{"id":1014,"date":"2026-06-02T08:07:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2026-06-02T08:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:07:25","slug":"my-grandmother-told-me-not-to-bring-home-a-blue-eyed-wife-but-im-a-gay-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n\tIn the remote mountain village at the center of Thanasis Neofotistos\u2019 moody debut feature, the superstitious locals have a chant: \u201cNay Evil, yay Good!\u201d It\u2019s a ritual meant to ward off strangers \u2014 and in The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes<\/em> the stranger in question is a boy whose unusually blue eyes mark him as a threat to everything the village holds sacred.<\/p>\n

Read more Netflix\u2019s New Releases Coming in June 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe genre-bending Greek film, which can also be read as a queer coming-of-age story, world premieres in the Screen Festival\u00a0of\u00a0SXSW London 2026 on Thursday, June 4. Starring Giorgos Karydis as Petros \u2014 a boy forced by his strict grandmother and the village mayor to hide behind a mask \u2014 the film is written by Neofotistos and Grigoris Skarakis, shot by Djordje Arambasic, and edited by Panagiotis Angelopoulos. Gersh is handling U.S. sales.<\/p>\n

A cinematic allegory for exclusion, the longing to be seen and the desire for love and freedom, The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes<\/em> uses a symbolic, myth-grounded visual language to tell a story that is rooted in a specific place but unmistakably universal. Neofotistos spoke with THR<\/em> about the personal experiences behind the film, its 12-year journey to the screen and why the evil eye is more than just a tourist trinket.<\/p>\n

\nWhat can you share about the inspiration for the film and its journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve been working on this project for almost 12 years. It started back in 2015 as an idea, and it all began because I grew up in one of those places [you see in the film] in Epirus on the border to Albania. The mountains in Greece are totally different from what everybody knows about the islands. So I grew up there. My grandmother was from a very small village with 10 families or something like that. She\u2019s dead now, unfortunately, but she used to be very superstitious. She believed very much in those things like the evil eye, which we call \u2018kako mati.\u2019<\/p>\n

\nCan you tell me more about the \u201cevil eye\u201d and its significance?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s now a very touristic thing in Greece, but the mythology comes from before the time of globalization and before people blended with other cultures, when Greek and Eastern societies were mostly dark-eyed and dark-skinned. Back then, someone with blue eyes was immediately a stranger or a foreigner. He wasn\u2019t seen as belonging to them, but seen as a threat, someone you should be afraid of. They believed that a stranger with blue eyes, which are always beautiful, can give bad energy to others if you look at them. This energy can even cause a jinx, curses or even death.<\/p>\n

My grandmother used to believe that very much, and she used to tell me. \u201cPlease don\u2019t bring me a blue-eyed wife.\u201d But I\u2019m a gay guy.<\/p>\n

\nWhile watching The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes<\/em>, you sense the underlying theme of queer identity\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYes, it is these two stories that I\u2019m telling \u2014 about superstitions and what it means to be different, and how random it is to what makes someone different in every society. I\u2019m coming from a very conservative family that didn\u2019t accept me until my late 30s. Actually, they accepted me through my stories. First, they watched my films, and then we talked about my homosexuality.<\/p>\n

\n\tPetros is my alter ego. But he\u2019s not different because he\u2019s gay; he\u2019s different because he has blue eyes. I wanted to speak about how random is to be gay in my family and in society. I was born this way, just as Petros was born with blue color in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\n\tI wrote the film with my co-writer, who is now my husband. We got married last year, and my family was there, which was very fortunate. We wanted people to understand this randomness and how being gay is not a choice.<\/p>\n

\n\tPetros\u2019 mother feels like my mother in real life. In the film, she tries to hide his eyes, like my mother tried to hide my sexuality from the family. When I was young, they were telling me to play basketball. I wanted to go do ballet.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Not Suitable for Work\u2019 Review: Mindy Kaling\u2019s Gen Z Hulu Comedy Is a Fun, if Dated, Hang<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThere is some violence in The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes<\/em>, but I feel it\u2019s mostly felt through words and behavior. How did you approach the use of violence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I never use violence to provoke. Whatever happens in the film happens because Petros needs to grow up, so I feel it\u2019s organic to the story. All the violence, or all the trauma and anxieties, are there because I\u2019m a traumatized person, as a gay person. <\/p>\n

\n\tI got bullied in high school, that\u2019s a very traumatic event. I feel this trauma when it comes to a teenager \u2014Petros is 15 years old \u2014 can be a horror story for him, and my cinematic language helps with this.<\/p>\n

\nPlease tell me a bit more about your cinematic language.
<\/strong>
It\u2019s impressionistic storytelling with a POV, point of view. It\u2019s all from Petros\u2019 perspective. I never use anything in the film that Petros doesn\u2019t hear or doesn\u2019t feel or doesn\u2019t see. So whatever happens around Petros, it\u2019s about how Petros feels at the end. I welcome the audience to come and feel Petros\u2019 struggle in his coming of age, his growing up. That\u2019s why there are also some magical realism elements in the film. It\u2019s not fantasy, but it\u2019s also not reality. It\u2019s Petros\u2019 point of view. <\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned violence. That might be Petros\u2019 perspective and not reality. I\u2019ve been doing psychotherapy. If you start storytelling your trauma many years after being a teenager, maybe you start feeling like people were dying around you. I felt like I was suffocating, and people were trying to take out my eyes or take away my sexuality, trying to bind me. That\u2019s why this violence happens, because it\u2019s Petros\u2019 perspective. <\/p>\n

\nYou don\u2019t detail when the film is set, but it feels like it could take place any time \u2014 and also anywhere\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a millennial. Because I grew up in the \u201990s, I wanted this feel. It\u2019s a timeless film story, but together with Dafni Kalogianni, my production designer, and my costume designer, Christina Lardikou, we were inspired by the \u201990s. You see that in the colors and [objects] \u2014 there is an old camera, an old TV somewhere in the film, there is a microphone, so there is a feeling to Petros\u2019 bedroom of the \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\nHow did you cast your young lead actor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tGiorgos was like Petros in the beginning. He was very shy, very introverted. But after one month of shooting, he became Petros, and you can feel it at the end of the film that both have changed. They had a very similar arc. And actually, it was also Petros\u2019 voice that had changed, and that was very, very moving.<\/p>\n

Read more This Is What You Need to Know About California\u2019s Primary Tuesday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes’ film director Thanasis Neofotistos, in an interview before the SXSW London 2026 premiere, discusses othering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,716,767],"class_list":["post-1014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-international","tag-sxsw-london","tag-sxsw-london-2026"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"'The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes' film director Thanasis Neofotistos, in an interview before the SXSW London 2026 premiere, discusses othering.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014\"},\"wordCount\":1213,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"international\",\"SXSW London\",\"SXSW London 2026\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014\",\"name\":\"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":810},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1014#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"US Property Moves\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves","og_description":"'The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes' film director Thanasis Neofotistos, in an interview before the SXSW London 2026 premiere, discusses othering.","og_url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014","og_site_name":"US Property Moves","article_published_time":"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"headline":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d","datePublished":"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014"},"wordCount":1213,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp","keywords":["international","SXSW London","SXSW London 2026"],"articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014","name":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d - US Property Moves","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-02T08:07:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/75df2d21f1b3101933cb93e487378028.webp","width":1440,"height":810},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1014#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cMy Grandmother Told Me Not to Bring Home a Blue-Eyed Wife. But I\u2019m a Gay Guy\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/","name":"US Property Moves","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/uspropertymoves.com"],"url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}