Logline

When a teenager falls victim to a brutal attack. No good deed may temper the harm caused by hate and prejudice…

Synopsis

North London the late 80s. A tragedy has occurred: a teenager lies injured, after a brutal attack. As the story expands, we witness the events that lead to that moment. Years before, a young boy of Greek Cypriot descent rescues a black boy who has been exposed to hideous prejudice. This moment has a profound effect on them both, but rather than save them, it sets in motion events that end in violence and victimisation. “Paint Me a Lie” is one of many true stories about the struggle to survive in one of the world’s most famous cities, and brings home the message that hate causes harm, however much it might be tempered by kindness thereafter.

Director’s Statement

As a filmmaker, I have enjoyed my best successes as a champion of issues tackling discrimination and isolation. My feature film We Are Monster tells the true story of a racially motivated murder of Zahid Mubarek, a British Asian 18-year-old in Feltham Young Offenders Institution in the year 2000. The film explores the institutional ambivalence that then existed in Young Offender’s prisons, which failed to prevent this awful crime. My multi-award-winning short film The Sound (2018), is an expression of what it might be like to suffer from serious mental illness and its effect on a young mind’s growing awareness.

Paint Me a Lie is based upon my own experiences, growing up as a refugee from Cyprus in London in the 80’s. Everyone has one story that they have lived through that they want to be told. This story is mine.

When I was a small child, my dad and I rescued a black boy who had been painted white and thrown into a brook. He had been thrown in because of his small size and this perceived notion that size and masculinity go hand in hand. As a particularly small child myself, this both shocked and resonated with me at the time. Even now, as an adult, I am still subjected to discrimination based on my stature and no one seems to mind.

My aim is to tell an incredible story about a chance encounter between two young boys, whose lives go on to take very different paths but almost ended fatally on another chance meeting many years later. I want to explore the role discrimination played in the way it shaped that boy’s life and my own. I want to highlight different forms of discrimination that often go unchallenged and explore why people can’t always appreciate the difference between banter and discriminatory actions which should have no place in society today.

It is only now that I feel confident enough as an artist, father, and human being to address these issues and challenge norms in a constructive manner. I want to make people aware that discrimination takes many forms and hope that my message can lead to an open and honest conversation on these issues.

Director’s Bio

Antony Petrou is a Cypriot filmmaker based in London. Antony is a graduate of the world-renowned art school Central St Martins, where he achieved a first class degree. In 2014 Antony directed and produced the critically acclaimed ‘We Are Monster’. We Are Monster was released theatrical in the UK and US prior to being acquired by Netflix in April 2016. The Hollywood Reporter quoting “a film which does for England’s juvenile detention system what Steve McQueen‘s Hunger did for the Northern Irish prison service”.

Antony’s recent short films, have been official selections in over 100-film festivals world wide, With several wins including, Best Director, Best Film, Best Sound and Best Cinematography.

Producer’s Bio

Tonia Mishali is a writer/director and producer, member of the Hellenic and European Film Academies, Berlinale Talents alumna, and co-artistic director of the Cyprus Film Days IFF, having also served as vice president of the Directors Guild of Cyprus. She has been on several film festival juries (Karlovy Vary, Off Camera, ISFFC) and a script reader for the Greek Film Centre.

Her work has been awarded the FIPRESCI Prize among many others and received rave reviews from the trades and other established media (Hollywood Reporter, LA Times, Screen Daily). PAUSE, which was also her directorial debut, was listed one of “20 most daring films of 2019” by Rotten Tomatoes. Her films have been officially selected in prestigious and ‘A’ list film festivals like Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Cairo, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Seattle, Sarajevo, Sofia, Transilvania, Stockholm and, Sydney at which she was selected in the European Film Promotion’s “Europe! voices of women in film” section, as one of ten most outstanding women directors in Europe. Her films have been released theatrically worldwide (USA, Europe, Asia), while streaming on major platforms (HBO Europe, Amazon Prime). Her projects have been presented and awarded at workshops and markets such as cocoPitch, Karlovy Vary WIP, Midpoint Shorts and Midpoint TV Launch, Torino Film Lab, Torino Short Film Market, Crossroads, Sources2, Mediterranean Film Institute, Sofia Meetings and Meetings on the bridge. She is now developing several films, including her second feature film, under her production label Bark Like A Cat Films.

Producer’s Note

Antony Petrou and I met at the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus in 2018 and since then we have kept in touch. Over the last few years we exchanged ideas and we wanted to find a way to work together, as we both have the same social concerns and sensitivities, while at the same time we appreciate each other’s work. I read PAINT ME A LIE and immediately related to the story and subject, coming from Cyprus myself – a place where racism and discrimination is very apparent. PAINT ME A LIE therefore felt like the right project to start a collaboration on.

PAINT ME A LIE has a confirmed co-production with Italy by Italian producer Massimo Casula of ZENA FILMS (Sardinia), who has already secured the amount of 15,000 Euros in cash. The Cultural Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Culture has also confirmed financing the project with the amount of 38,000 Euros. We are therefore looking for a third co-producer to cover the rest of the budget, amounting to 22,000 Euros (29.33%). At the same time we are looking for sales, distribution and a good festival premiere.

Partners