“The Lost Signal of Democracy” by Yorgos Avgeropoulos was awarded the Mediterranean Reportage Prize at the 18th International Film Festival of Mediterranean Documentary and Reportage (PriMed) in Marseille, France.
This year’s PriMed (December 8-13, 2014) received 543 films from 39 countries. The Festival Juries selected 29 films from 19 countries for the Competition. The Greek documentary received the Mediterranean Reportage Award for the best Current Affairs film that gets to the heart of an event, past or present, within the Mediterranean region. The filmmaker received the prize during the festival’s awards ceremony on Friday, December 12, in Marseille.
“The Lost Signal of Democracy” has been screened in festivals and broadcasted by TV networks in 18 countries (Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland). The film was theatrically released in Greece in May 2014 and subsequently released on DVD in Greece and on VOD worldwide.
“The Lost Signal of Democracy” description:
It was an unprecedented occurrence in world history. Nowhere and never in well-governed democratic states, had the public broadcaster been silenced in such a manner that was characterized as “autocratic” and “undemocratic.”
Within five hours, on the evening of June 11, 2013, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras turned off the switches of ERT, Greece’s public broadcaster, after 75 years of continuous operation. Both TV and radio frequencies went silent, making screens broadcast black and the FM frequency buzzing.
The closure of ERT was an unheard-of political act that shocked Greek citizens, bringing back memories from the dark period of the dictatorship. It also caused a fierce international outrage from across the world.
Why did the public broadcaster have to die?
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