Greece heads to Oscars with drama inspired by migrant crisis

Greece is back in the race for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars with a drama thriller about an Athenian far-right nationalist horrified at seeing his neighborhood become increasingly populated by migrants.

"Amerika Square," titled after the downtown Athens neighborhood around Amerikis Square, is Yiannis Sakaridis's second feature and is based on a novel by Yiannis Tsibras, with cinematography by Jan Vogel.

The story centers around three characters: Nakos, a 40something unemployed man who still lives with parents and blames all of his and the country's woes on migrants; Billy, a bar owner and tattoo artist who becomes involved with an African singer running from trouble with mobsters; and Tarek, a Syrian refugee looking desperately for a way to get himself and his daughter out of Greece and into Germany.

"Amerika Square" has already earned the...