By Katerina Georgiou

It’s not the sort of introspective question one would expect from a Hollywood film, but “Opa!” isn’t your typical mainstream movie. For one thing, the film was shot entirely in Greece on the island of Patmos, with many of the locals featured in bit parts or as extras. As a result, the film is told in English and Greek with subtitles.

“We felt it was a risk worth taking because we wanted to capture the realism of Greece and that’s why we used Greeks to play Greeks,” said associate producer Theodore Kateris.

A modern day love story, “Opa!” follows a tech savvy American archeaologist (Matthew Modine) on his search for the cup of St. John, the ancient relic he believes is hidden on the island. The only problem is where it’s buried: under the taverna belonging to the attractive and feisty Katerina, who has already stolen his heart.

While the plot follows the standard romantic comedy formula, Kateris insists that the film is distinguished by the rich subtext espoused by the film’s leading lady and the other locals who rise up to protect their nation’s treasures from being looted by foreigners.

“Think Elgin Marbles,” Kateris said wryly.

Using cinema to talk about the important issues of the day is what initially attracted Kateris to moviemaking.

“Ever since I was a student in elementary school two things appealed to me: movies and history,” he said.

The son of Greek immigrants, Kateris was born in New York and raised in Washington Heights. After graduating from Farleigh Dickenson University with a dual degree in History and Political Science, he produced and appeared in news programs dealing with foreign affairs and Greek issues for cable and public access television.

“That only fueled my desire to try to become a movie producer,” he said. “The experience gained there, working in the studio, appearing in front of the camera, giving commentaries ...was good basic training.”

But his big break came in 2004, when he ran into a friend at an Upper East Side restaurant who told him that legendary producer Elliott Kastner and his producing partner George Pappas were planning to film a love story in Greece.

Kateris jumped at the opportunity to work with his boyhood idols. “They made some of the biggest movies of the 1960’s and 1970s,” he said.

Working on a movie in Patmos was a dream come true for the self-proclaimed history buff.

“The island’s connection to Christianity, Byzantine culture, military occupation ...that alone is priceless ...you can’t really get that anywhere else in the world besides Golgotha in Jerusalem,” he said. “Very few places in the world can combine all these elements together—political, religious and historical.”

Filming took place over five weeks in May and June of 2005 before the peak tourist season, giving the cast and crew an insider’s view of the island’s rhythm.

Kateris was immediately struck by the local inhabitants’ love for their island. “It’s not like other places where people want to leave,” he said. “It wasn’t a dead end. People didn’t feel like they had to go to Athens or Thessaloniki. They could live out their whole lives there.”

He credits the island’s “adorable” inhabitants with a unique brand of hospitality that makes others feel like “they belong there. There was something mystical, holy and magical about the experience,” he said. “We felt like we had a bond with the island and its people.”

Though life on Patmos is sophisticated in many respects, filming on location wasn’t without challenges. But the tight knit international crew took it all in stride.

“We all chipped in ...carrying equipment on our backs over mountains,” Kateris said. “Many scenes were extremely simple and many were extremely difficult. And you know what, we loved every minute of it. It didn’t feel like a job. It was a pleasure.”

The Greek government, pleased with the positive portrayal of its country in the film, was also ready to lend a helping hand. “Whenever we filmed on top of a mountain or hill, the military helped us with trucks and setting up tents,” Kateris said. “Soldiers and municipal workers volunteered on their own. They made us feel like we were family.”

The film traveled the festival circuit to build up world of mouth, premiering at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and later opened the inaugural Los Angeles Greek Film Festival in 2007. Finding the right distributor was important, said Kateris, so it wasn’t until 2009 that the film was eventually released in theaters.

Opa is Cinedigm’s first wide scale digital release. Previews were followed by the company’s innovative paradigm featuring a live broadcast with the movie’s stars fielding questions and comments from audiences nationwide.
For more information about the film and to find a theater where it’s playing, visit: http://www.opafilm.com/