GARLIC AND WATERMELONS at THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY

GARLIC AND WATERMELONS

Published by deviousdiva March 11th, 2006 in Personal.

I really hope this film is coming to Athens. The story of a Greek Roma family displaced from their home, without compensation, because of the prestigious Olympics in Athens 2004. I just love the title. Garlic and Watermelons

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7 Responses to “GARLIC AND WATERMELONS”

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1 Greek Helsinki Monitor Mar 12th, 2006 at 9:42 am

One may find ample material on the film and the travails of these Roma who have faced state racism and indifferenece but also a travesty of justice and an Ombudsman indifference when they sought redress, at

http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr/upl.....nglish.doc
2 brownfemipower Mar 13th, 2006 at 3:18 am

strangly, in a stage of pms, garlic and watermelons actually sounds pretty tasty!! the movie also looks very good, btw…miss out on so much in the middle of hickville U.S.A!!
3 deviousdiva Mar 13th, 2006 at 2:13 pm

Apologies brownfemipower, I read your comments here and haven’t welcomed you to my blog. So welcome and thank you for your kind words on my post for blog against sexism day. There is quite a community building of feminist blogs and women of colour isn’t there? I love it.

I miss out on a lot of interesting films and theatre etc being here in Greece. I used to be pretty involved when I was in England. We do what we can though, from wherever we are, don’t we?

Look forward to seeing you around and I will be over to you too.
4 brownfemipower Mar 14th, 2006 at 7:28 am

Thank you so much for the warm welcome!! yeah, I have seen most “cool” films through netflix than actually seeing them in a theater. I wonder if that film will be out in dvd any time soon?
5 brad Mar 20th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

I saw the premiere of Garlic and Watermelons at the Thessloniki Documentary Film Festival.
It was a pretty good film, and the portrayal of Prokopis, the Roma vendor, was well-rounded. There were a couple great scenes showing his family setting up for a day of selling goods (mostly tableware, candles and garlic)–it was such an ordeal, as they were harassed by the police, shoppers, and several cars.
There is also a long interview with the mayor of Marousi, where Prokipis’ family lived. He has the law on his side for not compensating the Roma, but he comes off as a not-especially slick-talking politician who doesn’t honor his word.

It’s only an hour-long documentary. At the festival, it was pared with a documentary on the Olympic Greek baseball team, which was a logical but disparate paring.
I hope you get a chance to see it.
6 deviousdiva Mar 20th, 2006 at 2:25 pm

Welcome Brad and thanks for the review of Garlic and Watermelons. I really do hope it will make it to Athens. Do you have any idea if it will?
7 lavrentia May 26th, 2006 at 4:50 am

I’m co-director of Garlic and Watermelons, and hope to screen the film in Athens soon. If anyone has any ideas for a venue, please let me know. Unfortunately, we’re based in the US now, so it’s a bit hard to organize something from here. But I will let you know as soon a screening is planned. Thanks for your interest!