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AGORA II – Chained

Dir: Yorgos Avgeropoulos

FIVE YEARS, THREE CRISES, ONE COUNTRY – A TALE OF EUROPEAN DYSTOPIA

After the euro and the refugee crises, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was the third crisis in a row, for the European continent. A virus had managed to expose not only the weaknesses of neoliberalism —a creed built on faith in free markets, deregulation, and small government that has dominated societies for the last 40 years, but also the failure of European values.

Chained narrates the five-year story of three successive crises in Europe, having Greece in its epicenter.

Being the latest guinea-pig of neoliberal recipes imposed by the Troika during the euro crisis, the country suffered an unprecedented reduction of its GDP by 25% – equivalent to a war. It also witnessed the devastation of the welfare state, the dismantling of the public health system, and the rise of inequalities and fascism.

Starting from 2015, acclaimed filmmaker Yorgos Avgeropoulos witnesses the euro crisis – having unprecedented and exclusive behind-the-scenes camera access to the negotiations of the then Greek left-wing government with the country’s lenders. This allows him to fill-in crucial missing pieces in the puzzle of those days, actions that were so decisive in re-shaping the European political landscape, and to capture the battle between two ideologies which clashed openly in the heart of Europe for the first time after Cold War. Alongside, he observes the refugee crisis as it developed through the years and the rise of nationalism and fascism in Greece’s increasingly polarized society. The film ends with the coronavirus crisis, and how it challenges the dogma of “money first”, exposing the failures of harsh austerity and supposed “European solidarity”, allowing the emergence of selfish national policies and nationalism – for the elimination of which the EU was founded.

Chained is a character-driven, profoundly human film: Avgeropoulos as well as having exclusive access to the national and international political scene, he followed the lives of people from different layers of his society, including a refugee couple from Syria, a mother whose child was murdered by Golden Dawn, a housewife, an LGBT activist and a young doctor. The result is a unique and multiple story-lined documentary: a tale which evolves and unfolds with the characters over time as they face difficult decisions, even to partially achieve their goals.

Chained is the cinematographic mosaic of a European dystopia, posing critical questions regarding the future of Avgeropoulos’ country, as well as Europe’s.

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About This Film
Info
  • Film Title: AGORÁ II - CHAINED
  • Duration: 110 minutes (Director's Cut) - 90 minutes (TV Version)
  • Written & Directed by: Yorgos Avgeropoulos
  • Produced by: SmallPlanet Productions
  • In Co-production with: Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
  • In Collaboration with: ARTE
  • Year of Release: 2020
  • Official site: http://agorathedoc.com/
Main Credits
  • WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: YORGOS AVGEROPOULOS
  • PRODUCED BY: YORGOS AVGEROPOULOS, ANASTASIA SKOUBRI
  • COMMISSIONING EDITOR (WDR) : JUTTA KRUG
  • HEAD OF DOCUMENTARY DEPARTMENT (ARD/WDR): CHRISTIANE HINZ
  • PRODUCTION (WDR): WOLFRAM GUMBERT – BREWITT
  • MAIN VIDEOGRAPHY: YORGOS AVGEROPOULOS, YIANNIS AVGEROPOULOS, THEOFILOS DADIS
  • ADDITIONAL FILMING: YIANNIS CHLEBAKOS, ALEXIOS IKONOMIDIS, YORGOS SANTAMOURIS, ANASTASIA SKOUBRI, ALEXIS BARZOS, VASILIS MOURIKIS, PETROS KASFIKIS, DIMITRIS KOTSOU, ARIS BAFALOUKAS, THODORIS POPESKOU, THOMAS HUISMAN, YORGOS PAPADOPOULOS, ALEXANDROS MAVROPOULOS, THOMAS BELTSIOS, NIKOS KENTZOGLANAKIS
  • MUSIC BY: YIANNIS PAXEVANIS
  • EDITING: KOSTAS CHRISTAKOPOULOS
  • RESEARCH: YORGOS AVGEROPOULOS, ELENA APOSTOLIDOU, THOMAIS PAPAIOANNOU, LENA ARGIRI, YORGOS PAPPAS, FENIA CHALA, JANINE LOULOUDI, TASOS ALEVRAS, BARBARA GIGILINI, VASILIS SAMOURKAS
  • COLOR CORRECTION & SOUND MIX: KOSTAS CHRISTAKOPOULOS
  • MASTERING: YIANNIS PAXEVANIS
  • GRAPHICS: YANNIS NTOUSIOPOULOS
  • AERIAL VIDEOGRAPHY: CHRISTOS GIATRAKOS – HEXATEAM
  • ENGLISH VERSION TRANSLATION & SUBTITLING: THALIA VAVALEKA
  • ENGLISH VERSION OUTPUT EDITOR: IAN WATTS
  • WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT: ANDREAS SERAFETINIDIS
  • WORLD SALES / DISTRIBUTION: ANASTASIA SKOUBRI, SMALLPLANET - GREECE
A SMALLPLANET PRODUCTION ©2020 IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH WDR IN COLLABORATION WITH ARTE
Distinctions & Awards

Nominated For
Prix Europa
Berlin, Germany
2020

Οfficial Selection
CPH:DOX
Copenhagen, Denmark
2020

Official Selection
22nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Thessaloniki, Greece
2020

Official Selection
PriMed
Marseille, France
2020

Official Selection
WaHFF
Waterloo, Belgium
2020

Official Selection
LAGFF
Los Angeles, USA
2020
Downloads

AGORA II – Chained Press Kit [41,5MB]: The full Press Kit includes stills, posters, flyers & banners as well as the synopsis and information about the film.
Press
About the Director
Yorgos Avgeropoulos
Yorgos Avgeropoulos is a Greek documentary filmmaker and journalist. He was born in Athens in 1971. He studied journalism and worked as a war correspondent in Sarajevo, Croatia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2000 he created Exandas Documentary Series that was broadcast on Greek television for 13 consecutive years. Documentaries of the series have also been broadcast by dozens of international TV networks and have been screened at film festivals in various countries. Today, Avgeropoulos mainly collaborates with international networks. In total he has created more than 100 socio-political documentaries shot in about 50 countries, and has been honored with many international awards and distinctions at film festivals around the world.