A Life Of A Slave, Is A Life Not Worth Living – Ancient Wisdom

Alpha Movie

The world is rapidly changing, it always has, but now it seems to be changing to a dark, obscure future, a future of less and less hope, of more oppression. An authoritarian future. King Creon today doesn’t have a shape, a smell, or taste, he doesn’t even have a face. He doesn’t live somewhere. He is everywhere, but he is nowhere. You can’t touch him, he can smash you. King Creon no longer has to address the crowds, no longer has to convince anyone like in the old times. He has set his unquestionable rules, and the Guards carry them out with great devotion.

The ancient Greek myth of Antigone, asks many questions about the state, violence, justice, love, sacrifice and personal responsibility. And it does so, thousands of years ago. It is an uncomfortable moment for mankind to realize today, for yet one more time, that all these issues remain as unanswered questions, posed to each and everyone of us, especially today, when this invisible King Creon has invaded our lives and is humiliating our existence as intelligent human beings, debasing us to faceless numbers, statistics, economic models.

We are a collective group of Greek artists and communication professionals, and we feel it’s our turn to talk about the “crisis”, talk about the invisible Creon that has invaded our homes. We want to talk as Greeks transmitting live from the eye of the storm, using an ancient myth that is more relevant today than ever before. Antigone, violence and authority, immobility because of instilled fear, personal justice, political stance, emotional balance; themes that are not just theoretical conversations for us anymore and will be the harsh reality for everyone if the current politico-economical agenda continues unopposed.

We feel we have a responsibility to have our voice heard as Greek artists and citizens. We hear everyone speak but us, the people who are actually affected, and not only do we need to have our voice heard, it is our duty as artists and active citizens to do so. For this we chose to use an old story, the story of Antigone, not in order to get stuck in the past, but to make the past relevant and shine a light to the possible deeper causes of what we are all experiencing now, and also to take a small glimpse into the future.

Alpha Movie

And we do not only respond through Art; we also respond through our way of work. What we are doing with this movie, is stepping away from all known and established paths of film financing, production and distribution. We are not merchants trying to sell a product. We are artists trying to communicate our thoughts and feelings, so we need to bypass all known routes that are based on consumption and homogeneity. In short, we want to be ourselves and not business models, we want to be revolutionaries and not consumers, we want to make our dreams come alive just how we envisioned them and not succumb to marketing and distribution plans.

So we completely bypass the established distribution system and we create a new path in order to engage the people to an active conversation and we do this in the following way.

Firstly we bring the movie in Ancient Theatres throughout the Mediterranean, because this is the place that was originally built, in order to host the different “readings” of the myths.

Then we bring the movie to the cities in Cultural Spaces and Alternative Venues, where we create an entire thematic under the same roof, by creating parallel exhibitions of many other art forms (Photography, Video Art, Fine Art, Contemporary Dance etc), inviting local artists to give their interpretation of what it means to live in a time of change; in a time of fear; in a time of hope.

Finally we organise daily meetings where we invite important speakers to set a subject and then actively talk about it, so the audience is not just a “receiver”, but also expresses his point of view.

In short, we want the movie to be an excuse, an igniting factor that starts a conversation, both artistic and literal, about the current state of affairs and how this has been happening for thousands of years. If we are going to make a movie inspired by an ancient myth, we might as well do it as it was originally done. As a conversation starter! To find out where we’re coming from and sense where we’re -probably- going to.

The first step in this creative journey is the first crowd-funding campaign in Greece for a feature film. We turn to each and every one of the people who could have an active interest in participating in the creation of this project, and we ask for their support.

The campaign has been so successful so far, that Indiegogo, the platform that hosts us, has put us on the front page, as we are in the top 8 campaigns out of the hundreds that are currently running. The response from Greeks both from inside and outside the country, but also from people from many other nationalities, has been overwhelming.

But we still have a long way to go, and we need the support of everyone who believes that Greece is much more than what is being portrayed in the news. That Greece is capable of responding to the challenges posed by our era. We are determined to bring this project to life, but we can only do it if we have you on our side. We can only do it if we do it together!

Whoever is interested in actively participating can visit indiegogo.com/alpha-movie.com
For more Information you can go to the following:
– Crowd-funding page: indiegogo.com/alpha-movie
– Official site of the movie: alpha-movie.com
– Twitter: alpha-movie.com/twitter
– Facebook: alpha-movie.com/facebook