Milad - My Planet...

Milad and his siblings learn in a violent way how one can find their planet, when their father has to face the hard dilemma: should he send one of his children, unaccompanied, and thus save the whole family?

Jelani married a woman from a different tribe. To avoid getting killed, they fled their country. On foot – and any other way possible – they finally arrived at a river, months later. Some die crossing it; others manage to swim across and enter Europe. But, once they set foot in Greece, the first adjacent European country, they found themselves homeless and socially excluded, without being able to move on or go back. The only solution is to travel illegally to Germany, that’s what the smugglers say. They don’t have enough money for the whole family to pass. Jelani faces this dilemma and has to choose. If one of the children leaves unaccompanied and arrives in Germany sound and safe, it will be able to bring the whole family there. Jelani’s children will have to learn violently what it’s like to discover their own planet or how they can create one from scratch – and whether Germany is the solution or just a new nightmare.

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The Return

Can theater as an education and rehabilitation medium help underage inmates, who stage their own lives, to overcome the limitations and obstacles of prison?

Can theater become an educational and rehabilitation medium for underage inmates who have no chance of escaping disobedience?
In a teenage prison, the inmates stage their own lives and become protagonists of a film that attempts to overcome the limitations and obstacles of a “correctional” institution.

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My Cotton Family

Will these pregnant women or with underage children, alone, find a shelter and be reunited with their families that are scattered around the world?

Mothers with their underage children or pregnant women, alone, persecuted in their countries for political and social reasons, find shelter in a house in Syngrou Avenue, Athens, where a group of specialists help them integrate in society and find the members of their families that are scattered in other countries. These women, who had no other choice than exile, find in that shelter the support they need in order to lawfully redefine their future in a strange continent.

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Beyond Limits

A school in a juvenile prison? Can underage inmates - convicted for life to recidivism - find the means there to make a new start in their lives?

A prison turns into a bright pause from hard life, when a group of teachers decides to found a school in juvenile prison of Avlona; as a result, knowledge and culture invade the young inmates’ lives, who would not have access to them in any other way. The years of detention become a useful flash of light in the lives of people who grow old deprived of basic social rights and convicted to recidivism. In prison’s school, they find the means to make a new start. Will they make it?

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Theatre and Reality

Can documentary and reality become a theatrical play where the “protagonists” redefine institutions and their own lives on stage?

Document and reality become a theatrical performance and real life heroes become the “protagonists” of their own lives on stage, demanding a better prospect.
The protagonists of the documentary theater play are the people of Lygourio village who, through their narration on stage, depict the history of Epidaurus Festival, along with some doubts about this institution, and the Greek Railways employees who discover the importance of the railways both in their lives and the history of modern Greek life.

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Greek Animal Rescue

Why are wounded stray dogs from Greece so popular for adoption abroad? Is there a hope for the ill-fated dogs, and an ill-fated area near Athens?

A gravely ill, abused three-legged stray dog, abandoned in the industrial desert of Aspropyrgos, a town near Athens; a London-based charity whose mission is to help the neglected animals of Greece; a group of young volunteers who patrol Aspropyrgos and attend to the strays – these are the characters of the film found in a nightmarish place, a hellhole for many abandoned animals. Does the sick three-legged hound stand any chance of getting adopted, becoming healthy again and running across the fields of Essex? Why are the Greekies – the strays from Greece – so popular when it comes to being adopted abroad? With an unexpected ending, the film tries to discover whether there is any hope for the doomed dogs and for a doomed area outside Athens.
A cinematic allegory of the Greek circumstances during the crisis based on true stories taking place in “invisible” districts near Athens that tourists and Athenians often ignore. The stories of stray animals depict – with a cinematic precision – everything that happens in Greece in times of crisis and motivate a London based charity, that discovered this by chance, to start a European campaign aiming at awakening all those who live “protected” and trapped in big cities.

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Six Greeks put their real stories on stage and wonder whether they should stay in Greece during the crisis or go. So, will they stay or will they go?

Six Greeks perform their true stories on stage wondering whether they should stay in the Greece of the crisis or leave. A German tries to understand whose fault this is and all together they attempt a new kind of theatre that turns documentary into a theatrical play. The camera follows the true lives of the heroes both in Berlin and Athens and along with the audience gets involved in the real stories of the protagonists that play themselves on stage. So, should they stay or should they go?

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The Second Chance

Is there ever a second chance in real life? A young inmate from Lithuania learns Greek in the prison’s school and aspires to study at the Technical University. Will he make it?

“…You go out in the yard. On a bench, you find some prisoners talking about how they will break the law without getting caught. On other benches, prisoners talk about drugs and Kalashnikovs. And suddenly, you see a big Lithuanian guy with some other inmates of the same proportions playing chess…”
These are the words of a music teacher that is currently incarcerated in the Special Youth Detention Center in Avlona, Greece.
Is there ever a second chance in real life? A young man from Lithuania finds himself imprisoned in a youth detention center in a foreign country where he doesn’t even speak the language. He can either stay in his cell and give up everything or find a way to redefine his life. He may even try to learn Greek in the prison’s school, discover his hidden talents and study at the Technical University one day. Will he succeed?
For three years, he strives to fulfill these seemingly unattainable goals as the camera records his anguish to start his life from scratch.

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Matternet

Can drones support - for peaceful purposes - Third World cities that find themselves secluded because of weather conditions and poverty? A new network of transportation and communication, or a science-fiction scenario?

Andreas Raptopoulos, an engineer from Greece, travels around the world and invents new applications that try to find a solution to social problems. In Singularity University, in NASA’s premises, organized by another scientist of the Greek diaspora, Peter Diamandis succeeds in making a utopian dream come true: Raptopoulos is the first one to build drones for peaceful purposes as a means to help Third World populations and cities that find themselves secluded because of weather conditions and poverty. A course that starts in a Technical School in Greece, and passes from London before going to San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Amazon.com, and finally the steep mountains of Mongolia, creating a new network for transportation and communication, which is no longer science fiction.

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Start Up Means... I Begin

Unemployed Greeks find ways to carry out venturesome dreams and impossible ideas by giving birth to dynamic and ambitious startups in Silicon Valley.

Unemployed Greeks, trying to promote their business abroad, arrive at Silicon Valley. The successful Greeks of California support and guide them by financing their bold dreams and impossible ideas, giving birth to new startups. Some of these startups become sought-after and are sold to big companies, like Tech behemoth Google, while their creators present them on camera, describing the whole process, the know-how, exonerating failure, giving a significant meaning to innovation.

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My Raft

The jobless “new poor” in times of crisis through the first Greek street-magazine find again their hopes so they can get a home, a job, study and a position in the society that has excluded them.

They found themselves homeless in a city that doesn’t know how to help them. The jobless “new poor” of our country have no hope. John Bird, an ex-homeless man and the homeless street paper he created in London, is the starting point, and, through his advice, the film follows Christos Alefantis and his team, as they lay the basis for their “Raft”, the Greek street paper “Shedia”. The camera documents the printing of the first issue, along with the worries whether this endeavor will succeed, so that excluded people are able to find a home, get a permanent job, study and reclaim their position in the society that has chased them away.

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Kick Out Poverty

The National Homeless football team competes with other homeless teams from around the globe and proves that football can become an important “weapon” against social seclusion.

A football team represents Greece in a world cup and wind the Fair Play Award. The Greek Homeless Football Team competes with other homeless teams (like the Indonesia team whose players are HIV positive) in Poland. The film follows the homeless players in their first journey abroad, while they score and receive goals, and prove that football, sοcialization and tolerance can become important “weapons” for one to deal with the hardships of a life that seems lost and tries to find ways to deal with social exclusion.

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Discover the interactive player

The interactive player expands the stories in space and time, offering augmented material
The position of the augmented material is indicated by dots at the bottom of the video attached to the timeline
When the player reaches a dot, a thumbnail containing extra material enters the screen, waiting for your input
You can click
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to watch the extra material. The main film will continue once the extra material is completed
But you can also click
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to store the extra material in the “More stories” library for later viewing. The main movie will continue
All collected extra material will be available in “More stories” at the bottom of the screen as “Seen”, “Unseen” and “Bonus / not-included in the interactive player”, sorted by subject. You can open it by clicking the arrow
The dimmed images are extras that you have already seen
The grey boxes are placeholders for extras that you will collect later while watching the film
The label indicates extras that are “Bonus / not-included in the interactive player” material
At the end of the movie, after returning to the Home Page, you will find “The story continues” and “Get Involved” to be able to learn, help and be helped
Anytime you want to watch the tutorial again, you can click on the ? symbol at the upper right part of the screen
More stories

More stories / on documentary theater performances

  • The first contact with documentary theater

    2:22 min.

    The directors of "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?", for their first time in a documentary theater with RIMINI PROTOKOLL.

  • How do you become Greek?

    6:03 min.

    How does a second-generation immigrant gets the Greek nationality in a documentary performance.

  • Cleaning ladies on stage

    2:52 min.

    5 cleaning ladies become the protagonists in a documentary performance.

  • "Farmakonisi case" - a performance about the refugees crisis

    5:34 min.

    Can the truth about a case of refugees traficking in the Aegean Sea be examined in a theatrical performance?

  • Remember Distomo

    3:06 min.

    Theater as trauma therapy in a performance against fascism.

  • Utopia in progress

    4:25 min.

    High School students from Greece and Germany stage their differences in a documentary performance.

More stories / on the question: "Should I stay or I go?"

  • "...homeland is where my friends are..."

    6:02 min.

    Is there something in common between today's Greek immigrants in Germany and those of the 1950s and the 1960s?

  • Is Prodromos going to stay or go?

    3:13 min.

    Prodromos asks his immigrant parents whether he should stay in Germany or go back to Greece.

  • Immigrant high school students as an audience

    6:59 min.

    The students of the Intercultural High School talk with the actors after the performance.

  • I wonder: Should I stay or should I go?

    3:44 min.

    Athenians give an answer to the question of the performance.

More stories / on the protagonists and their background

  • Prodromos' first birthday

    2:09 min.

    A home video of Prodromos' first birthday in Germany, that was used in the performance.

  • "...in Germany you'd walk in the street and step on mark bills..."

    2:46 min.

    Christos tells the story of his life during the rehearsals for the performance.

  • Sophia's life in photos

    5 images

    Photos from the life of Sophia Anastasiadou, one of the protagonists of the performance.

More stories / on the protagonists' lives 4 years later

  • 4 years later - the directors of the performance "Should I stay or should I go?"

    3:01 min.

    The lives of the directors of the performance, 4 years later. Did they stay or did they go?

  • "Stayed to leave", the sequel of the performance "Telemachus - Should I stay or should I go?"

    5:05 min.

    Can a solution for the Greek debt be found in a documentary performance in Germany?

  • The protagonists of the performance "Should I stay or should I go?" - 4 years later

    7:32 min.

    The lives of the protagonists of the performance, 4 years later.

Screenings of the second season of of the documentary series MEETING WITH REMARKABLE PEOPLE 2020-2021

November 13, 2020

The second season of MEETING WITH REMARKABLE PEOPLE will be broadcasted at the second television network of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, the public broadcaster of Greece (ERT2) from 01/11/2020 until 11/04/2021. Find out more about the stories of the protagonists while navigating the platform and the augmented material of each movie.

National Theater of Greece – Experimental Stage

In their play "Should I Stay, or Should I Go?", Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris use Reality Theatre as their main method, which takes theatrical texts from personal testimonies and historical documents and invites everyday people to become the focus of their theatrical narrative. From 2015 to 2019, Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikaris became the new artistic directors of the Experimental Stage of the National Theater introducing new theatrical groups that experiment with theatrical expression. (https://www.n-t.gr/en/experimentalstage) Prodromos Tsinikoris & Anestis Azas (https://www.n-t.gr/en/cv/Πρόδρομος Τσινικόρης & https://www.n-t.gr/en/cv/Ανέστης Αζάς)

https://www.n-t.gr/el/experimentalstage

Rimini Protokoll

In 2000, Helgard Kim Haug, Stefan Kaigi, and Daniel Wechsel founded Rimini Protocol, a group who direct and write theatrical works. Their work in the fields of theatre, radio drama, film and installation is created either by artistic groups or by a solo artist. At the heart of their work is the development of the theatrical means needed to project unusual perspectives on reality.Based in Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, their theatre productions travel around the world, get awarded and create important social interactions. Through innovative theatrical methods starting from reality, key social and historical issues are reviewed on stage.

http://www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/en

Ballhaus Naunynstrasse

The Ballhaus Naunynstrasse Theater, initially opened in Berlin in 1983, is now mainly active in theatrical events that explore migration. In 2008, Shermin Langhoff reopened it, focusing on artists who are immigrants or are somehow connected to immigration. The aim was to boost the number of first and second generation immigrants in the arts by initiating a creative dialogue with the German-speaking public. Thus, the Ballhaus artistic network gains a prominent presence in the German-speaking theatrical scene, connecting with previously marginalized performances and diverse artists.

http://www.ballhausnaunynstrasse.de/

IIPM – International Institute of Political Murder

The IIPM – International Institute of Political Murder was founded by director and author Milo Rau in 2007 for the creation and international utilisation of his theatre productions, actions and films. It is based in Switzerland and Germany. IIPM’s productions have been received with a great international response and represent a new form of political art that is described as “Real-Theater” in the words of the German philosopher and author Alexander Kluge. Since its founding, IIPM has focused on the multimedia treatment of historical and socio-political conflicts.

http://international-institute.de

Crossroad of Arts

The main goal of the Crossroads of Arts program is the smooth integration of third-country nationals into the Greek society through art. Citizens of third countries and Greek artists collaborate in theatrical and musical events, using multimedia which they then project, in order to combat xenophobia and negative stereotypes. Both sides work together in order to; develop joint actions in Theatre, Music and Multimedia, highlight the multiculturalism of art, exchange thoughts on issues of artistic expression and art as a global language and finally showcase the talent of Greek and immigrant artists to the Greek society.

http://www.crossroadofarts.gr

Hellenische Gemeinde zu Berlin / Greek Community Berlin

The Greek Community in Berlin is a multicultural meeting point for people of Greek, German or other origin with a shared love and admiration for the Greek history, language and tradition, intercultural communication and the need to solve common problems and difficulties. It is the only Greek collective body that makes an organized attempt to welcome and support the new wave of Greek immigration during the crisis (in spite of its underfunding by the German state and non-funding by the Greek state) and continues to offer enormous humanitarian and cultural work.

http://www.gr-gemeinde.de/el/

Griechische Gemeinde / Greek Community Wuppertal

The website of the Greek community in Wuppertal, Germany. Founded in 1986, the community keeps the Greek traditions alive and uses the portal to support all its members and announce the community events.

https://www.facebook.com/Ελληνική-κοινoτητα-Βουπερταλ-Griechische-Gemeinde-335045813367142/

Brain Gain

The Brain Gain initiative was created by Greek scientist who live abroad and try to create the ideal circumstances to make the brain drain generation return to Greece. The initiative concerns whoever lives and works outside Greece and wishes to contribute to the creative exploitation and attraction of the human resources the country has lost.

http://braingain.gr

Maxim Gorki Theater

The Gorki Theatre with Studio Я, their columnists Mely Kıyak and Can Dündar and their colleagues from Gorki X, invite artists to get involved. Artists from areas in crisis gather here, network, and find space for their topics in STUDIO Я. A place beyond all borders, regardless of native language, form, and content. No approach is excluded, as long as it is ready to question the normative society we live in and willing to propose new approaches. 

https://gorki.de/en

Lola Arias

Lola Arias is a writer, theatre and film director and performer. She collaborates with people from different backgrounds (war veterans, former communists, Bulgarian children, etc.) in theatre, literature, music, film and art projects. Her productions overlap between reality and fiction.

http://lolaarias.com/?lang=en

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