Here's Yianni! stars unpack diner love story built on memory
Joe Cortese and Julia Ormond play a couple holding on to a beachside Greek diner — and to each other — in Here's Yianni!. The two actors talked through making the indie comedy-drama in a special edition of Deadline's The Backstory interview published on 2 October, Deadline.
Cortese plays Yianni. Ormond plays Plouisa. Their marriage is nearing its end yet stays passionate after one partner is diagnosed with dementia.
As Yianni's memory fades, he pictures himself as a late-night TV talk-show host. That fantasy gives the film its name. Here's Yianni! is the title of the imaginary show he believes he is hosting.
Director Christina Eliopoulos based the story on her own father. She joined the Backstory conversation alongside producer Valerie McCaffrey. Cortese has lived with the part for years, having first played it in a short-film version about eight to nine years ago.
Music closes the story on a familiar voice. The closing song, 'Remember to Remember', is by Diane Warren and sung by Pat Monahan from Train.
The business behind the film has moved in stages. Productivity Media announced its involvement with the project, starring Cortese, Ormond, Kevin Pollak, Rosanna Arquette and Eric Roberts, back in December 2022. Then Variety reported in November 2025 that Motion Picture Exchange had acquired world distribution rights, the right to license the film to buyers around the world, and launched sales at the AFM, the American Film Market where films are sold territory by territory.
Festival listings describe it as a 101.5-minute USA 2024 production that had its New York premiere as a Closing Night Film at Dances With Films, Dances With Films. The wider cast is listed as Pollak, Arquette and Roberts alongside Cortese and Ormond.
What makes this stand out on paper is the slow build. A short made almost a decade ago grew into a feature built around a family story, a festival closing slot and then a sales launch.
