Wasted Youth

It is a summer’s day in Athens and people are hot and irritable, more so than usual because of the economic crisis. Harris (Harris Markou) doesn’t care though: he is only sixteen years old and school is closed. All he wants is to cruise the sloping streets of Athens on his skateboard with his friends, doing some mischief and hunting for booze, girls, and parties. But middle-aged policeman Vassilis (Ieronimos Kaletsanos) does care about the crisis, which has impacted a business venture he tried to set up with a friend. Stressed and disillusioned, he spends a sleepless day preparing for a night shift, one of too many in a row. Harris and Vassilis are about to meet, and it won’t be pretty. Filmed in a documentary style with a tiny budget and inspired by the December riots of 2008, Wasted Youth is the portrait of a city on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and of a society in crisis. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)