WHERE DO THE KIDS FLY?
LOGLINE
From Struggle to Recovery.
This documentary is a contemplative, poetic approach to the phenomenon of addiction and the different methods of rehabilitation in Greece from the interwar period to the modern day.
SUMMARY
A Journey Through Addiction and Rehabilitation in Greece.
From the interwar to this day, the same conflict. Is addiction a biological, hereditary, incurable individual psychiatric problem or a social, cultural, economic, multifactorial phenomenon? In the course of time, famous and anonymous people of every educational level and social stratum have been caught in the deadly nets of addictions. Where do societies throw away the kids? Where do the kids themselves fly?
The documentary reflects on the phenomenon of addiction and the vocation of rehabilitation. It investigates the transition from the interwar coercive inhuman system of dealing with addictions to a human-centered, free, diverse therapeutic network of rehabilitation, established for decades in our country: the Physical Rehabilitation program (IANOS), PETHEA "Argo", the Self-help Promotion Program 18Ano. What does the future hold? What will it be, actual rehabilitation or just harm reduction? Will the therapeutic psychosocial approach endure or shrink? What constitutes a modern effective rehabilitation proposal today?
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DIRECTOR
Giorgos Chr. Zervas born in 1960 Prosymna, Argolis. He studied chemistry and cinema (Stavrakos School) in Athens. He then went to Paris where he pursued post-graduate studies in cinema (Sorbonne, Paris 1) taught by Eric Rohner and Jean Rouce and creative video (Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratris-E.N.S.A.D) taught by Don Foresta. He now works now as a director-producer in films and television...
OUR STORY
The Evolution of Addiction and Rehabilitation in Greece.
This documentary is a contemplative, poetic approach to the phenomenon of addiction and the different methods of rehabilitation in Greece from the interwar period to the modern day. The material of the documentary are confessions and diaries of former addicts – both patients and therapists –, official documents of law enforcement authorities and excerpts from hospital records, modern shots of old "treatment", confinement and exile facilities, current structures of rehabilitation, as well as characteristic places of substance use, archival material – photos of addicts from different periods, of buildings, of tools of repression, medicines...-, songs, poems, drawings and paintings, etc.
The documentary explores the transition from the interwar inhuman coercive social system of dealing with addiction to a human-centred, free and open framework of rehabilitation in recent decades. The interwar system was governed by the notion that people with drug addictions were criminals and drug addiction was an incurable infectious disease, thus resulting in the persecution, arrest, imprisonment and confinement of addicts in psychiatric hospitals or deportation to places of exile.
On the contrary, today a different approach to addiction and the addicted has prevailed in our country, where its main feature is the person's voluntary rehabilitation and the fact that they aren't considered a criminal or sick in the medical sense of the term; rather they are considered a patient who can be treated.
We juxtapose the past with the present dynamically, without a linear view and present the current diverse therapeutic network for rehabilitation: the Physical Rehabilitation Program (IANOS), the Alternative Treatment Program for People with Addictions ARGO, the Self-Help Promotion Program (in Thessaloniki / Larissa), the Rehabilitation Program 18 Plus.
What does the future hold? Will the therapeutic psychosocial approach endure or shrink? What will it be, actual rehabilitation or just harm reduction? What constitutes a modern effective rehabilitation proposal today? The aim of the film is to raise awareness and sensitise the state and society to contribute in reducing addictions and in claiming a meaningful life for all young people.