‘Milky Way’: First Teaser Series From Cannes Winner Vasilis Kekatos

EXCLUSIVE: When Vasilis Kekatos, winner of the 2019 short film Palme d’Or and the Queer Palm, debuts his new series Milky Way at Series Mania next month, it will be the first Greek production to screen at the French festival.

Today, Deadline can share the first teaser trailer for the series.

Written and directed by Kekatos, the series is set in a remote mountain town and follows high school senior Maria, who dreams of leaving home and becoming a dancer. Her ambitions, however, are stunted when she falls pregnant. The father is her longtime boyfriend Tasos, who has been working at the only gas station in town for the past ten years. Although Maria’s family and friends are quick to show support, expecting that she will get married and begin a young family, a chance encounter with Joe, a new nonbinary classmate leads her on a journey to consider whether she will conform to the conservative norms of her community or overturn everything and follow her own path.

The series stars Greek actors Corinna Dullaart, Konstantinos Georgopoulos, Nikolakis Zeginoglou, Andreas Konstantinou, Yulika Skafida, Themis Bazaka, Akyllas Karazisis, Argyris Bakirtzis, and Maria Kallimani.

The cast is rounded out by Sofia Kokkali, Prometheus Aliferopoulos, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Gerasimos Skiadaresis, Styliana Ioannou, Natalia Swift, Aphrodite Kapokaki, Evangelia Kamara, Ioko Ioannis Kotidis, Xenia Dania, Stavros Tsoumanis, Vicky Maidanoglou, Geo Pakitsas, Kassiopi Klepkou, Maria Mamouri, and Alexandros Voulgaris.

Kekatos is best known for his short film The Distance Between Us and the Sky, which won the Short Film Palme d’Or and the Queer Palm at Cannes in 2019. Kekatos is the first Greek filmmaker to win both awards.

Milky Way is produced by Foss Productions, in co-production with Greek broadcaster MEGA, in collaboration with Plays2Place, and with the support of the Greek subsidy EKOME. The show is expected to receive a local release in October 2023 on MEGA.

The eight-episode series will debut in competition at Series Mania. This year the Series Mania official competition jury is headed by Westworld creator and seven-time Emmy award winner Lisa Joy. The festival runs March 17 — 24.

Kekatos is represented by Lighthouse Management & Media.

Check out the full teaser above.