Synopsis

With the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics just over a year away, forty Gypsy families are forced to abandon their settlement next to the main Olympic stadium so that the land can be used for a parking lot.

The film follows Prokopis Nikolau, a produce vendor who lived his entire life in this settlement, as he struggles to find a new home for himself and his family. The local mayor agreed to pay the Roma rent subsidies in exchange for vacating the land, but the money proves elusive and the families are forced to move from place to place due to evictions and sub-standard living conditions.

Prokopis becomes an unofficial spokesman for the forty families, fighting for both their dignity and the money they were promised. He meets with human rights activists, takes his battle with the mayor to the courts, and shares his story with the international media that descend on Athens in the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games.

Festivals screened at include:
Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival 2006
Istanbul International Documentary Film Festival 2006
Human Rights Doc Days Kiev 2006
Document 4 Glasgow 2006
Planet-in-Focus Toronto 2006
London International Documentary Festival 2007
Montreal Human Rights Film Festival 2007
Human Rights Nights Bologna 2007
New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival 2007
Golden Wheel Film Festival Skopje 2007
Al Jazeera Documentary Festival 2007

Cast & Crew