Remember the “Man of God”? The film, which dressed Aris Servetalis in the cassock of St. Nectarios, was met with rather harsh critical reception, but found its audience in theaters, selling nearly 300,000 tickets at the height of the pandemic. It even did very well outside of Greece, reaching 14 countries including France, Germany, Russia, Canada and the US, where it actually “opened” in 800 theaters. Behind Man of God is the American production company Simeon Entertainment, which director Elena Popovich and Greek-born Alex Potter co-founded about a decade ago. Now the two want to continue and develop a successful recipe through Simeon Feit, a new division of the company that will develop faith-based film projects.

“The goal is not to make religious films in the narrow sense, but to tell the stories of people who today can inspire the general public. We are not talking about ordinary “pictures”, but about non-standard figures, for example, in the works “Moses Cherny”, where the main character is a gangster from modern Chicago,” says Elena Popovich, who is going to direct a specific film. However, Simeon Feith’s project has shown practical interest in Yiannis Kinigopoulos, an experienced chief executive of investment bank Lazard, who is joining the company as a minority shareholder with an investment expected to be several million dollars.

“All over the world there is interest in films like Man of God that are about faith, both from the public and from people who want to be involved in making them. Personally, I like this idea, and also working with cinema, which, I think, is now at a turning point, with exciting prospects for the future,” says Mr. Kinigopoulos himself.

Simeon Entertainment, for its part, is also preparing other works, while the production experience in Greece seems to have left the best impressions, according to what Alex Potter conveys to us: “Our experience in Greece was flawless in every way. Initially, we were one of the first projects that joined the EKOME cash rebate, because if initially the rebate was 25% of the production, then when it reached 40% a little later, all the necessary actions were taken. join there. On the other hand, we also had a great team in this area, with the Viewmaster co-producers and the entire Greek team, which was excellent. Since then, no matter what project comes into our hands, we first of all think about whether it can be filmed in Greece. Personally, I would go back (and) work there without a second thought.”

But how easy or difficult is it in 2023 to make independent films for a global audience? “Obviously the biggest challenge is finding resources. Streaming has certainly accelerated development, but it has also created a lot of opportunities. We want to create high-quality and at the same time commercial content that can be distributed around the world either in cinemas or on platforms. The demand for good content will never go away.”