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Synopsis
Sacrifice
A short about choice, value, and what a person is willing to give up. Wrapped in 2025 and prepared for an international festival campaign.
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On the record
“It is such an intelligent and powerful film, which has great scope. The script is eclectic, the performance at its finest and the direction is exceptional.”
“What attracted me to the project was the script and the approach of the writer-director. It was compelling from start to end.”
“A courageously adventurous and intensely probing film. An unusually articulate and boldly original script.”
“Sacrifice is less about dystopia as spectacle and more about the inner landscapes of human choice.”
Screenlight Pictures is an independent Australian production company based in Sydney. It was registered on 21 December 2007. Writer-director Kosta Nikas leads it. The films are his own: features and shorts that take a position, then leave the audience to meet them.
Sacred Heart was sold by Devilworks, released in North America by Gravitas Ventures, and in Australia and New Zealand by Umbrella Entertainment. Utopia played festivals from Santa Fe to Athens and Utopiales, then reached a wide audience on Omeleto. Sacrifice, wrapped in 2025, is the newest short.
“I don’t like cinema that is preachy or that spoon-feeds. I respect my audience.” Kosta Nikas, speaking to SBS about Sacred Heart.
The company
A short history
Studio
The company is registered
Screenlight Pictures Pty Ltd is registered in Sydney on 21 December 2007. The company develops and produces its own features and shorts.
Short
Light
Kosta Nikas writes and directs Light, an early award-winning short and the first picture in the company’s run of shorts.
Short
Boat People
Boat People, a short parody written and directed by Nikas, screens on SBS and NITV.
Feature
Sacred Heart
The feature premieres at the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival, then at the Greek Film Festival in Sydney and Melbourne. Devilworks handles sales. Gravitas Ventures releases it in North America in 2018, and Umbrella Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.
Short
Utopia
Utopia wins the jury prize for best international narrative short at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and best comedy at Toronto Shorts. It later plays Athens and Utopiales, and premieres online with Omeleto in March 2021.
Short
Bordello
Bordello, a short written and directed by Kosta Nikas, is completed.
Short
Sacrifice wraps
Sacrifice wraps in Sydney. Nikas writes and directs. Lina Sacco produces with him, and Cleo Demopoulos is executive producer. The film is prepared for an international festival campaign.
Development
Crooked Chef and The Funeral
Crooked Chef, a romantic gangster comedy set in Australia with Mediterranean scenes, is in development. Corfu was scouted in 2023. The Funeral is planned as Nikas’s first Greek-language feature. A feature drawn from the world of Utopia is also in the works.
Studio
Kosta Nikas
Greek-Australian writer and director, and the principal of Screenlight Pictures. He worked as a journalist and in communications for more than fifteen years before making films, and he was script translator and dialogue coach on the ABC series The Slap.
About the studioStories
From the company
Sacrifice wraps
The new short from Kosta Nikas has wrapped in Sydney and is being prepared for festivals.
A scout in Corfu for Crooked Chef
The company looked at Corfu Old Town as one possible Mediterranean location for a romantic gangster comedy.
Utopia finds its audience
After Santa Fe and Toronto, the 2019 short premiered online with Omeleto.
Selected releases and festivals
- Gravitas Ventures
- Umbrella Entertainment
- Devilworks
- Omeleto
- Shanghai International Film Festival
- Greek Film Festival