The documentary Greek Animal Rescue is being filmed and begins screening in various festivals
2012-2017 Aspropyrgos, Greece & London, UK
The interactive film was shot over 4 years, as part of the interactive documentary series Meeting with Remarkable People.
About the film Greek Animal Rescue
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.
Written and directed by: Menelaos Karamaghiolis
Cinematography: Menelaos Karamaghiolis, Panagiotis Papafragkos, Magnus Briem
Cinematography (London): Tania Freimuth
Assistant Director: Panagiotis Papafragkos
Editor: Dimitris Peponis
Sound: Stelios Bouziotis
The film has since been screened in various festivals and events among which:
Thessaloniki Film Festival, Tonia Marketaki Hall
04/03 & 05/03/2017 Thessaloniki, Greece
Cine Doc festival
01/11 & 05/11/2017 Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Amaliada, Greece
In collaboration with the Onassis Cultural Center, the stray animal group “Ghost Dogs of Aspropyrgos” and inside story. The screenings in Athens were followed by a discussion with the director.
Animalia, humans and other animals
09-10/11/2017 Athens, Greece
Scientific conference at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
The film was screened as part of Session 5: Animals in cinema. After the screening a discussion was between the director of the film Menelaos Karamaghiolis and professor at Panteion University Eirini Tountasaki.
