Milos Revisited
Director: Nikos Alpantakis
Writer: Iro Diamandourou
Language: Greek
Subtitles: English
Also known as: ΕΠΙΣΤΡΟΦΗ ΣΤΗ ΜΗΛΟ
Music by Iro Diamandourou
Cinematography by Nikos Alpantakis
Film Editing by Nikos Alpantakis
Sound Department Stelios Mihailidis
Produced by Ironick Ltd – Archeio Books
Technical specifications
Runtime: 1 hr 20 min (80 min)
Sound Mix: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1 / (anamorphic)
SUMMARY
1946: Agathocles Cypriotis, a World War II leftist partisan, exiles himself to the island of Milos where he takes up the position of managing director at the minerals company "Varytini" (today S&B). 1956: With his first camera, he films the inhabitants of the island and their activities on 8mm colour film. 2006: The films' "stars" watch the footage for the first time and talk about past times and of the misfortunate disposal of Agathocles Cypriotis, their benefactor, who remained a legend in Milos.
SYNOPSIS
This is a documentary film based on archive footage of colour 8mm film of the late 50s that comes from a totally unknown family archive. The films were shot by Agathocles Cypriotis (1910-1978), a non-famous but great cinematographer of the 50s, who did not have the opportunity to complete his work. His films are presented for the first time in public. Cypriotis is portrayed through his own films and through present day interviews of people that knew him well and feature in those old archive films. His strange biography serves as a plot as well as an introduction to many issues. Agathocles Cypriotis was a well-cultivated Athenian who served the leftist partisan group of ELAS during WWII, but later -because of the Greek civil war that followed- left the communist party and in 1946 settled to Milos Island (Cyclades) for reasons that remain partly unknown. He worked there as chief director of the Barite Factory and stayed until 1962. During this period, he helped his workers in building and organizing their own village (Pollonia) and supported the villagers in any need of them. He absolutely shared his life with theirs and got married to a Milian woman. Their only child was born there. During his stay in Milos Agathocles Cypriotis incessantly filmed the everyday life of the locals in colour 8mm film. His first shooting was realized in 1956 and the last one in 1962. He attempted to fully record every person, fact or place that was part of his life or of Milos life at the time (during the eight hours of the original colour 8mm archive films there is a defile of more than 120 persons / portraits). After 17 years things changed abruptly and in 1962 Agathocles Cypriotis left the island under circumstances that still remain unclear -a taboo for those who know the truth, a myth for those who ignore it. His death that occurred some years later left many questions unanswered as well as a lot of valuable films hidden on a family drawer. A.C.’s life has been tightly connected to Milos. Probably because 99% of his films had been shot there, it is as if he did not exist before or after his stay on the island.
Memories οf Greece in the 50s, Skoumtsia and Milos Island, by Walter Hubka (2015)
In 1951, Walter Hubka, a twenty-five-year-old mining engineer from Austria, left his homeland to work in Greece. It was his first contact with the country. For many years he lived and worked in Northern Greece, in Itea, in Milos Island and in Athens. We met him in 2007 on the occasion of filming our documentary Milos Revisited. In Milos he had coworked and become friends with Agathocles Cypriotes, the cinematographer of the documentary’s original footage.
In 2009 he sent us an English and German copy of his memoirs from Greece which he adored despite the difficulties he faced until he managed to understand and get used to such a different world. Greece then had just begun recovering from WWII and the Civil War; especially in the countryside where Walter Hubka worked initially, life was exceptionally difficult for everybody. Our publishing house presents a bilingual edition of his memories, illustrated with photos from these significant years.
Bilingual (gr/eng) + bilingual DVD (Milos Revisited) / Illustrated
Film's release
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 15/03/2009
Countryside Documentary and Animated Film Festival 30/07/2009
Halkida Documentary Festival 08/10/2009 • Benaki Museum 07/11/2009
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – “Aegean Stories” 16/03/2010
Parliament TV 23/05/2010 et 05/06/2010
Culture Unplugged Film Festival 2012
Greek Cinematography Club Premiere at The Center of Greek Civilization, Moscow 16/12/2013
COSMOTE TV 2016
INEDITS 2021
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