Radical filmmaking reveals Greece's humanitarian crisis

Athens Now! is a selection of films, curated by Stanley Schtinter that explore the Greek struggle of the past seven years, presenting a positive and creative perspective amidst fears of a European collapse.

Schtinter moved to Greece in 2014 from the UK, and has exhibited and curated work internationally, including the Institute of Contemporary Art and The Barbican. The films, which will be screened at Whitechapel Gallery, London, on 4 July, present an impression of Athens and Greece today, with different perspectives and a focus on the human capacity to mend and keep going.

“This is not some conceptual wack-job commodifying the issue,” says Stanley Schinter. “It’s a small visual companion piece to a great tragedy and injustice of our times: that of people versus an impossibilist capitalism.”

The programme consists of 11 films, including a post-apocalyptic vision of Greece, police helicopter footage of anarchists, an exploration of the rise of tourism on the island of Santorini and a documentation of the fallout of the austerity measures imposed upon Greece.

“In real terms,” Schtinter says, “Greece has demonstrated and projected a collective will for international change: practical, positive and increasingly palpable. This must be supported, protected and progressed if we want to come anywhere close to a world – outside of the cinema – worth living in.”

Concerning the power of film to help us understand issues like the Greek crisis, he notes, “I’m interested in how technological advance has liberated authorship, despite the culture being explicitly centred on the self. Who’s making the film? Does it matter? The ability to record and distribute the moving image with such ease creates ambiguity in the meaning and purpose of the work – or allows it to find its own truth.”

The exhibition will take place on 4 July only. Check the full programme for a list of all the films included.