Isabella Margara

Writer-director

Greece

Isabella Margara is a writer and director of Greek origin. She also has a degree in medicine.
She received the International Audience Award at Clermont-Ferrand 2023 with her second short film NOTHING HOLIER THAN A DOLPHIN. Her first short ’54 – THE BLIND TURTLE AND THE ENDLESS SEA’ (2020) – was screened in major festivals and was acquired by CANAL+. She was selected at Sarajevo Talents 2021 and Les Arcs Talent Lab 2023, which annually invites eight upcoming European directors.
Isabella is currently developing her third short film as well as her first feature, BLACK WATER, a post-apocalyptic western based on M. Makropoulos’ acclaimed novel (Greek National Literature Award, 2020), which was recently published in France. BLACK WATER was presented at Thessaloniki FF Agora 2023 and received the Finos Film award for a standout Greek project.

Project

Black Water

A father and his disabled son struggle to survive in a nearly deserted village, polluted by oil extractions. Around them, an ecological disaster has taken place: The water has turned black, while the animals and plants are poisoned. Twelve people are left, without food and fuel, living off burglaries from deserted houses and bus visits to the city – but even there, the streets are empty, suggesting the presence of a greater disaster. Under suffocating pressure from the State, the few inhabitants, whose faces are identical to the Saints on the frescoes of the local chapels, either leave, go mad or die. But the two men have a weapon that can endure even the end of the world: their immense love for each other.