A kind of canine Kedi arrives on DVD: Mary Zournazi's doc, DOGS OF DEMOCRACY

Since both the very popular cats-of-Istanbul documentary, Kedi, and the just-now-arriving-on-DVD doc about some Athens canines, DOGS OF DEMOCRACY, were made in 2016, I don't think you can accuse either of any kind of plagiarism. Yet it's very difficult to watch the latter without constantly recalling the former. Kedi is the longer film (by 21 minutes) and the better one -- more graceful and professional -- too. But writer/director/ cinematographer Mary Zournazi's 57-minute movie is still very much worth seeing.

Ms Zournazi (shown at left) is the Australian daughter of a pair of Grecian ex-pats who only recently made her first trip to that "cradle of democracy," which was at the time (and still is) going through an economic crisis which has put that country's 99 per cent into a state of what appears to be an ongoing and maybe permanent kind of "austerity" which has thrown a huge amount of its population into actual poverty (or even deeper poverty). And while the general public has done everything from continually protesting this austerity and had even elected a government that tried to do something about this, it has all been to little avail. The uber-sleazbag politicians who brought Greece to its knees seem to have gone unpunished, and, as usual in our current western would-be "democracies," it is the public who pays for it all -- over and over and over again.

While Kedi was barely political (I recall a single anti-Erdoğan slogan appearing as graffiti; anything more and its filmmaker might not still be among the living), Dogs of Democracy definitely is. Like the cats of Kedi, these dogs live on the streets and are cared for only via the good will of the humans who help them.

Yet they seem to have taken their place as canine helpers of the many protestors who regularly take to the streets. The dogs have endured tear gas attacks, just as have the protestors, and have had their already short life span made even shorter.

We hear from one of the people who care for the dogs -- himself a homeless person -- that a stray dog's life expectancy is around three years, due to the probability of being hit by an automobile or poisoned. As in Kedi, we meet a number of the folk (above and below) who make it a point to care for these animals, and we're also given a little history of Greece and its dogs, in particular one famous canine who regularly visited a POW camp during World War II and which, more than any of the Germans in charge of the camp, attested to the humanity of the prisoners there.

The movie is a pretty interesting -- but also pretty uneven -- mix of interviews, visuals, poetry, prose, dogs and history (and, finally, even a single cat!). For animal lovers of any sort, I should think it will be a slam dunk, given how bracing and often moving is its mix of animals helping humans and humans helping animals always turns out to be.

Among the various folk we meet, the most famous face probably belongs to Yanis Varoufakis, the economist/academic/politician who served for six months as Greece's Minister of Finance back in 2015 -- though he, like some of the others interviewed here, are identified only by their first name. This may be cozy but it's not particularly professional. The movie could have used a bit more rigor.

From EPF Media and released via MVD Entertainment Group, the documentary hit the street earlier this month and is available now for purchase or (I would hope) rental.

Greek VFX artist Konstantinos Koutsoliotas' debut feature, THE WINTER, arrives on DVD and via IndiePix's new streaming service

Considering that Greek film-maker Konstantinos Koutsoliotas (shown below) is best known for his visual effects work on blockbusters like 300 and Guardians of the Galaxy, his debut feature film is relatively light on VFX. What's there is quite good, however, but it does more to clue viewers in to the character of the film's protagonist, Niko (played by soulful, if one-note newcomer, Theo Albanis), than to create the excitement and action that most special effects bring us.

This is all to the good, for awhile, at least, as we slowly identify with Niko and his plight. He's a writer who evidently can't -- or won't or doesn't want to -- write. And he's also in heavy financial trouble (well, he's Greek!), so he arranges for a good friend in London to take care of his pet plant and hightails it back to Greece to his former home in the hills of Siatista. So far, so good, particularly since the movie is gorgeously filmed, with stunning visuals filled with images that resonate and compositions and framing that bring them to fine life. In fact, the opening scene -- in which a man sits somberly at a work table and then slowly disappears -- is simultaneously beautiful, sad and strangely riveting.

The actor that plays this man (our protagonist's late father) is noted Greek thespian, Vangelis Mourikis, shown above, and he has a face -- baggy-eyed and haunting -- that you will not easily forget. Albanis, too, as his son (below) is blessed in the "interesting face" department.

When special effects are called for -- in fantasy animation, below, or in that key scene used on the box art (at top) and shown more completely two photos down -- the filmmaker finds symbolic images that alternately sparkle and darkly resonate.

If visuals were all, the film would be top notch. But theme and execution are important, too. And while THE WINTER offers some ideas -- home and what it means, family and how that apple never falls far from the tree, religion and what it has to offer society (very little) -- there is finally not enough content in this 105-minute movie to warrant its length or our time. And Niko is simply not that interesting a character to keep us concerned about him. He begins the movie in an irresponsible and fraught state and goes downhill from there.

Along the way he meets some of the town's children, a pretty pharmacist, the pompous and tiresome priest, and a kindly neighbor -- any of whom prove more interesting than our protagonist, who begins the film crazy and ends it crazier. As journey's go, this is not much of one. In a way, the film becomes a kind of a character study that is missing its character.

However so many of Koutsoliotas' visuals are so damned beautiful that I would view the film for these alone. But I also wish it were a better movie.

From IndiePix Films, The Winter hits the street in DVD format this coming Tuesday, March 29. In addition to making its U.S. home enter-tainment debut on disc, the film will also be available though IndiePix’s new signature streaming subscription service, IndiePix Unlimited. For more information on this new service, click the preceding link.

The Greece situation comes to partial life in Theopi Skarlatos & Paul Mason's hour-long documentary, ThisIsACoup

For those of us who followed, news-wise over the past years, the horrific "austerity" situation in Greece and (to a lesser extent) Spain, along with the behavior of the European Union in the case of Greece, which has appeared profoundly anti-Democratic and unnecessarily, even torturously punishing. The election in both countries of leftist, popular governments seemed to indicate a rise of the kind of Democracy that might put the people in power, rather than, as ever, the banking interests, the wealthy and the already powerful. Instead, the flame-out of Greece's radical left party, Syriza, seems to have left the country and its populace with one less alternative to even more ridiculous and harmful (to anyone except the wealthy) belt-tightening austerity.

What happened and why is the subject of a new four-part -- each part lasting around 15 minutes -- documentary titled #THISISACOUP, being released by Field of Vision, the new "film unit" created by Laura Poitras and others, in collaboration with The Intercept/First Look Media. Directed by Theopi Skarlatos and produced by Paul Mason, the series may prove somewhat eye-opening for anyone who did not follow the story as it was breaking and continuing. But for those of us who read the coverage in, say, The Nation, or The New York Times, the hour proves a distinct disappointment.

The idea that one could cover the whole thing in four fifteen minute episodes seems odd to begin with. Add to this the fact that the series seems to skirt along the surface, interviewing the same few people, including an actress/protester and a dock worker, over and over again. What? Among the protesters, nobody else had anything interesting to say? We also never get underneath the situation to discover what plan -- if any -- Alexis Tsipras (above), leader of the supposedly "radical left" party, Syriza, and the country's eventual Prime Minister, and his head of finance, Yanis Varoufakis (below, left), had ready (or even imagined in their minds) to put into place. No hard questions are asked of either man.

Instead, over the four segments, it seems that just about everyone (everyone we see here, at least) imagined that simply having the people vote against austerity would be enough to change the behavior of the European Union. Yeah, right. For whatever reason, the doc doesn't go into the possibility of dropping out of the European Union, leaving the Euro to return to the Drachma. (Sure there would be a huge "run" on the banks. But, hell, Syriza achieved that "run" anyway by doing little to nothing.)

In Part One, we are promised the Greek story from the inside, and indeed the filmmakers seem to have gotten great access to and support from Tsipras and Varoufakis. We see that, yes, we're all connected. But some, as usual, are connected a bit better than others.

Part Two tells us that most of the bailout money went to the banks, who were in large part responsible for the country's melt-down (does this sound familiar, Americans?), with only eleven per cent of the money going to the people themselves. (I don't think our country even managed that much for the American people, but then we were not nearly in the dire straits of the Greeks.) Syriza then passes a law to give food and electricity to the poor, and Europe responds by trying to stop this. The country's money is running out, and the populace has taken to the streets, demonstrating with placards the likes of "Jesus: Please Save Greece."

That populace becomes bitterly divided by Part Three, during which Tsipras, receiving no help from the EU, calls for a plebiscite. It happens, and the anti-austerity forces win (again). But in Part Four we see that this vote has no effect at all, except bringing the EU to force the Greek PM into even further concessions to austerity, after which Syriza's MPs resign and Tsipras, though still PM, is finished so far as any effective governing and positive change are concerned.

The documentary's most perspicacious sections deal with Zoe Konstantopoulou, a human rights lawyer and Syriza's most senior female MP, who has plenty to say. One wonders how she might have handled things differently from Tsipras. The point of the film seems to be that Greece tried Democracy, but that this did not matter to those in power at the EU. (Jesus seems not to have come through, either.) The IMF, by the way, has since halted its austerity stance, but the EU is still bent on policies that punish. So, now, as the doc points out, who knows to whom the Greek people will turn next? (The threat of the populace voting into power an ever-nasty, right-wing government is here implied.)

What the film accomplishes best is to ask that old question, once again: What kind of real change is possible without a definite plan and at least some power to back up that plan? Cuba, and to a lesser extent Venezuela, are accused of being dictatorships, and indeed they are/were. But they were also successful in many ways: They had a plan and the power to back it up. Evidently, Greece had only the chance to vote against something -- with nothing at all ready or able to replace that something.

We here in America (including me) voted for Obama, who despite his promises, proved to be thoroughly in bed with Wall Street and the banks, offering an administration about as transparent as a brick wall. (Let's not even try to go after the criminals in the Bush administration or on Wall Street. No, let's prosecute whistle-blowers instead!) In far too many so-called Western democracies, voting gets you a change of sleazy politicians, not a change of policies. Revolution, for all its attendant problems, brings real change -- for the better and the worse.

If you know little about Greece's current situation, then by all means, watch #ThisIsACoup. Just don't expect depth or even much common sense or political acuity from the people-in-charge, in front of or behind the camera. The program makes its debut on the Field of Vision site, this coming Tuesday, December 15, with a new episode added each day for the following three days. And, so far as I can determine, the viewing is free of charge. Click here for more information, and here to see the trailer for the first episode.

FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE AEGEAN: Maria Iliou is back with a follow-up to her fine "Smyrna" doc

Evidently, though I did not realize it at the time, Maria Iliou's excellent documentary, Smyrna: The Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City, 1900-1922, was but the first of a two- (and maybe even more) part series that now continues with FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE AEGEAN: Expulsion and Exchange of Populations, Turkey and Greece, 1922-1924. No one would ever accuse Ms. Iliou of creating marquee-friendly movie titles, but she certainly does give us interesting films about a part of the world with which most of us will have had little familiarity.

In this second work, the filmmaker (above, left) and her historical consultant, Alexander Kitroeff (above, right), take off pretty much from where the first film ended. We do see some of that history of the great cosmopolitan city of Smyrna and what happened to it and get a quick course in the part played by WWI and the "Great Powers" in this whole sad business. This takes up perhaps 20 minutes of the new film, and then we're pushed ahead to see and learn what happened after the destruction and how and why well over a million refugees (1,100,000 Greeks alone!) were herded unnecessarily from what was now -- after the end of the Ottoman Empire -- suddenly part of Turkey or Greece. (Unless I missed it, I don't think figures were given for how many Muslims were sent packing back to the "new" Turkey.)

We learn more about the Lauzanne Negotiations, and what these meant to displaced Greeks and Muslims/Turks. These refugees were families who, often for generations, had lived in the same towns and had sometimes very important jobs and businesses -- for which their compensation ranged from little to none. One thing this documentary makes enormously clear (as did the last one) is how the push for "nationalism" rather than for cosmopolitanism, can create such havoc in so many lives.

Once again we see and hear interviews with younger family members who tell us stories they heard from their elders, and all this is woven together with the use of more of those wonderful archival photos. One thing the movie will probably have you considering: How much better may have been the old Ottoman Empire, with its grand inclusivity of cultures, religions and ideas, when set against the nationalistic states that have, in its place, since surfaced: Turkey, The Balkans & the Middle Eastern states.

One thing I noticed in this second documentary is that Ms Iliou seems less quick to blame Turkey over Greece for all that happened here, something I felt might have been a tad imbalanced in the first film. This second documentary doesn't whitewash anyone but simply seems less pushy toward the Turks. Hearing the stories of the displaced Muslims, as well as the Greeks, goes a long way toward achieving a good balance.

These tales make you realize anew that refugees and their stories are so very similar in so many ways. This is a terrible way to live, and it doesn't matter who is on the giving or receiving end.

If From Both Sides of the Aegean doesn't quite come up to the level of the earlier Smyrna documentary, this may simply be due to its not having a subject as grand and awful as the horrible destruction of that in-some-ways model city.

A must-see for anyone whose family hails from these parts, the movie should also appeal to anyone curious about the history of the world outside our relatively small sphere.

The new documentary -- from Proteas and Proteus NY Inc. and running 87 minutes -- opens this coming Friday, March 21, for a two-week run at New York City's Quad Cinema. Elsewhere? Not sure. But you can click here to keep up to date with other scheduled screenings.

Filmmaker Maria Iliou and Historical Consultant Alexander Kitroeff, will attend the opening night screenings on March 21 at 7 and 8:30pm and on March 29 at 7pm for a Q&A. Cinematographer Allen Moore, Historian Eleni Bastea and director Iliou will be present on Saturday, 

March 22, at the 7pm screening for a Q&A.  

A sad, shocking education: Maria Iliou's SMYRNA: A Cosmopolitan City, 1900-1922

The power of a good documentary to inform, educate, entertain, shock and encourage further thinking and discussion is brought to fine fruition in the film, SMYRNA: THE DESTRUCTION OF A COSMOPO-LITAN CITY, 1900-1922. Even, I suspect, old fogies like TrustMovies, may have some trouble coming up with the time and place that this fabled city existed (and we don't mean Smyrna, Georgia), so long has it been since many of us have heard the name or, for that matter, the larger location in which this city rested: Asia Minor. (It has literally been decades, I think, since I've heard spoken or seen those two words in print.)

Now, thanks to writer/director Maria Iliou (shown at left) and the several experts whom she and her crew have rounded up, this truly cosmopolitan city comes to life -- and death -- in a documentary that should take its place as a prime work of necessary historical excavation. We often hear the world "cosmopolitan" bandied about, in reference to American cities such as New York and San Francisco, but to hear our narrators speak about Smyrna -- the sounds of its multi-cultural music, its languages spoken, fashions worn and food eaten -- is to define that word anew, and definitively.

Filled with wonderfully rich, archival footage, we see a city made up of Muslims, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Levantines (TM had to look up that word, so he figures you might need the definition, too), each group in its own district and all managing to get along within the borders of the city -- thanks in good part to the kind of "mayor" who made certain that every group was included in the "spoils," so to speak.

The film give us a tale of nationalism vs. cosmopolitanism, and for those of us who've lived awhile, it will not be difficult to imagine which group prevails. Though located in the area of the Ottoman Empire known as Asia Minor, Smyrna was always pulled most strongly between two cultures, religions and countries -- Greece and Turkey, Christianity and the Muslim world. The city became such a popular place that it was, in a sense, "protected" by the Great Powers, at least so long as it served the interests of those powers.

After World War I, the favor of the Great Powers moved from Greece to Turkey, for reasons of trade, among other things. The historians/narrators gives some very good history here, with cogent explanations of what was happening and why. One big question that hangs over the film is why did not the residents of Smyrna realize the horror that was on the horizon, which ought to have been clearer to see. Yet life in the city was so secluded from what was happening elsewhere -- in other cities, in the nearby countryside -- that, like Germany and much of Europe pre-World War II, the populace did not want to believe what they most needed to at that time.

The experts here include Alexander Kitroeff, Giles Milton, Victoria Solomonidis, Eleni Bastea and Leyla Neyzi, and they are all worth seeing and hearing. When it comes time to tell us what happened to Smyrna, the speakers do not stint, and it is among the most horrible tales of destruction and genocide that I can recall -- made worse by the fact that warships of the Great Powers were sitting in the Smyrna harbor all the while and for too long a time did absolutely nothing to help the populace.

The story has its few heroes, as well as its many villains (foremost among these the actions of the Greek military as they withdrew, and then much more so the Turks). After the Armenian genocide, Turkey now has another permanent blot on its honor with the Smyrna story. And of course, that country refuses to own up to anything. Little wonder it is still not a full-fledged member of the European Union. Though, if and when it is finally accepted, this will have more to do with the Higher Powers getting what they want and less about anything so trivial as a judgement on the country's past actions and its refusal to take responsibility for them.

This Smyrna documentary begins its two-week theatrical run on Friday, April 5, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, where director Maria Iliou (shown above) and Historical Consultant Alexander Kitroeff will be present for a Q&A after the 7:00 show on Friday, April 5th. There will be another Q&A with Director Maria Iliou and the film's director of photography, Allen Moore, on Friday April 12th at the 7:00pm show. You can learn of other screenings internationally by first clicking here, and then clicking on SCREENINGS AND NEWS at the bottom of the frame.