The Spanish Flu was not Spanish.
The Spanish Flu was not Spanish.
How a health issue becomes a social crisis
Documentary, SCIENCE, HISTORY.
75:’/52’ - in development
The story
The flu pandemic in 1918 called Spanish Flu was not Spanish.It was an American.
The American soldiers, who participated in the First Word War, brought the virus from Texas to Europe. The people in Europe did not hear from their governments how dangerous was the flu virus in 1918. The reason of the official silence was the World War .The virus was considered as awar secret.
The story of what happened in a Greek island reflects what happened worldwide
Skyros, North Aegean, Greece , 1918
The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 as a hurricane on the island o Skyros on 26 October of this year. Within 56 days 850 people died, two thousand became ill in a population of about 4000 inhabitants.
Each family on the island had victims. For two months, every day, 10-20 people were dying. People understood that the "flu hurricane" had gone when they were less deaths till the day came that there were no deaths.
Without medicines and hospitals with few doctors-four all together - the island experienced an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Three characters belonging to three different generations tell this unprecedented catastrophy. An untold even among the Greeks story, comes back to "life" with the fear of a new pandemia caused by the flu H1N1.
MAIN CHARACTERS
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Angelos Kanas, 99 years old.
A survivor,
And a brother of a victim
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| Angelos Kanas was eight years old, got sick, but survived. However his 12-year old brother, Anestis died within three days. Angelos narrates on camera the story that because there was no space in the cemetery, they buried his brother in a small church on the edge of the village. Two cousins 18 and 20 years old dug a small hole on the ground and buried the child. Two months after the end of the flu epidemic when his mother took Angelo to visit his brother's grave and leave a few flowers he remembers how the rain had drifted the soil and brought to light the body of the dead child wrapped in his school uniform. . For nine decades this image cannot escape from Angelos mind. Like the images of doctors who refused to visit the sick or even give advice from the balcony in order to avoid contact with the sick.. The advice of the doctors was: Good food, boiled meat, hot soup and wine. The result, Angelo remembers the outcome was to enrich the butchers, the wineries and the merchandise that ruthlessly raised the prices speculate in the crisis |
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John Venardis 79 years, nephew of a victim, pioneer photographer of the island of Skyros; |
The photographer Yannis Venardis, showcases the photos the densely populated city, which according to scientists was one of the causes of the rapid expansion of the epidemic. He shows the customs of the island with open funerals and remembers tales of his father on the death of his sister. Three days after the funeral her fiance opened the grave to see her beloved beautiful face one last time. He stayed there all night, the villagers said that the flu made him lose his mind and engaged in all kind of demonic thoughts...
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Popi Nezeriti, 51, granddaughter of a survivor and author of the chronicle of the flu.
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The story is narrated by Popi Nezeritou, reading the memoirs of her grandfather. Documents were discovered by the family 50 years ago, in 1959 and recently printed.
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“The society was close to become a human jungle where the "survival of the fittest” was part of daily life. Individuals reached a critical threshold where one would only care for ones self ignoring friends and family in need.
The cemeteries quickly exhausted the available space for graves. People started digging graves in churches and when these were filled people buried their dead anywhere in the street, the beach, in the fields.
Priests after the first days of the crisis and the first funerals refused to bury the dead. However, when the wealthiest man of the island had to bury his daughter the local bishop and several priests came for the service. This became an opportunity for poor people to bring their own dead outside their homes and take part in the funeral procession|”.
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Experts
| Dr Pavlakis explains in the documentary why the so called “Spanish Flu” in 1918-19 was not Spanish but American! The American soldiers, who participated in the First Word War, brought the virus from Texas in Europe. Spain was an non involvement state in the Fisrt War and the government in Madrid announced the problem and the number of victims through the Spanish newspapers. The other European governments did not make any announcement; of that serious public health crisis because the issue was considered as a Top War Secret. The only country with known victims was the Spain and so the flu called The Spanish Flu. Researchers in Alaska discovered in 1990, in frozen bodies, the prototype virus. |
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Dr George Pavlakis, Director of Research, National Cancer Institute. USA |
| Dr Jeffrey Koplan
Explains through the history of flu pandemics –from the Spanish Flu in 1918 to the recent crisis --why there have been recorded significant differences in the percentage of victims and deaths from country to country and How does that relate to the socioeconomic level and development in each country.
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Dr Jeffrey Koplan ,World Health Institute, Vice President, Emory University, Atlanta, USA |
| BUDGET |
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| The Spanish Flu was not Spanish. |
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| DESCRIPTION |
€ TOTAL |
| PRODUCER/ DIRECTOR |
11.500 |
| RESEARCHE, SENARIO |
8.500 |
| CREW DOCUMENTARY CAMERA,
SOUND, LIGHITING.
|
18.900 |
| EDITING |
10.600 |
| GRAPHICS ANIMATION |
8.500 |
| MUSIC |
2.500 |
| TRAVEL |
10.000 |
| ARCHIVE MATERIAL |
16.000 |
| PICTURE, SOUND, POST PRODUCTION-TAPE |
9.200 |
| INSURANCE,FINANCE, LEGAL |
5.000 |
| PRODUCTION OVERHEADS |
4.750 |
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| TOTAL |
105.450 |
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| COMPANY: TV ORASIS |
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| TV ORASIS HAS INVESTEDED € 29.000 |
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| DIRECTOR: STELLA ALISANOGLOU |
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| EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: NIKOS MYSTRIOTIS |
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| PRODUCER: KOSTAS SPYROPOULOS-TV ORASIS |
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