Home / Arts and Entertainment / Hostage Crisis Unfolds Live on New Year's Eve
Hostage Crisis Unfolds Live on New Year's Eve
2 Feb
Summary
- A desperate fugitive held a family hostage on New Year's Eve 1999.
- The fugitive demanded to go live on television before the millennium.
- The event critically examines media influence and institutional failure.
Set on New Year's Eve 1999 in Athens, "Last Call" is a real-time hostage thriller inspired by true events. A desperate fugitive, armed with a live grenade, takes a family hostage and demands to appear live on television as the new millennium approaches. The unfolding situation is broadcast live, drawing in a young journalist, media executives, and a divided police force, all while the nation watches.
Directed by Sherif Francis, the film interrogates the intersection of media influence, power dynamics, and institutional failure. Francis aimed to immerse audiences in the same immediacy and uncertainty he felt as a child witnessing the real event. The ensemble cast features Orfeas Avgoustidis, Maria Nafpliotou, Yorgos Benos, and Dimitris Lalos.
Picture Tree International is handling international sales for the film, launching ahead of the European Film Market. The movie, produced by Dionyssis Samiotis for Tanweer Productions, emerged from the company's "Tanweer Pitching Days" initiative. "Last Call" is set for a domestic theatrical release in Greece and Cyprus on March 19, with Tanweer Alliances managing the rollout.
