DiEM25 documentary tells the story of the movement as seen through the eyes of our members who participated in the success of our Greek electoral wing MeRA25

Last September, we had come up with the idea of going to Greece to record a documentary

The original plan, however, was to go there to see one of us get married to his lovely wife to-be, and have a bit of a greek party. But this awful virus intervened and halted those plans. So, we thought: what’s the second best thing, after waking up next to your wife after your wedding day? Well, of course it is waking up next to your friend, for a week non-stop, as you blink your memory into engagement, trying to recall which town you are in now.

When we landed in Athens, and shortly before we set off on the 2,000 kilometres mammoth journey, we were joined by the much beloved Jochen Schult, a fellow veteran of the 2019 European and National election campaign, who was with us throughout the trip.

We were on a small budget of 1,500 euros so bed-sharing was the only way we would manage to get the documentary done. We had no idea what story we would be able to tell before we met with the people we interviewed. We only knew that there was a story to be told, a story we wanted to tell, one that had for too long been submerged by the mainstream propaganda surrounding the events of 2015 in Greece. And so we set off.

As we travelled from place to place in a borrowed vehicle, we encountered some new faces and re-encountered some old ones. Carrying a small tripod, a camera and a microphone (all of which were also borrowed), we covered the distance in 5 days, to meet some of the people who helped take our movement, DiEM25, into the Greek Parliament.

Afterwards, when we landed back in Brussels, we knew it would be difficult to get it done in time. We had over 7 hours of footage that had to be ordered and distilled into a 30-minute documentary. We knew it would push us to our limits, or thereabouts, to finish it before Erik had to leave back to Greece in February 2021 to start his mandatory 11-month military service with the Greek navy. But, after many sleepless nights, a lot of discussion, passion and love, we finally did it.

The end result is this documentary, which tells the story of DiEM25, seen through the eyes of the people we spoke to, and the work they have put into our common struggle. Released yesterday to commemorate the first half-decade of DiEM25: it is a celebration of the tenacity of hope and the incredible achievements that are possible, when people dare to believe in alternatives.

Greece is the first country where DiEM25’s seeds were planted and the film poses the questions: what will they grow into, and where will they be planted next?

Lastly, we just want to say a massive thank you to every single person we met on our journey. This film is dedicated to you, and it is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of other human beings out there fighting for a just world for all.

Thank you for your support. And if you liked this, please support DiEM25 so that we can continue to make more like it.

Music by the excellent Bassel Abou Fakher

Creative Assistance by the awesome Max van Hede

Assistant producers Jochen Schult and Ivana Nenadovic

Photo Source: Still from the documentary. 

Read more about DiEM25’s journey over the last five years here. 

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