In the Hall of the Riot King
Producer-director Dimitri Vorris has completed post-production of "December Riots", while a new wave of riots swept Greece on June 29th, 2011. The film's epicenter is the cold-blooded execution of 15 year-old student Alexandros Gregoropoulos by two policemen in a downtown Athens café on December 6, 2008. "December Riots," a film about the Gregoropoulos killing, an incident that sparked riots in over seventy cities and twenty-two countries worldwide including the US, is produced, and directed by Dimitri Vorris. The filmmaker acquired exclusive access to many never-before-seen court documents and evidence from the trial that followed Gregoropoulos's killing.
The independently financed, claustrophobic thriller, focuses on a group of Europeans and Americans trapped in an art-house movie theater in downtown Athens during the 2008 riots. 23 year-old British actress Lucy Lemos, fellow Brit Duncan Skinner, prolific actor Abraham Papadopoulos, popular comedian-director Nikos Giannikas anchor a youthful and talented supporting cast that includes Vivian Ioannou, Aris Athan, Nasos Pappas, Michael Angels, Louise Rheas, Aris Pappas, Maria Floratou, Fanis Katechos, Kostas Antalopoulos.
Additional footage was filmed in late June 2011, while the film was being edited, when violence again erupted in Syntagma Square. A new sequence with haunting and shocking images of Greek riots has been added.
"The fact that we're having riots again now in Greece proves that people have not forgotten about Alexander or his senseless killing. There is still fury and rage that needs to be purged and there are still questions that need to be answered. While one film can't answer the myriad of questions and dilemmas, 'December Riots' honors Alexander's memory and I do hope filmgoers worldwide are going to see through the film a new perspective on the systemic corruption and the looting of Greece," said Vorris. "What's happening in Greece, is happening, or about to happen everywhere else; Greece is just the canary in the mineshaft!"
****