Antonis (Alexandros Nikolaidis) works as a Gastarbeiter (guest worker) at a metalwerks in the German industrial Ruhr area. The short begins in a bar in 1974 where Antonis is drinking with colleague Rainer (Moritz Zeiske) as the television news addresses the fall of the Greek military dictatorship. Antonis was jailed and beaten in Thessaloniki for supporting a Greek political dissident. He escaped to Germany along with many other political refugees.
Rainer is an incompetent alcoholic and a dangerous liability in the workplace. In fact one evening while working overtime with Antonis, Rainer blunders about damaging a machine almost causing a fire. But afterwards Rainer and Antonis shower up and meet a hooker in the rec room of the metalwerks and the symbolism kicks in big time and invites your interpretation. I will not give you my view of it all but historically so many immigrants whether Mexican, Greek, Turkish and many more initially take the position that they will stay in the host country for a short period of time and return home with bulging pockets but that rarely happens. Antonis had promised his wife when he escaped to Germany that he would return to her arms when the junta falls.
Given the symbolism in the final minutes of the short will Antonis return to Thessaloniki now that the junta has fallen? As the song goes at the conclusion of the film, “My estranged bird abroad. My sweet swallow. The foreign land enjoys your presence and I have your sorrows.”
The director of the film is Marco Papadopoulos.
This short plays at The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) running in 11 Canadian cities from 1-31October2024. For details about the festival and when and where this short is playing check out https://gift.ca .
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