Athens from East to West, 1821-1896, through unknown archival material
After viewing on Athens Concert Hallthe previous March, of documentary “Izmir, the destruction of a cosmopolitan city, 1900-1922”the Maria Iliou returns to the Alexandra Trianti Hall, the Friday 4 and Saturday 5 November at 8:00 in the evening, with the documentary “Athens from East to West, 1821-1896“, in Greek and English.
What was Athens like, a small Ottoman city, at the beginning of the 20th century? How does the new Athens begin to be created during the years of King Otho? How in less than a century was it transformed, during the reign of King George I, into a neoclassical city that successfully hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896?
Through previously unknown archival visual material, drawings, engravings and photographs discovered and preserved on three continentsMaria Iliou, historical consultant Alexandros Kitroef and their collaborators once again unfold a fascinating story in a film that was first presented at the Benaki Museum in 2020 for a few days due to the pandemic.
Jim Wright (American School of Classical Studies), Leonidas Empirikos (Panteion University), Sir Michael Llewellyn Smith, (King’s College London), Christina Koulouri (Panteion University), Alexandros Kitroef (Haveford College), Nikos Vatopoulos participate as speakers in the film (“The Daily”) and Eleni Bastea (University of New Mexico).
A few words about the film and its importance
The historical documentary is of great importance not only because the Greek will see unknown visual material of 19th century Athens but also because at the same time it brings a new look at how the small Ottoman Athens of the 1800s was transformed into the neoclassical city that hosted the first modern Olympic Games. era at the end of the 19th century, combining great History with small everyday stories, transporting the viewer to a spectacle of images, music and sounds.
Historians from Greece, Europe and America they talk about the transformations of the city, while the viewer discovers unknown engravings and photographs from America, from the Packard Humanities Institute, from the archives of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, Harvard University, Princeton University, the Ghetty, from archives of Canada, Australia and Europe but also from archives and private collections.
For the soundtrack of the film, the editor Aliki Panagi used period sounds bringing the history of the city to lifewhile Nikos Platyrachos based himself on melodies and songs from Athens, on hits of the 19th century, as well as on his own creations to compose the film’s original music.
Screenplay-Director: Maria Iliou
Historical consultant: Alexandros Kitroef
Music: Nikos Platyrachos
Editing: Aliki Panagi
Director of Photography: Buddy Squires
Sound: John Zecca, Marc Mandler
Mixing: Thymios Kolikoousis
Information
Ticket price: 10 euros (general admission)
Running time: 90 minutes (without intermission)
The projection of implementation under the auspices of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.