Raw Material

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 for the streets of the metropolis in search of every conceivable kind of metal refuse. 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."

Festivals
Thessaloniki 2011, Karlovy Vary 2011, Atena 2011, Zurich 2011, Hamburg 2011