The Zero Years
The Zero Years is a 2005 Greek dramatic experimental independent underground art film directed by Nikos Nikolaidis, his final film. Plot. A tale of perversion and sexual dominance set in a dystopia, the film is about four female prostitutes, all of whom were sterilized, engaging in sadomasochism. Reception. Accolades. The film's art director, Marie-Louise Bartholomew, won the Best Production Designer Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival's Greek State Film Awards in November 2005. In addition, the film was officially selected for screening at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2005 and in  October 2006 where, during both times, it was nominated for the . Professor Vrasidas Karalis, an expert on Greek cinema and the author of "A History of Greek Cinema", described in this book the film as "highly personal" and "hermetic." Derek Elley of "Variety" argued that the film, despite "excesses," has a "strain of irony" that remains constant and that it has an "off-center, ironic flavor." Karalis argued that it was derivative of Nikolaidis' earlier films and that it "confirmed the fossilization of a visual style which had transformed itself into a self-conscious manneristic extravaganza." Karalis compared the film  to Luis Buñuel's 1967 "Belle de Jour" and Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1975 "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom". In November 2005, after the film's completion, due to the fact that it failed to replicate the earlier success of "Singapore Sling" (1990), Nikolaidis declared his intention to stop making movies in order to deal with music. One Italian critic had the following to say about this film: