“God Loves Caviar,” a new movie directed by Yannis Smaragdis, finished shooting a few days ago.
The plot revolves around Ioannis Leontis’ interesting life. Despite his original surname being Leontis, he became famous as Varvakis, which was his nickname. He was born in a small but glorious Greek island, Psara. Rumor has it that his eyes were similar to a hawk’s, so locals called him “varvaki.”
At a very early age, he was a keen sailor. Later on in life, he became a famous pirate of the Aegean Sea. He used his naval knowledge to support Russians during their war against the Turkish but the warfare ended earlier than he expected.
Having been deported by the Turkish, he left for Russia, where he met Catherine the Great. She provided him with a large amount of money because Varvakis was poor…at first. His fortune had other plans for him, and he soon became a famous and rich inventor of caviar eggs.
But Varvakis was a person with Greek heart and so love was of great importance to him. At the end of his life, he offered his money to several institutions.
The film includes an international cast. Catherine Deneuve stars as Catherine the Great, and Ioannis Varvakis is played by Sebastian Koch. John Cleese, Evgeny Stychkin, Olga Sutulova and Juan Diego Botto, awarded for his role in the movie “El Greco,” round out the ensemble cast.
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