In Armatoliko, a mountain village in Trikala Province, high in the Tzoumerka mountain range, on the banks of the Acheloos, the 89-year-old Mrs Dimitra lives alone. She is the beloved grandmother of director Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, who visits her with a small crew of friends. The result of the visit is Heracles, Acheloos and My Granny, one of the most iconic Greek documentaries of recent decades. Through the unforgettable, laughing, down-to-earth figure of his grandmother, Koutsiabasakos’ lens captures the rugged and indomitable, inexpressibly tender and loving spirit of the Greek countryside, as well as the dark and turbulent history of the 20th century, the wounds of which are inscribed on the old woman’s body. Wounds which not only still gape, but on which new wounds are being piled up, as Armatoliko is shortly to be flooded by the waters of the Acheloos, due to the controversial dam being built in the area. Rarely has a short film captured the spirit of a place, and of a century, so vividly, bursting with emotion and love.
Dimitris Koutsiabasakos
Dimitris Koutsiabassakos studied film and television directing at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (V.G.I.K.) in Moscow. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film at the School of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specializing in directing. He has directed documentaries, series, short and feature films for television and cinema, and his works have been awarded in Greece and abroad. He is a member of the Hellenic Film Academy and the European Film Academy.