_The Prism GR2011

In January 2010, Greece entered a crisis state, a massive economic meltdown. The International Monetary Fund offered the country a bailout in a bid to save the nation and stabilize the entire Euro zone. With outsiders taking the reins, the people of Greece were forced to reevaluate themselves as a nation beginning in ancient history through to the uncertain future. All the while, they dealt with the societal impacts of the crisis in their day to day lives.

This period of instability prompted two documentarians, Nikos Katsaounis and Nina-Maria Paschalidou, to create a nationwide documentary initiative to investigate how people were affected and how everyday life was changing. To capture a portrait of the people of Greece on a national scale, they hired 14 photojournalists and quickly retrained them as documentary filmmakers. Each team member travelled a different region of the country, coming up with 27 discrete films that are explorable in the interactive interface of The Prism GR2011. Visitors to the project’s website can explore content by theme or location. The films represent a multitude of subjects and styles, tied together by the common thread of Greek identity and nationality in a time of uncertainty and change.