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A story about the things that matter: Family, legacy, success, and textiles. Yes, textiles. Two estranged half-sisters form a complicated bond as they work together to retrieve their rare and precious inheritance.
By Cristina Slattery
See the feature film The Sisters Karras on February 17 @5:15PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 11th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
“You’re betraying the memory of my father!” Maria, the younger of the pair of sisters in The Sisters Karras, shouts. The film, Micah Stathis’ debut feature, was shot during the height of Covid in the summer of 2020 in New York. This Greek filmmaker arrived in the U.S. in 2008 and earned a master’s degree at NYU’s Tisch film program. The themes of the film are universal; Stathis says he gravitates towards material that questions “the importance of family.”
The Sisters Karras focuses on two adult half-sisters, Maria and Helen, who meet for the first time at an attorney’s office in Manhattan where the only item their estranged father has left each of them is a textile from his native Greece. They must share this textile with one of their father’s childhood friends, who happens to be an art dealer in Manhattan, and the characters grapple with the decision of how to make sense of the loss of a man who has not been part of their lives for decades and also whether to keep or sell the textile since it has monetary value.
Helen, coincidentally the owner of a textile store, and Maria, are both perplexed about the legacy of their father – and their new connection as half-sisters — although they had known about each other’s existence, neither had ever had any contact with the other. Stathis’ film explores how we each see “the beauty in things” differently and also how the stories that are told about objects of beauty can be part of the value of such items.
There is a lot of wine-drinking and some tension between the sisters and among the three recipients of the “toulitiko,” the prized textile. Helen, played by the actress Clare Louise Frost, becomes the heroine of the film. There is a lot to contemplate here about the value of family – the necessity of family bonds and the complex legacies that exist among those considered “family.”
Viewers should easily be able to relate to the sisters’ challenge of forming a friendship as adults and also to the theme of the relative importance of ambition versus connection, especially in a fast-paced city such as New York. “They decide what’s beautiful,” Helen says, at one point, while bemoaning the role of rich and powerful art dealers. The Sisters Karras depicts how non-elites (or those who haven’t achieved such status yet) have a role to play in determining beauty as well and that they will fight for it, too.
Cristina Slattery
Cristina Slattery has written for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek Japan, Forbes Travel Guide, Harvardwood Highlights, Roads & Kingdoms, The Winter Film Festival, FoodandWine.com, Words Without Borders, AFAR.com, Travel+Leisure.com, several airline magazines and other national and international magazines and websites.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 11th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 16-25 2023. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 73 fantastic films in all genres from 21 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all-volunteer, minority and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. Our mission is to promote diversity, bridge the opportunity divide and provide a platform for under-represented artists and a variety of genres, viewpoints and approaches. We believe that only by seeing others’ stories can we understand each other and only via an open door can the underrepresented artist enter the room.
Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Promotional support provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
For more information about the Festival, please visit winterfilmawards.com
