KLEINON ASTY – Urban stories
A series by Marina Danezi

Athens… Metropolis and symbol of the European South with equal amounts of “grunge and grace”, as great touristic guides suggest to the world, while seeing on her horizon the mix of ancient history with the modern “cool”. But also a palimpsest megapolis of successive eras and centuries scattered in a vast ocean of concrete and apartment buildings, with irresistible and apparent contrasts, in the center and its districts in which almost 4 million of its citizens live and act.

A crowd constantly on the move, which from afar looks faceless and homogenous, but as the lens zooms in, the clearer the people, the groups and communities become as they write with capital letters the history of the “glorious city”.

This zoom is exactly what the camera of “Kleinon Asty – Urban stories” does, while giving prominence to the unwritten story of the capital and capturing the underlit sides of the already known. Men and women, people next door and iconic personalities, worrying artists and hard working people, young people and elders, “true” townspeople and domestic immigrants, locals and refugees, testify their stories, their different points of view, their less and more important achievements and their special communication signals in the common urban area.

“Kleinon Asty – Urban stories” is a televisual trip to currents, movements and ideas on the fields of music, theater, cinema, press, design, architecture and gastronomy, that were born and continue to live and flourish in the Athenian space. “Fruits” of historical events, technological developments and social processes, as well as unique “urban products” that the blend of “multiple people” “produces”, some will leave their stainless mark in the history of the city and others will shape “today” and “tomorrow” not only of the Athenians, but also of the whole country.

Through its wandering on the great boulevards and the small side streets, the buildings-landmarks and the “backyards”, the iconic hangouts and the inglorious “small areas”, but mostly though the narration of the people-stars, “Kleinon Asty – Urban stories” hoards faces, pictures, voices, sounds, colors, tastes and melodies recomposing parts of the bigger picture of this impressive old-new athenian mosaic that could get overlooked.

Alongside historians, critics, sociologists, architects, journalists, analysts and precious archives, “Kleinon Asty – Urban stories” showcases dimensions of the metropolis that surrounds us but often pass us by and contributes to the re-interpretation of the urban landscape as an element of memory and living reality.

SEASON 1

  1. Murals in the city
  2. Musical tribes of the 90’s
  3. Theatro Technis (Karolos Koun’s Theatre)
  4. Ethnic Food in Athens
  5. Alternative press
  6. Filming in Athens
  7. Strongmen
  8. Greek Weird Wave
  9. Athenean apartment buildings
  10. The Electrification of Athens
  11. Groups of oral history
  12. Industrial History in Athens

SEASON 2

  1. Independent greek record labels of the 80’s 
  2. Athens through songs
  3. Underground Athens
  4. Istanbul in the Athens
  5. Athens through photography
  6. The pastry shops
  7. The settlements of 1922’s refugees
  8. The sculptures of Athens
  9. The kiosk
  10. Athens and crime literature
  11. The street artists 
  12. Vegetarian Athens
  13. Rebetiko in Athens
  14. Sustainable city
  15. The basketball courts
  16. Elefthero theatro – a new theatrical wave in the 70’s

SEASON 3

  1. From the tavern to the wine bar
  2. Athens and advertising 
  3. The names of the streets of Athens 
  4. Public Transportation
  5. The rivers of Athens
  6. The neighborhood of Psyrri
  7. Medieval Athens
  8. Women and the city
  9. Touristic boom
  10. Athens by night