Producers Gregory Pappas and Steven Priovolos, together with executive producers Sid Ganis and Alex Siskin have announced that what was originally intended to be a short film about the Holocaust in Greece will now become a full-length feature film, with acclaimed Greek director Theo Papadoulakis at the helm. The film will tell the story of the survival of the Jewish community of the Ionian island of Zakynthos.
The decision came, according to producers, after careful consideration of the timelessness and significance of the story— that of the only Jewish community in all of Nazi occupied Europe that didn’t lose a single person during the Holocaust.
Financing is excepted to close by the end of 2014 and shooting will commence in Crete and Zakynthos in the Spring of 2015.
Theo Papadoulakis was born in South Africa. He studied Radio and TV Production in the United Kingdom and got a Master’s degree in Film Directing & Producing at the Northern Film School. After completing his studies he worked for three years as Head of the Film Promotion and Publicity Office at the School of Film, TV and Performing Arts of Leeds Metropolitan University.
In 2005 he returned to Greece and started his own production company IndigoView based in Hania, Crete. His short films “Samurai” (2005) and “Pilala” (2004), which he directed and wrote, have received 27 international awards. In 2010-2011 he directed the weekly drama series “The Island” (To Nisi), which was adapted for the screen from Victoria Hislop’s international best-selling book and reached a 70% rating – the highest rating in the history of Greek private television. The Greek series has since been sold to seven countries.
The feature film, shot in the Greek language with production support from the United States, will be comprised of a Greek cast, primarily.
Sid Ganis and Alex Siskin bring international credibility to the project. Ganis served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Academy Awards every year and is one of Hollywood’s most important film executives. Alex Siskin has been with Sony Pictures for more than 15 years and also lends a tremendous amount of expertise.
“We are lucky to have Alex and Sid guiding us on this journey,” Steven Priovolos noted.
The film will be accompanied by a short documentary that will include interviews with survivors. Another Greek director, Yiannis Sakaridis, has been tapped to direct the documentary.
The film began as a historical project of the Greek America Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Chicago and dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Greek culture and heritage. The foundation and its original donors will continue to play an active role in the production and will receive credit for the concept.
Photo: Theo Papadoulakis meets Chaim Konstantinis, a survivor from Zakynthos who shared his World War II stories during interviews last month in Athens.
8 comments
when u gonna do on eon the Pontian Asia minor Holocaust hmmmm?
is there a movie documentary about the atrocities the germans committed in ww 2
You’ll have to check with historians, because I think that the Germans rounded up Jews, and deported them from Athens. I think there was an area, where the Germans rounded up Jews, and torchored them in a prison.
Steven– the film being made refers to the Jewish community of Zakynthos which lost no Jews during the Holocaust. In fact, it is the only Jewish community in all of Nazi occupied Europe that didn’t lose a single soul. Sadly, the rest of Greece wasn’t so lucky as upwards of 90% of the country’s Jews were in fact rounded up and deported to concentration camps and murdered.
As with the first comment, I am curious as to what the fascination with the Jews in Greece, when there are so many tragic stories to tell of the Greeks from Asia Minor, including the Pontians. Our own culture is so fascinating by itself, just to expose all of the facets of what makes a person Greek is complex alone, given how many subcultures within Greece exist (Macedonia, Peloponnesos, Crete, the islands, etc.). I understand the focus is on these lucky fellows during WWII but Greece lost 10% of its population during WWII – GREEK PEOPLE. Have you read the book “Shadow over Athens”? It is actually 77 drawings by Phokion Demetriades with captions that show the horrors everyday Greeks had to endure during that time. You will cry. Apart from WWII, there were amazing stories of the Greeks from Meteora, the Ottoman occupation, Serbian invasion, Crusades, etc.. There are endless possibilities to showcase the Greek Culture. I realize your choice must be personally influenced and in the end, it is your blog and your foundation. However, most of us, if not all, are Greeks like you that want to connect within the diaspora and read about our beautiful culture and lift it up. That’s why we read your post. The Jews have had a lot of coverage from so many sources regarding WWII, even from the Greeks themselves (documentary by Vassilis Loules – Kisses to the Children which your new documentary seems to follow his format). Your Foundation could choose any film project to work on. It is just surprising you didn’t focus on creating a film about the Greeks when given the opportunity to do so instead, especially given the current humanitarian crisis they are living through now.
The fascination is that non-Jews on the island did what was very rare by risking their own lives to save innocent Jews. Not a single Jew died or was deported as the Nazis had intended. Those brave citizens are worthy of being honored. That is the fascination. I would like to know when the film is expected to come out.
It is telling that Jews in Greece are often discussed as if they weren’t “really” Greek. One of the well-intentioned posts seems to complain that Jews have received ample coverage of their suffering at the hands of the Nazis and that the suffering of other Greeks has not been well reported. The 49,000 Jews living in Thessaloniki, over 95% of whom were killed by the Nazis, were Greek. Many of their families had roots in Greece going back centuries. They were not Orthodox Greeks but they were certainly Greek and should not be treated as if they weren’t an integral part of the Greek community. The annihilation of Greek Jews by the Nazis is still not a commonly known piece of history in or out of Greece and deserves attention. The fine Greek film by Manousos Manousakis, Cloudy Sunday, tells a dramatic story set in Thessaloniki during Nazi occupation and deserves great acclaim. Yes. Many many other Greeks suffered tragically at the hands of the Nazis, Ottoman, Turks and others and their stories and histories deserve respect and recognition. And the beauty, resilience and value of Greek culture and history deserves constant recognition. But this should not diminish the importance of telling an heroic story about a Jewish Greek community on Zakynthos that miraculously survived a fascist occupation that targeted a people based on their religion. There are modern lessons to be learned from all such histories. Good for the Foundation to support these films.