BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE - Documentary Uncovers Secrets of Greek Civil War

• published: 27 Aug 2015
• views: 106

BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE documentary director Stavroula Toska and producer/narrator Olympia Dukakis share the trailer and clips from the harrowing movie showing the horrors of Greek civil war concentration camps for women. How women’s accounts of the persecution has been covered up by the Greek government, and the discovery that uncovered the dark chapter in history is explained in this BYOD interview, hosted by Ondi Timoner. FILM & GUEST INFO: BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE is a deeply-moving, personal, and eye-opening documentary focuses on the true stories of women exiled to Trikeri Island; the biggest women’s concentration camp during the Greek Civil War (1946-49). Years after the camps were phased out, seven notebooks written in secrecy and buried under a tree have surfaced, revealing the truth about their suffering and their survival. The women’s journals, and Toska’s film, bring to light some history the Greek government continues to manipulate and repress. Stavroula Toska is the award winning director of Beneath the Olive Tree, a feature documentary based on journals found buried beneath an olive tree and tell the stories of thousands of women kept in concentration camps and jails during the Greek Civil War. After getting over the shock of discovering that her maternal grandmother had been one of these women, she decided to make her own journey of digging for the truth part of the film. Stavroula likes to refer to herself as the "accidental filmmaker", only to go on saying that she doesn't believe in accidents. She was raised in Sindos, a small town near Thessaloniki, Greece. At the age of seven she announced to her family and friends that one day she’d move to New York so she can “..be in the movies where everyone leaves in a big house”. Everyone laughed with the exception of her mother who dreaded the thought that this day would come sooner than later. Soon after graduating with a degree in Marketing and PR she moved to Athens to follow her true passion; to study and pursue a career as an actor. Stavroula went on to co-star in two of the most successful soap operas in Greek tv history. Just when things started to feel good and safe she booked a one way ticket to the Big Apple. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and co-starred in a couple of low budget films and some off-Broadway shows. It wasn't until Stavroula met Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis that she thought of herself as a storyteller. After all, it was Dukakis who first told Stavroula about the women whom Beneath the Olive Tree is based on, and promised her she'd do everything in her power to help her bring these stories to the world. Dukakis did that and then some, serving as the Narrator and Executive Producer for the film. Stavroula was awarded the Grand Jury Van Vlahakis Award for Most Innovative Filmmaker at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival in June 2015 for her work on Beneath the Olive Tree. ADD’L LINKS: http://oramapictures.info/wordpress2012/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beneath-The-Olive-Tree/236762476364513 http://thelip.tv/ BYOD Full Episodes Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twBaB_lWqQQ&list;=PLjk3H0GXhhGdZbrANmO6kYPy8IQC0GiN_&index;=1 BYOD Short Clips Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojQovpbhLI&index;=1&list;=PLjk3H0GXhhGeu2DCf6Ouo7hTsA5QB2MAL http://www.youtube.com/theliptv EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 00:01 Welcoming to Stavroula Toska BYOD. 01:12 Journals, family and the Greek civil war. 04:47 Life after the concentration camps. 06:26 Life before the civil war. 08:16 BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE, Clip:The resistance. 10:25 The December events and female independence. 12:22 BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE Clip: The December events protest. 13:34 The treaty of Arkisa. 15:21 BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE, Clip: The resistance downfall. 17:01 Why women were considered a threat. 18:29 Olivia Dukakis’ family ties to Greece. 21:20 Truman, Churchill and experiments in foreign policy. 23:44 BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE, Clip: Hiding the journals. 25:01 Locating the journals and the women behind them. 27:20 Meeting Stavroula and response to the film. 30:30 Stories of mass extinction. 31:33 BENEATH THE OLIVE TREE, Clip: photographs from the camp. 33:19 Mothers and daughters. 34:46 Where to watch and where the journals are today. 35:55 Greece government today. 37:27 Current projects. 40:35 Thank you and goodbye.