-
100+
Ikaria is a small and remote island in the east Aegean Sea, and has been a refuge for misfits since ancient times. It is also a haven for an unusual number of centenarians, who enjoy the fresh air and carefree lifestyle. Ikaria, untouched by human intervention, provides today a resort for the old who seek a mellow, yet lively, retirement.
Mr. Stamatis Moraitis, 100 years old, and his wife live in Ikaria. He was born at the beginning of the turbulent 20th century and has witnessed war, immigration and sickness.
Having left his island on a small boat, he was drafted during WWII and later on migrated to the U.S., where he started his own business and family. Thirty years ago, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he decided to return to his island with his wife Elpiniki to die a peaceful death. But the Ikarian winds, traditional food and good wine seem to have had different plans for Mr. Stamatis, who is enjoying his days with adolescent vitality.
-
Destroy Athens - Dreams of a city
Athens, a capital of almost 5 million people, is the locus where half of the population of Greece is concentrated. A city with an important past, with monuments and layers of history next to modern versions of a European lifestyle, Athens is currently undergoing major transformations.
A melting pot of people and influences, the city center in particular is witnessing rapid changes in its population, which is growing and becoming more diverse. The big influx of immigrants who have been settling in different areas in the past few years, has had a great impact on the city's character, creating many multi-cultural communities. The old Athens exists in the minds of the people that still remember it, however, a new generation of Athenians, born and raised in the city, are moving to a higher level of consciousness, creating groups of activism in the urban space and taking initiatives regarding life in the city and envisioning ways to improve the city's aesthetics along with its overall quality of life.
Athenians settle their disputes by recommending news ways to rebuilt the city and regain its lost pride. Different forces and agents come into action, in an urban environment that experiences social unrest and strong cultural and political upheaval. Will Athens surrender to the chaos until it self-destructs or will it find its path towards a more beautiful and harmonious existence? And what can rise from the debris when the old is destroyed?
Subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on facebook for updates
The Prism GR2011 is a collective documentation of Greece the winter of 2010, a multimedia experiment exploring new formats of non-fiction narratives and multimedia journalism.
The Prism is the creation of Nikos Katsaounis and Nina-Maria Paschalidou, both documentary filmmakers, producers, and friends.
In the winter of 2010, with Greece in the midst of a financial and social meltdown, Nina and Nikos returned home after having lived abroad for many years.
Their desire was to tell the story of the tormented country they witnessed through a new type of narrative. Through a process of creative collaboration and documentation, they put together a group of 14 photojournalists and videographers, mentoring and enabling them to make the transition to a multimedia storyteller.
Here you will find the outcome of the experiment: 27 multimedia stories, as echoed through the voices of people from various walks of life that have been affected by the crisis. In this critical time, we have the capacity to share stories from different perspectives like never before. The Prism GR2011 fuses these stories together with the hope that they allow us to reflect upon who we are.
The films will be gradually uploaded every week. Later this year, a feature-length documentary film will be woven together from all the short multimedia stories in a first attempt at open-source documentary filmmaking.
Please sign up to our mailing list to get updates of when the multimedia stories are uploaded. Become a fan on our facebook page and tell your friends if you like what you see.
What do you see through the The Prism?
