Onassis
CultureOnassis CinemaOnassis Documentaries

Democracy Is Coming by Christos Sarris – 2024

An Onassis Culture production

Shareon Facebook
Shareon Twitter

“Democracy Is Coming” by Christos Sarris attempts to link the current global state of affairs and political reflection with theater. Based on Simon Critchley’s book “Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us," it arrives as a reminder that the pulse of democracy remains intact and its concept is being rewritten from scratch.

What is the state of democracy today? Can we reinvent it for our era? In May 2018, Onassis Stegi traveled to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, with the play “Birds,” directed by Nikos Karathanos, initiating a discussion around democracy. A year later, the “Onassis Festival 2019: Democracy Is Coming” deepened those reflections around the concept of democracy and free artistic expression with a diverse program of theater, music, discussions, and other events in a co-production with Public Theater in New York. With the titular festival as its springboard and drawing inspiration from Simon Critchley’s book “Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us," the “Democracy Is Coming” documentary transpires like an oracle, an ancient prophecy, which is interpreted through the triptych “Theater―Politics―Tragedy.”

From Ancient Greece to Contemporary America

Like a modern-day Athenian Ecclesia―i.e., Assembly of Citizens―a group of thinkers, artists, and citizens of the world convene to address the concepts of democracy and city-state: actor and writer Michael Imperioli, Dr. Young Richard Kim, philosopher and writer Simon Critchley, curator of “Onassis Festival 2019: Democracy Is Coming” Mark Russell, co-interviewer and curator Paul Holdengräber, and actress, writer, and director Lena Kitsopoulou. Their ruling has yet to be determined.

"The true protagonist of ancient tragedy is the city-state."

The script was created based on Simon Critchley's book, Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us.

Simon Critchley is member of the Board of Directors of the Onassis Foundation, and part of the curatorial team, while he lent his voice to the narration.

Meet the director

Credits

  • Featuring (in order of appearance)

    Michael Imperioli, Dr. Young Richard Kim, Simon Critchley, Mark Russell, Paul Holdengräber, Lena Kitsopoulou, Euripides Laskaridis

  • Direction

    Christos Sarris

  • Idea

    Dimitris Theodoropoulos

  • Script

    Yannis-Orestis Papadimitriou

  • Directorial Oversight

    Stavros Petropoulos

  • Editing

    Katerina Rekka

  • Production Coordinator

    Smaragda Dogani

  • Post-Production Producer

    Leonidas Konstantarakos

  • Sound Mix

    Stelios Koupetoris

  • Color Correction

    Sakis Bouzanis (2|35)

  • Translation & Subtitling

    Authorwave

  • Subtitles Editing

    Vassilis Douvitsas

  • Voice-Over Recording

    Ζenon Marko

  • Music

    Jacopo Fokas, Marios Samaris

  • Recorded & Mixed by

    Jacopo Fokas

  • Camera

    Christos Sarris, Dimitris Zivopoulos

  • Photographs

    Christos Sarris

  • Post-Production

    Alaska Films

  • Special Thanks to

    Zoe Dolan & Sophia Efthimiatou

More in: