Raw Material

Colour, 35 mm
Greece, 2011, 78 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

The famous Acropolis affords a view of one of the most poverty-stricken districts in Athens. This improvised shantytown is home to a diverse community of people who subsist on collecting discarded metal. Before the sun is up, they set out in their little three-wheel trucks for the streets of the metropolis. Then, at the end of the day, they take the old fridges, televisions, spring-wire mattresses and all other conceivable kinds of metal refuse to the city’s scrapyards; with their meagre earnings they return home to their families, hoping that the new day will bring a richer haul. Director Christos Karakepelis spent six years putting this film together and thus offers the viewer an utterly authentic perspective on the lives of people for whom, as one of them described it, scrap metal is both their "treasure and mistress.” This impressive documentary, with its wealth of compelling footage, in spite of its theme maintains a serene atmosphere throughout and dispenses with all traces of cheap sentiment. Its impact is thus all the more powerful.

About the director

Christos Karakepelis (b. 1962, Serres, Greece) studied sociology at Panteion University in Athens and then direction at Stavrakou Film School. Apart from directing films, he is also involved in production and screenwriting. He is not a stranger to Karlovy Vary; in 2001 he competed here with his film The House of Cain (To spiti tou Kain, 2000), which was also screened in the Berlinale’s Forum and won awards at other international festivals – 1st prize in Nyon, the Audience Award at the documentary FF in Munich, the FIPRESCI Prize in Thessaloniki, and 2nd prize in Kalamata. Raw Material is his second documentary film.