evros did not allow all the scenes set in the military camp to be filmed there. As a result, the interior scenes were filmed in locations in Athens and Aliartos.

Accolades

References

External links