WATCH: Two friends head to a clothing-optional queer beach in this sun-soaked Greek comedy
The Summer With Carmen from filmmaker Zacharias Mavroeidis, which perfectly captures the essence of the season.In it, 30-something actor friends Demosthenes (Yorgos Tsiantoulas) and Nikitas (Andreas Labropoulos) take a day trip to Limanakia, the infamously clothing-optional queer beach south of Athens.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.But the pair aren’t just there to take in the sights—Nikitas, an aspiring filmmaker, is trying to crack open an idea for his feature debut and is having no such luck.
Frustrated by the lack of gay roles available, he wants to write something that will break the mold—but what?Maybe bouncing some ideas off his buddy Demosthenes can help with his writer’s block?When the pair spot a chihuahua on the beach, Demosthenes is reminded of the eponymous Carmen, the dog his ex-partner adopted two year back when the then-couple was in the early stages of a messy and prolonged breakup.As his friend recounts that fateful summer, Nikitas realizes this could be it—the story for his breakthrough film, the one that could win him an Oscar.With the tagline “a comedy about the tragedy of self-knowledge,” The Summer With Carmen isn’t taking itself too seriously, having fun with the way we (especially gay men) self-mythologize our own stories and romances as Demosthenes and Nikitas reflect on the past.The whole thing gets pretty meta as we watch the guys’ memories play out, always making the audience aware we’re seeing things from their own skewed perspectives—and perhaps not as the really were.
