AGORA – From Democracy to the Market [Trailer] from Small Planet Productions on Vimeo.

 
Examining how ‘’the dream of prosperity has turned into a nightmare’, Agora looks at the reasons why the definition of the market has changed from its ancient Greek meaning – as a place of democratic assembly of active citizens – to its modern meaning as a place reserved solely for the purpose of commerce.


Note from Small Planet Productions, the production company of the film: 

The Agora (Αγορά) was a central area in Ancient Greece city-states. It was a gathering place, an assembly of active citizens, and the City centre for political, economical, athletic, artistic and spiritual life. It was the heart of Democracy. In Modern Greece, the word Agora has lost its initial sense and it has come to denote solely the place and act of commercial transactions. It is a dominant word in the reality experienced today by Greeks, as the country goes through an economical vortex that devours human lives in its path.
Greece, a symbol for the European civilization because of its Ancient heritage, is experiencing conditions in post-war history that no European thought would face again. Homeless people, soup kitchens, unemployment, poverty, an unsettled social situation, violent conflicts and the rise of the extreme-right. The dream of prosperity has turned into a nightmare and the political scene of the last four decades is crumbling.
Yorgos Avgeropoulos, an internationally acclaimed Greek documentary filmmaker, witnesses the fall. After 13 years of ongoing reporting and documenting global issues around the world, he urgently turns his camera towards his homeland. He records the development of the crisis from its early stage, while tracing its impact on the lives of simple people from all social classes whom he observes over time. He witnesses popular protests in the streets, the development of solidarity movements as well as the rise of fascism, while at the same time he seeks answers from his country’s most significant political personalities, from insiders, analysts and key decision makers from the international political scene.