Paraskinio

During the cold spring of 1941, with Greece already under German occupation, a long-suffering squad of war-battered soldiers receives orders from the headquarters in Athens to fall back, leaving behind the Albanian Front. As the men retreat through the snow-covered landscapes of the bomb-scarred Greek countryside, the terrifying certainty that nothing will ever be the same again crushes their weary human souls.

At the turn of the twentieth century a young merchant is abducted by a group of brigands who are sheltered in a remote mountainous area of Greece aiming to extract ransom from his wealthy family. The young man develops a kind of sympathy to the arch-brigand and realizes that the underground life and moral code of his kidnappers actually represent a more genuine expression of “New Hellenism” than his bourgeois well-being.

The legendary long-lost documentary by Lakis Papastathis about Dionysis Savvopoulos features music videos of songs drawn from the albums *To Perivoli tou Trellou* (The Fool’s Garden), *Ballos*, *Vromiko Psomi* (Dirty Bread), and *10 Chronia Kommatia* (10 Years in Pieces). It also includes an interview and audiovisual material by Papastathis, originally presented during Savvopoulos’ performances at Kyttaro. Additionally, Savvopoulos performs together with Domna Samiou and Sotiria Bellou in a rare musical collaboration.

Athens 1967. The political assassinations and the background between the government and foreign powers, on the occasion of the "Polk Case", where an innocent leftist was convicted for the murder of an American journalist in Greece.

A documentary short, about Prespes, that Takis Hatzopoulos shot in 1966, the first major act of a journey that would inevitably lead him to Gazoros Serron in 1974 and from there to his time on the TV documentary series Paraskinio, an inexhaustible hothouse of films and filmmaking talent. Hatzopoulos chronicles this one corner of Greece, where a lake divides people into nationalities, in 14 minutes, with obvious echoes not only of the documentation but also of the fiction of Takis Kanellopoulos as it is captured in the black and white photography of Syrakos Danalis, the music of Kostas Mylonas, and the voice-over of Angelos Antonopoulos.

The leading figure of Shadow Theater in Greece, the renowned Karagiozis performer, shadow theater teacher, and painter, **Evgenios Spatharis**, was born 100 years ago, on **January 2, 1924**. Continuing the family tradition of shadow theater passed down from his father, the well-known Karagiozis performer **Sotiris Spatharis**, Evgenios Spatharis dedicated his entire life to this important form of folk art. He traveled around the world showcasing his work and was honored with various European awards for his artistic contributions. In **1995**, the **Municipality of Maroussi** founded the **Spatharis Shadow Theater Museum**, giving Karagiozis a permanent home. In **2007**, the **Ministry of Culture** honored the great artist and shadow theater teacher for his contribution to Greek folk art.