 FESTIVALS: * Festival du Nouveau Cinema * IDFA Competition for First Appearance *Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece) | Fortunate Son
FORTUNATE SON is autobiographical documentary by the son of Greek immigrants living in Canada. Motivated by a search for happiness with his fiancee, filmmaker Tony Asimakopoulos turns his gaze on his complicated, painful relationship with his aging parents and the patterns of dysfunction they share. A film about faith, despair, renewal, and the different kinds of love in a family. Over a decade ago, the filmmaker fell into a deep hole of drug use and nearly destroyed himself. Emerging clean but fragile, he remained isolated from his family for years. Recently he discovered the extent to which he shattered his parents' lives. Using his camera as a psychological probe and a tool for healing, Tony looks at his parents and himself... uncovering layers of pain and guilt that still linger. His look into the past is interrupted by the future: his fiancée, Natalie, a lighter spirit who tries to adapt to his darkly intense family. On a trip to his parents' ancestral home in Greece Tony's two worlds come together. He confronts his own difficulty experiencing joy, and the family dynamics which prevent happiness. As Tony navigates the raw edge between his old and new relationships, a picture emerges of a family coming to terms with itself. Humor, healthy cynicism and pragmatism help them to discover love within - and across - generations. They are put to the test when a serious illness strikes the family in the months leading up to Tony and Nathalie's wedding... PRESS IMAGES: (click to preview) 
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