Plato’s Academy

The film tells the story of Stavros, a kiosk owner, and his friends who idly pass the time watching passengers by and criticizing foreign workers who, in contrast, are always on the move. The film takes place mainly in the same square expressing the characters’ immobility, their lethargy. “The characters’ days are so similar that you don’t have the feeling that time moves forward.” But one day their routine is broken as Stavros’s mother throws herself into the arms of an Albanian worker – calling him her son, in Albanian. From then on Stavros’s friends view him with suspicion: is he Greek or Albanian? And Stavros is forced to examine his life, his identity and his values

"The film “tries to reflect the soul of a Greek man, the realization that his life is empty and his absurd need to define himself only through his nationality.” How can national identity embrace other cultures? How can bridges be built between cultures? How does it feel to realize in midlife that you are not the person you thought?" (Filippos Tsitos)
“Plato’s Academy” is not just a remarkable film but a laconically tragic comedy on a rather serious subject – the chauvinist xenophobia. (Andreas Vierecke)