Greek Cinema - Hellenic University Club of Southern California

uses the technique of animation to present the
great works of the Renaissance. Documents,
engravings, sculptures, musical compositions
and other artworks are presented and put in
context. All these creations converge to end
up as the Yalta Agreement!
Inepoli -Proen Ellas (Inepoli, Former
Greece), directed by Nikos Davas, is a fantasy
predicting conditions in the Balkans on
year 2026. In the process, there more Balkan
wars and the Balkans have been broken up
into city-states. In the city-state of Inepoli,
there is still going on the continuing clash of
Islam and Christianity shown through terrorist
organizations conducted by individuals.
The bottom line is nothing has changed after
a quarter century.
In 1997 Epanastasis Tis Siopis (The
Revolution of silence) was released and directed
by Mirto Paraschi. Recounts the film
maker’s personal odyssey to discover the
sites of early Christianity in the Middle East.
Her journey takes her through the deserts of
Egypt, Israel and Turkey where the early
Church ascetics established their monasteries
as the nuclei of the developing faith. These
believers thought that their isolation would
enhance their communication with God. The
modern female film maker tries to come to
terms with the absolute faith of these unusual
people.
Epistrofi Tou Odysea (The Return of
Ulysses) directed by Kostis Alefandis recounts
the story of a young lady researching
the life of the classical composer Nikos
Skalkotas. Her trip takes her to the island of
Tinos where the composer’s family roots
begin and then to the various other cities
where he lived and worked. She interviews
people who knew him or knew of him
through their close relatives. Finally, the concluding
remarks summarize the essence of
the research when his son states that to know
his father is best to listen to his music, especially
his work titled the “Return of Ulysses.”
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Epirus, Arhegonos Greece (Epirus,
Primordial Greece) directed by Maria Hatzimichali-Papaliou
consists of five episodes,
25 minutes each. The film maker tries to tell
the history of Epirus from the mythological
times down to the 20 th century as recorded in
documents by various authors through the
last 3000 years. The film includes a lot of
footage from Albania all the way down to
South West Greece.
Sinasos: Topografia Tis Mnimis (Sinasos-Memories
of A Displaced Village) directed
by Timon Koulmasis and Ero Siafliaki
tells the story of the refugee exchange between
Turkey and Greece where 1.5 million
Greeks were displaced from the Eastern Aegean
and Black Sea shores and 400 thousand
Turks were sent back to Turkey from mainland
Greece. The focus is on the village of
Sinasos and what happened to its displaced
refugees. Many of them are found and interviewed.
The concluding point of the film is
that these people had mingled amicably with
other civilizations for many centuries but the
propaganda and rise of nationalistic fervor of
the 20 th century destroyed their life.
Nihtoloulouda (Night Flowers); (feature
documentary), it was released in 1998 and
directed by Nikos Grammatikos. It explores
the world of the vision-impaired children and
their training so they can handle basic survival
tasks. The film focuses on a 12-year old
boy, blind since birth, and how he uses all his
other senses to overcome his blindness. The
viewer becomes more appreciative of his gift
of vision and more sensitized to those who
lack it.
Promitheas Enandiodromon (Prometheus
Retrogressing); (feature documentary),
directed by Kostas Sfikas, is a rereading of
Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound with emphasis
on the rebellious character fighting
higher authority and comparing this authority
to the mighty authority of the modern state.