BFM 2019 Brochure

GIANNIS IN THE CITIES
COUNTRY
GREECE
Logline
A Greek civil war child grows up in Childcare Cities where cold war
propaganda and feelings of abandonment, make him lose his inner self.
He struggles to heal his wound.
Short Synopsis
On the aftermath of the Greek Civil War, Giannis (8 years old), the son
of a rebel, is entrusted by his grandmother to the Childcare Cities within
the period 1949-1955.
Torn between the feeling of abandonment and the cold war
propaganda, the boy is in search of his identity, ending up believing
that his father, who he hopes is still alive, is not a rebel but a soldier of
the National Army. It’s only after leaving the Childcare Cities that he
discovers what the real world is like and succeeds, through internal
struggle, to redefine his sense of identity and his personal political
convictions. But in his heart persists a hidden anger and sorrow towards
his father, who has been absent from his life. Only at the age of 35
Giannis manages to overcome his internal denial and travels to Varna to
finally meet the absent father he has always longed for ...
Alongside this narrative, other people share similar fates, by testify their
experiences of lost childhood widespread during the second half of the
20th century.
Short Bio of the Director
ELENI ALEXANDRAKIS
PRODUCER &
DIRECTOR
elenialexandrakis@gmail.com
Eleni Alexandrakis, born in 1957 in Athens, studied film at the Sorbonne
University, Paris I and at the National Film and TV School of England.
She has written, directed and produced fiction films and documentaries.
Her films received prizes in Greece and abroad. Since 1986 she has the
production company POMEGRANATE FILMS.
Among her films: « A Drop in the Ocean» (Mionneto Film Award/
Forum / Berlin Film Festival, 1996), “Kostis Papagiorgis , the sweetest
misanthrope” (Panhellenic Association Critic’s Award / 20th Thessaloniki
Documentary Festival, 2018.)