Dionysia Kopana

Thousands of years ago, the Gyali island was born. In its northeastern part, there is a perlite mine, while in the northeastern part of the island, there is a site for pumice mining. Around 22 people are working there. With the current extraction rate, the pumice reserves are being depleted – and so are the other resources of the island.

A film about time, memory, and nostalgia. A film about the beauty of archeology and excavation, conveyed through the post-mortem portrait of archeologist Yannis Sakellarakis. A journey in search of a man who is no longer present, through the traces he left in the places he visited and the people he met. A cinematic excavation that brings to light an image through fragments and traces, just like archeology does.

Among Athenian balconies, fragmented images, sounds, and fleeting and incomplete stories emerge. The seasons change, the significant intertwines with the insignificant, and beauty and ugliness coexist. Weather phenomena, absurd circumstances, events, human gestures, and other fragments of life weave together the spectrum of an urban ecosystem.

The camera opens a window to the outside world life for the detainees and students of the Second Chance School in the prison of St. Stefanos in Patra. The voices of the attendees and their on-demand film shots from outside illustrate their hopes, as their dreams gain form, color, and sound, in a sunset, in the sound of the waves, in the open sky. A documentary made during a filmmaking workshop organized by the cultural organization Neaniko Plano, in an attempt to connect the worlds inside and outside.