Agora: From Democracy to the Market

From both ends of the Arctic, Nikita in Siberia and Martha in Alaska send a distress signal as the ground sinks beneath their feet and fossil fuel companies greedily expand into the far north.

Almost a year after the global pandemic hit Greece, iMEdD and SmallPlanet, present Yorgos Avgeropoulos’ new documentary entitled “Parontes” (Present). The film, unfolds against the backdrop of the public healthcare system and follows the prominent figures at the forefront of the COVID-19 response, as well as the unsung heroes of the pandemic. Political decisions and backroom maneuvers come under the microscope and are juxtaposed with the struggles of those who bear the brunt of the new crisis on a daily basis. Through the Greek experience, Avgeropoulos manages to capture a universal reality and poses critical questions about the post-Covid era the world is entering.

For four and a half years, between 2015 – 2019, acclaimed filmmaker Yorgos Avgeropoulos observed Greek society on multiple levels. As well as having exclusive access to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, he followed others, including a refugee couple from Syria and a mother whose child was murdered by Golden Dawn. The result is a unique and multiple story-lined film: a tale which evolves and unfolds with the characters over time as they face difficult decisions, even to partially achieve their goals.

As Europe is going through a crisis that is not solely economical but also a crisis of moral values, millions of European citizens demand a response to a crucial question: is water for the European Union a commercial product or a human right? Until today, the European Institutions have not given a clear answer. The EU has still to recognize water as a human right, as the UN did in 2010. Up To The Last Drop follows the money and the corporate interests during a period of four years in thirteen cities of six EU countries. It’s a documentary film about water that reflects contemporary European values and the quality of the current European democracy.

According to myth, God entrusted San Vicente with a difficult task. On his back he carried a sack full of Muxes, and had to leave one in every town of the Zapotec kingdom. But when the Saint reached Juchitán he tripped, and all the Muxes he carried in his sack fell out. Since then, this town in the South-East of Mexico has experienced an unexpected – not only for Mexico but for the entire world – sexual liberation. Homosexual men who wish to dress as women freely do so, and live a more or less similar life as their heterosexual fellow citizens. Not only do the Muxes not hide their difference on the streets of Juchitán, they actually project it in every way. A documentary on the joy of life and love

It was an unprecedented occurrence in world history. Nowhere and never in well-governed democratic states, had the public broadcaster been silenced in such a manner that was characterized as "autocratic" and “undemocratic”. Within five hours, on the evening of June 11, 2013, the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras turned off the switches of ERT, Greece’s public broadcaster, after 75 years of continuous operation. Both TV and radio frequencies fell silent, making screens broadcast black and the FM to buzz. The closure of ERT was an unheard-of political act that shocked Greek citizens bringing back memories from the dark period of the dictatorship. It also caused a fierce international outrage from all around the world. Why did the public broadcaster have to die?

In December 2001, in Buenos Aires, great crowds of people are heading towards the historic square Plaza de Mayo. Argentina, once amongst the richest economies in the world, has gone bankrupt. The government has resigned and Argentina’s president, Fernando de la Rua, flees from the presidential residency in a helicopter, amidst a storm of enraged people clashing with the police, breaking banks, looting super markets and shouting “Out with the lot of them!” The 2001 social explosion marked the end of a neoliberal economic model which lasted 10 years and left a toll of 35 deaths (murdered by the police and the private guards of the banks), 30,000 collateral damages (suicides, heart and brain attacks) and approximately 20,000,000 (over half the population) submerged in poverty and misery.

"Life is for Sale" examines the world's largest water market set up in Chile. Where the water resources of the country do not belong to the state but to private individuals and one company can own an entire river and possess an amount of water equal to the area of Belgium. Where water has been transformed from a life public good into property, and a "water right" can cost as much as a house. Even in the Atacama desert, considered the driest region on the planet, mining companies (major owners of Chile's longest river, Rio Loa) pump huge quantities and use the precious water to wash minerals, condemning thousands of indigenous people and farming villages to thirst and poverty.

The exploitation of the country’s mineral wealth is projected as the most reasonable solution to deal with the economic crisis that plagues Greece. The Greek state has ceded its mining rights over 31.700 ha of land in northern Halkidiki, a region rich in gold, copper and other metals, to the Canadian multinational company Eldorado Gold. However, many of the region’s inhabitants, who have been resisting the construction of a goldmine for years, claim that this investment will cause irreparable damage to the environment and the benefits will be fewer than the losses. “Cassandra’s Treasure” presents a detailed picture of the modern Greek state before and during the crisis period.