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War Correspondent for Twenty-Seven Years and a \u201cMedal\u201d for Eighteen Operations<\/p>\n
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Athina Krikeli speaks on humanstories.gr. She talks about the reason she decided to produce the twelve documentaries on Mt Olympus. However, we will also learn her personal history before we dive to the depths of such a unique mountain: \u2018\u2019I have travelled all over the world, except for New Zealand\u00a0 and Australia. I have been living in New York for the past\u00a0 twenty-five years and have covered large wars from 1987 to 2014. I have acquired tattoos from my trips and had eighteen operations to remind me of my pleasant\u00a0 trips. I have no regrets. Every time I would return home feeling more humble and less talkative. I had this inner calm that enabled me to understand the shyest people who may even be the wisest among us. To some people it may sound strange hearing about the eighteen operations and the covering of so many wars in the world. However, I believe that whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. I am not speaking theoretically. If you wake up one morning feeling blue, as the Americans say, and you take a piece of paper and write down what is bothering you in one column and you write all the things that make you happy and proud \u00a0in the second column, you will find that the second is longer. Moreover, the first and most important thing is that you are alive!\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>They climbed Mt Olympus fourteen times to make the documentary for ELLOPIA FILMS.<\/p><\/div>\n
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However, how is it that the decision was made to go\u00a0 from the first documentary to the twelfth, just like the twelve gods on Mt Olympus? Athina Krikeli explains: \u201cThree years ago, I got to know Mt\u00a0 Olympus by climbing it. I started climbing the side\u00a0 of Thessalia, from Elassona, and since then we made our first documentary which may get first prize at the Festival of New York this October.(Read \u2018\u2019Elassona, the Secret Path to Mt Olympus\u201d to find out the prizes it received.) This was played in America where the need developed to create eleven more documentaries. We made the decision due to the anger we felt after we had been invited\u00a0 by the University of New York to show the documentary to science students. Afterwards, the lights went on for some questions which we had to answer. With a look of amazement on their faces, thestudentsstarted asking\u00a0 questions,such as: \u2018Does Mt Olympus still exist? \u2018 \u2018 Isn\u2019t it a mythical mountain?\u2019 \u2018Isn\u2019t it like the Lost Atlantis?\u2019 In the beginning we had disagreements with the Americans. It was easy. However, we went to a second, third, fourth and fifth university. The reaction was the same with them all. Then we realized that something was not right.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Internet age , when one can learn everything and anything it is hard for me to grasp that the two most well-known names on earth, Alexandros and Olympus, do not exist for the rest of the world except Greece. And I can give an example with the biggest weather platform in the world. When you log onto the Internet and search for Olympus, you will see three kinds of Olympus. One is in Ohio, USA\u00b8the second is in New Zealand\u00a0 and the third is in Cyprus. There is no Mt Olympus in Greece.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019I\u00a0 have lived in the USA for twenty-five\u00a0 years and I believe that EOT subsidizes the media so that they can promote the\u00a0 beauty and sights in Greece, even though as ELLOPIA we have never received a subsidy. However, no organization has ever done anything to promote Mt Olympus or other areas in Greece. Therefore,we decided we have the possibility , the craziness,\u00a0 the determination , and the wonderful partners in Greece and we can do it. We started filming with the capitalcontrols in the summer of\u00a0 2015 . All my colleagues and I waited in the ATM lines to get money for gas and then we went to the mountain. That is how we made this documentary. Last summer we climbed the mountain fourteen times. The production took place in New York in winter. It took me four months to write the screenplay and YoryosHatzi was responsible \u00a0for the music,\u2019\u2019\u00a0 she emphasized.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Action time at the highest summit in Greece…<\/p><\/div>\n
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Production that Moved and Taught Those Who Saw the World Premiere of Mt Olympus<\/p>\n
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The screenplay writer\u2019s description about all that had happened to Dion leads to the depth of this exceptional documentary: \u201cI have seen thousands of documentaries and I have been working with National Geographic. I am the\u00a0 only Greek who has been voting since 1994 inNew York\u00a0 and at the\u00a0 preliminary procedures for the Oscar Awards. This is why I know what an American or a non-Greek wants. I know the mentality by heart. When over 1,600 people, bethey young , old, families, said the same thing\u2026that in the end they saw the next scene as if it were in a movie we were moved . Their comments were the best award for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you see the kind of information in this documentary, you will say it is not possible\u2026 If the documentary were a book, you would run the other way, stating: \u2018You are crazy if you believe I will sit down and learn all this stuff.\u2019 However, the strength of the picture, the text, and the inconceivable music of Mr. Hatzi all led to a documentary of high quality. The viewers gave a standing ovation lasting five minutes in the end. They said they had watched something grand. Suddenly, Mt Olympus, which had been\u00a0 seen \u00a0as something ordinary, changed and became something great through a documentary. There were people who were so moved they cried, one reason being that we were able to\u00a0 combine\u00a0 science , history and mythology.\u00a0 We went back 250 million years when Mt Olympus was still just\u00a0 a beach in Africa before the movement of the tectonic plates. This was possible because of\u00a0 AnnaRassiou\u2019s research. The documentary had to do with a geological approach and the geological advantage that Mt Olympus has. It was as if scientists were asking for confirmation from Homer and Isiodo. This is the\u00a0 impression\u00a0 I got. Together with the ancient Greeks , we made the effort to show modern individuals why Mt Olympus was so important.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
We asked Athina Krikeli what Mt Olympus means to her, and she answered emotionally,<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019It changedmy\u00a0 life.Each time I climb Mt Olympus I feel have to ask for permission quite humbly because I am imposing on Greek land that is unique. I feel like I am entering a highly personal area. Mt Olympus leaves its impression on everyone, be they educated or not, young or old, foreign or native. Something that was written in the screenplay and shown in the documentary was what David Washington said: \u2018Mt Olympus is not a destination on a journey; it is \u00a0a destination on existence\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
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