Αναπαραστάσεις του Πολυτεχνείου στον κινηματογραφικό φακό: ταινίες τεκμηρίωσης στην εκπνοή της Χούντας και στα πρώτα έτη της Μεταπολίτευσης

Abstract

This paper aims to examine some of the major cinematic representations of the Polytechnic’s student uprising (1973), in non-fiction films since the end of Junta and till the first years of Metapolitefsi, specifically till 1981. Taking into account the plethora of relevant documentary narratives in the press, literature and television, this article explores the contribution of these filmic narratives to the consolidation of the Polytechnic’s student uprising as a dominant place of memory in collective memory and public history. My research will focus both on films that address the Polytechnic’s student uprsing as their dominant theme (I Dokimi/The Rehearsal, Edo Polytechneio) and on films in which the uprising assumes a secondary role (Martyries, Megara, Agonas, Neos Parthenonas, Ta tragoudia tis fotias, Parastasi gia enan rolo, I ilikia tis thalassas, I diki tis Chountas). In this context, I will attempt to examine the thematic and narrative characteristics of the films as well as their paratexts. Through the paratextual information, I will reconstruct their context of production and discuss their circulation in wide audiences. As I will try to showcase, these films function as privileged agents of historical knowledge, insofar as they attempt a complex reading of historical events, focusing on the motivations and goals of the student movement, but also on its relationship with broader socio-political groups (labor movement, junta authorities, etc.). At the same time, many of the films explore the events both in terms of synchronicity and in terms of diachrony, with the Polytechnic uprising being placed next to major historical events of the pre-dictatorial, dictatorial and post-dictatorial period, composing a genealogy of collective struggles.