A documentary written and directed by Maria Iliou.
What was Athens like during the Interwar period? Was it just a city divided between Venizelists and Monarchists, or was it also so many other things together? The Asia Minor refugees in 1922 brought a new breath to the city, to culture and to the economy. Industry and shipping developed, a new bourgeois class made its presence felt, and at the same time a working class was created that demonstrated in the streets of Athens. Women began to work, and in the summers they swam in Palaio Faliro next to men wearing swimsuits. Athens, which for the first time had a democratic government, was changing. Below the Acropolis, the Vrysaki neighborhood was demolished, and the Ancient Agora emerged, while Omonia Square was modernized with an electric train. In art, the Generation of the ’30s would forever change poetry, literature, painting. Venizelos, in his second creative four-year term, brought water to the city, built schools, and inaugurated the first airport. Athenians sang Attik and Yannidis, while rebetiko dominated the peripheral neighborhoods. After the Crash of 1929, the return of the monarchy, the Metaxas dictatorship, and the beginning of the Greco-Italian War brought an end to this period.
Maria Iliou and her collaborators narrate the story of Interwar Athens with a new perspective and unknown visual material found in archives in America, Europe, and Greece. The narrations, photographs, film clips, the sounds of the city designed by Aliki Panagi, the reconstruction of the music of the era, and the original music by Katerina Polemi recreate the atmosphere of a very creative period, full of contrasts.
Sunday 11, Monday 12, Tuesday 13,
Wednesday 14, Wednesday 28 May | 20:00
Nikos Skalkotas Hall at Megaron The Athens Concert Hall
Directed by Maria Iliou. Historical Consultant: Alexandros Kitroeff. Music: Katerina Polemi. Cinematography: Buddy Squires, Giorgos Giannelis. Editing: Aliki Panagi. Sound: John Zecca, Mark Mandler, Aris Pavlidis. Mixing: Thymios Kolokousis.
Speakers: Roderick Beaton, Alexandros Kitroeff, Katherine Fleming, Leonidas Embiricos, Jim Wright, Christina Koulouri, Nikos Vatopoulos, Lambros Liavas, Tzelina Harlaftis.
Production: Proteas/Proteus NY Inc
Learn more: Megaron.gr
