Giorgos Vourdamis

Nochavelande
A chamber western

by Giannis Aposkitis

[...] this world was built upon blood –


But now it can buy it back


And sell it again [...]


G.A.


At a bison ranch in Dakota, a family attempts to trade its past – but a Native American curse ruins their plans. An imaginary version of the Wild West, where genocide becomes an attraction, and past traumas marketable narratives.

Nochavelande, Giannis Aposkitis’ original text directed by Giorgos Vourdamis, is a black comedy about colonial heritage, greed, and the modern individual’s loneliness that consumes everything – even its own self. Using the themes and aesthetics of westerns and the erasure of indigenous American tribes as a historic fact and universal narrative, the creators craft a political satire about humanity and its greedy nature – an allegory of the last century’s multiple El Dorados.

Three actors and a dancer are carried away by the tornado of a vain travelling carnival, where a former porn-star, a Chinese investor, a bankrupt gambler, and a Greek housekeeper all co-exist in a wild, cowboy rhythm, amongst the ashes of the American dream. What remains to be conquered when we have conquered everything?


* El Dorado (Spanish for “gold”): an imaginary town in the northern part of North America, which, according to the Spanish conquistadores, was said to have infinite gold and treasures.