A dark and moody folk tale set in a remote Greek mountain village, which also tells a strange coming-of-age story, is set to make its world premiere in London on Thursday 4 June. The boy with light blue eyesthe feature-length directorial debut of Greek director Thanasis Neofotistos, which is tinged with elements of fantasy and horror, will take the spotlight on the final night of the SXSW London Screen Festival 2026.
The tagline for the film, starring Giorgos Karidis, Pablo Soto, Sermo Keke, and Sofia Philippidou, hints at the mystery that awaits audiences. It reads: “Born under a curse, he is an unusually blue-eyed boy who longs for freedom and love in a remote mountain village ruled by superstitions.”
The boy’s name is Petros (Karidis) and he must hide behind a mask according to his strict grandmother, who is the mayor, and his overprotective mother. The only light at the end of the tunnel for him is his relationship with his friend Eamonn. Since the village believes he is cursed, “fear turns to violence, and Petrus is forced to choose between surrender and sacrifice,” as the press notes in the film’s hint.
The film has had a long journey over the past decade through First Things First, an academy for young filmmakers from Southeast Europe supported by the Goethe-Institut, script development at the Mediterranean Film Institute and Sarajevo Script Station, and finally participating in the Cannes Focus CoPro program in 2022.
“The boy with light blue eyes “It is a dark folk coming-of-age story that unravels into a Greek tragedy,” Neofotestos shares in a director’s statement. “The project was born from a deep and strange personal experience, and the fear of feeling ‘different’. It depicts a conservative and closed society collapsing under its own beliefs and superstitions, not far from the family in which I grew up.”
He highlights: “Cinematically, the film is told through a symbolic and impressionistic language, rooted in realism and grounded in myth. It has been developed over a decade-long creative journey, arriving at its truest place: raw, handcrafted and human. Local in form, yet universal in essence.”
The director wrote the script with Grigoris Skarakis, while Djurdje Arambasic served as cinematographer and Panagiotis Angelopoulos as editor. Gersh handles U.S. sales.
But to get a real sense of the atmosphere and poetry of the film, you’ll have to watch an exclusive clip of it The boy with light blue eyesany THR Available exclusively for first viewing. Open your eyes for a first look at a cinematic allegory of otherness and exclusion. And prepare for a song about good and evil that defines the identity of the villagers.
