Inspired by the real-life story of a bus hijacking in Northern Greece, HOSTAGE explores the sensitive issue of Greek-Albanian relations through a young Albanian who takes over an intercity bus. Upon hijacking the bus, he takes the seven passengers hostage and demands a ransom of half and million euro, and safe passage to his homeland of Albania. Surrounded by police, the bus trundles towards the Albanian border and the tension mounts until the final harrowing conclusion.
Acting
Papadopoulos embodies desperate humanity without begging for sympathy.
Direction
Giannaris squeezes unbearable tension from a single bus.
Writing
Refuses easy villains — even the hijacker's humanity blindsides you.
Director
Constantine Giannaris
Stathis Papadopoulos
Elion Senja
Theodora Tzimou
Iliana
Yannis Stankoglou
Grigoris
Minas Hatzisavvas
Police Commander
Arto Apartian
Giannis
Marilou Valeonti
Angeliki
Antonis Dourakis
Orfeas
Rajmonda Bulku
Francesca
Ndriçim Xhepa
Ersi Malikenzou
Old Lady
Konstadinos Siradakis
Biris
Eleni Kastani
Martha
Theofania Papathoma
Kaiti
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Giannaris based this on the 1999 Albanian bus hijacking near Florina, but flipped the narrative to examine Greek prejudice rather than criminality.
The half-million euro ransom exactly matches what Elion believes his life is worth to Greece — the film's bitterest calculation.
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