“Palikari – Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre” deals with labor relations in early 20th century America, as told through the story of Greek migrant and trade union activist Louis Tikas. The title “Palikari” is the Greek word for “heroic lad” and traces the tale of a “palikari” immigrant and activist.

Released this year, it marks the centenary of the brutal killing of Louis Tikas. According to historian Howard Zinn, the event was the “culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history”.

The film marks a collaboration between director Nikos Ventouras and producer Lamprini Thoma. Together they piece the story of the great 1913-1914 coalminers’ strike and Louis Tikas’s murder according to oral tradition as well as accounts documented in official history. Together, they interview historians and artists, some of them direct descendants of those striking miners. Labor movement emblem Mother Jones and industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. also make cameo appearances in a “palimpsest of memory, struggle and deliverance.”

The story transcends through the ages and is just as relevant today as similar stories concerning workers and immigrants continue to be heard from around the world.