Fingernails

Fingernails

64th TIFF: Greek Premiere
Sometimes, the experience of falling in love can be more painful than someone pulling out a nail from you. But if you could, by pulling out a nail, determine if your love is true, would you do it? In the world of Christos Nikou's latest film, following Apples, that's precisely the test that determines if a couple truly loves each other. But is it always infallible? Anna is starting to have doubts when she begins working at the Institute of Love, where she tests couples seeking to discover the truth. There, she meets Amir, a colleague who appears to be her other half. Our need for validation is not a modern ailment, but it becomes much more urgent in a world where technology theoretically provides indisputable certainties. But ultimately, is love measurable? These and other similar questions are raised by Nikos’s profoundly romantic, melancholic, humorously poignant, and bittersweet film. It overflows with ideas, beautifully disheveled poetry, and a cast that feels like it's been plucked from a cinephile's dream.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Christos Nikou
Script: Christos Nikou, Sam Steiner, Stavros Raptis
Cinematography: Marcel Rév
Editing: Yorgos Zafeiris
Music: Christopher Stracey
Actors: Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson, Annie Murphy
Production: FilmNation Entertainment, Dirty Films
Producers: Coco Francini, Andrew Upton, Cate Blanchett, Christos Nikou, Lucas Wiesendanger
Costumes: Bina Daigeler
Production Design: Zazu Myers
Executive producer: Glen Basner, Milan Popelka, Alison Cohen, Ashley Fox, Kevin Lafferty, Jerome Duboz
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: United States
Production Year: 2023
Duration: 113'
Contact: Apple TV+

Christos Nikou

Christos Nikou was born in Athens in 1984. A director, screenwriter, and producer, he directed his first short film, KM, in 2012; his first feature film Apples opened the Venice Orizzonti section in 2020, playing at Telluride and TIFF that same year. Greece’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Apples was released in more than 70 countries and was named one of the top five international films by the National Board of Review. Nikou makes his English-language debut with Fingernails, which he directed, co-wrote and co-produced with Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films.

Filmography

2012 Km (short)
2020 Apples
2023 Fingernails