2017
Single Channel
The key Mediterranean port of Piraeus, from where it is possible to extend Europe to North Africa and Russia, has seen a history of prosperity and decline. With the foundation of the modern Greek state in 1832, the city returned to the centre of Greek trade and industry, and thus saw an influx in immigrants. The Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) led to an exponential increase in Greek refugees from Anatolia. In the 21st century, the port of Piraeus was purchased by a Chinese state-owned enterprise, and has experienced an influx of refugees from Syria and Africa. This work focuses on the port of Piraeus and its clocktower, turning the camera toward people of different origins and positions including a historian daughter and her father, port workers, and Syrian refugees. Set to the background music of the theme song “The Children of Piraeus” from the film “Never on Sunday,” which plays from the clocktower at the same time each day, the film attempts an experience of the “different times” (heterochronia) of contemporary Europe, where the past and the present are intricately intertwined.