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in Hand As journalist Yorgos Avgeropoulos prepares for another year of his globe-hopping news documentary series “Exandas”, he puts his work in an important context. Avgeropoulos notes: “All our fortunes depend on decisions made outside our borders”. The internationally-minded show is, in his view, an antidote to Greece’s tendency to “navel-gaze and consider itself the center of the world.” “Exandas” - meaning “sextant” in English- is one of Greece’s boldest windows to the world. It is featured in this year’s Images of the 21st Century: Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Each episode of “Exandas” is usually an hour long and always tackles a single topic. Genoa protests, Argentina’s economic crash, US anti-war protests and Haitian zombies are fair game as topics. The criteria for picking issues, Avgeropoulos explains, “is what we would like to see on TV ourselves, not how familiar Greeks are with the topic or what sells.” The journalist writes, directs and presents each episode, whose format and style changes depending on the topic. In the 2004/2005 season alone, “Exandas” traveled to Cuba, Libya, Namibia, Bolivia, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Niger and India. The 2005/2006 season began with a bang – with “War, Inc”, which focused on companies profiting from strife on four continents. It was shot over the course of a year. “Exandas” may be in its prime. It was launched in 1999 at private station Alpha, before shifting to public broadcaster NET in 2003. Avgeropoulos has said that only along the way did he discover that he was making documentaries. After episodes have played at documentary festivals from Sheffield to Amsterdam, the “Exandas” team is aiming to create a documentary for theatrical release. Meanwhile some of their footage was used in Michael Moore’s “Farenheit 9/11”. Looking ahead, the 2005/2006 season is a spicy one. There was an episode that debuted Jan. 31st on the November French rioting. In Paris, the “Exandas” team found themselves shooting both brutal police violence and juvenile gun and drug smuggling gangs. The latter, Avgeropoulos points out, addressed the camera for the first time. There’s also an episode being made on Saudi Arabian society that addresses issues like Al-Quaida links, female rights and public beheadings. The 2005/2006 season will also tackle euthanasia, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Thai child prostitution. There are normally about 10 episodes
made a year. “Exandas” tends to try to tell stories
through a few individuals’ experiences. The lens often focuses
on the underprivileged and marginalized. Avgeropoulos’ idea
of a Christmas show, for instance, was a December 27 broadcast
of “The Untouchables”, focusing on the 160 million
people in India who, Avgeropoulos believes, “are treated
worse than animals because they’ve been stigmatized since
birth as unclean and subhuman.” The series is produced by Athens-based Small Planet TV Productions. Angelike Contis
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