The documentary, titled “Builders, Housewives, and the Construction of Modern Athens” by Tasos Laggis and Giannis Gaitanidis, explores the story of Athens’ apartment buildings and the city’s reconstruction through the lives of ordinary working people involved in “antiparochi” (land exchange).

The documentary delves into the lives of provincial people who came to Athens after the Civil War, bringing their families and “cementing” the city. It looks at how they demolished neoclassical buildings to make way for apartment complexes, how they developed their craft, and what techniques and knowledge they carried with them. The film also addresses how they communicated and negotiated with educated architects and the desires of their wives. The central question is: What was the history of their meeting with the “modernist design” and how, despite remaining largely invisible, these co-creators’ stories shape modern Athens?

According to the filmmakers, “Athens is our city, the place where we were born and live, and we love it as if it were ‘our village.’ Yet, it remains contradictory and almost unknown, as the repetitive texture of apartment buildings stretches out, cloned around us. Inspired by and guided by Ioanna Theocharopoulou’s book, we searched through the cracks of our modern urban history to discover who these internal migrants were, co-creators of our built environment.”

On the Onassis Foundation’s channel, you can also find a fascinating discussion about the significance of this modern city, its unique architecture, and its history. Participants include the Onassis Foundation’s Director of Culture, Afroditi Panagiotakou, the Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Art, and Urban Planning at Cornell University and author of “Builders, Housewives, and the Construction of Modern Athens,” Ioanna Theocharopoulou, filmmakers Tasos Laggis and Giannis Gaitanidis, architect and Professor of Architecture & Urban Design at the University of Patras, Panos Dragonas, and Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus of Critical Studies in Cultural Heritage at Leiden University, Michael Herzfeld.