“Write what you know”, they taught Alexi Papalexopoulos in film school.
“This is what I know,” Alexi told The Pappas Post in an email message. “This is where my name comes from,” he said when sharing his short film that he wrote, directed and produced, as a tribute to their ancestral home of Kalavryta and the fateful events on December 13, 1943 that led to the massacre of the village’s male population..
Athanasios, a mischievous, 21 year old Greek American lives and works with his namesake grandfather, a Greek immigrant, in the family shoe repair store.
The younger Athanasios takes his Greek heritage for granted, and more importantly, the significance of his name and what it means.
It is through the telling of his grandfather’s survival of the Kalavryta Massacre of 1943 that Athanasios finally realizes and appreciates his heritage.
The film was produced by Alexi Papalexopoulos.
Watch Athanasios here
