MARIANNA ECONOMOU Documentary Director & Producer Director Marianna Economou - backstage scene
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Award-winning Greek documentary filmmaker Marianna Economou is dedicated to human-centered storytelling, shedding light on overlooked narratives, marginalized communities and the complexities of human experience in diverse settings. Honored at major international film festivals, her films invite audiences to engage with the deeper truths of our intricate world.

‘When tomatoes met Wagner’

Oscar contender in the Foreign Film category | Best documentary by the Greek Film Academy.

‘The Longest Run’

Premiered in Leipzig | Honorary mention in the International Competition and the VER.DI award | Nominated for the European Film Academy Awards.

Movie library

  1. Where shadows rest

    A 75-year-old diver retrieves toxic shipwrecks from a polluted bay, until an unforeseen revelation from his past shifts the film’s journey into a moral reckoning.||*“…The mystery gradually extends into the depths of the human soul, directly raising questions about humanity’s relationship with nature, mythology, and its past."*|Youth Jury Award
  2. Unclaimed

    In October 2015, dozens of small suitcases were accidentally discovered behind a wall of a central hospital in Athens. They contained the personal belongings of hundreds of patients who had died of tuberculosis in the hospital between the 1940s and 1970s. Until then, no one had looked for them or claimed their remains.||*“A stunning documentary, one of the best our cinema has ever produced. It will go down in history"*|Giannis Soldatos
  3. The Greek Bar Jacket

    A rare behind-the-scenes documentary of Dior’s Athens fashion show, showcasing the Paris House’s creative collaboration with local Greek artisans.||*“Αn all encompassing and yet intimately personal exploration of the creative forces.”*|Design Boom
  4. When tomatoes met Wagner

    When the village of Elias, Greece, faces extinction, two cousins and five spirited grannies revive ancestral tomato seeds and, with Wagnerian fanfare in the fields, turn tiny jars of organic preserves into an unlikely global success. A funny, bittersweet ode to resilience, reinvention, and the power of community.||*“It is one of those rare documentaries that manage to combine a universally relevant topic with likeable, unique protagonists in an audience-pleasing but honest manner”*|CineEuropa||*“If there is a recipe for a documentary that makes you cry, laugh and recognize the parallel journeys of those living through the crisis, Marianna Economou has found it”*|FLIX
  5. Fragments

    A playful, penetrating portrait of internationally renowned sculptress Alexandra Athanasiadi. Fragments of thoughts, memory, scrap material and gesture shape her work, illuminating both the deeper impulses behind her art and the person she is. || *“Bold, poetic, and uncompromisingly personal, Economou’s work shatters linear narrative and constructs a world of emotions”*|Dimitris Nikolaou
  6. The Longest Run

    Filmed in a Greek juvenile prison and a courtroom, "The Longest Run" follows the story of two underage boys from Syria and Iraq, awaiting trial for illegal trafficking of migrants. With an intimate and suspenseful narrative, the film highlights how vulnerable youth are caught in a web of desperate circumstances and injustices in foreign lands.||*“A chilling aspect of the refugee/migration issue that most of us ignore. A thriller unfolding before our eyes, with all the suspenseful elements that make you sit on the edge of your seats”*|FLIX
  7. Food for love

    The love of a Greek mother transcends any geographic distance, ensuring that her child, no matter how far, never forgets home and never goes hungry. Three Greek mothers prepare parcels of homemade food and send them to their teenage children studying away from home. With humour and tenderness, the film explores what else these care packages carry.||*“Full of humour and tenderness”*|ARTE
  8. Twelve neighbours (Odos Sfaktirias)

    Twelve culturally, socially and economically diverse neighbors share a narrow pedestrian street in inner- city Athens, where public and private life blurs and small and big incidents expose the fragile dynamics of coexistence.||*“Observational filmmaking at its best: patient, respectful, and quietly powerful"*|Eleftherotypia
  9. Bells, Threads & Miracles

    Every year, thousands of Muslim pilgrims visit the monastery of St. George on Prince’s island, off the coast of Istanbul, to pray before Christian icons hoping for a miracle from the revered Saint. This unique tradition transcends religious and cultural divides, highlighting a universal yearning for hope and healing.||*“Visually striking, the film weaves personal stories into a cultural tapestry showing that the need to believe in miracles can be more powerful than adherence to individual religions."*|A. Morgan
  10. Please listen to me

    Costas is completing 6th grade at a special school for children with cerebral palsy, and his dream is to attend a mainstream secondary school, just like his sister. However, concerns about his ability to cope arise from everyone, including his family. Undeterred, Costas passionately pleads for their trust and support.
  11. My place in the dance

    Three migrant women have recently returned to their small village in Northern Greece as pensioners and try to readjust to a new reality. Traditional dancing becomes a means to find a new identity and socialize. But when long-buried social norms unexpectedly resurface, their lives and the small community is thrown into havoc. A story about cultural heritage and the struggles associated with repatriation.
  12. Faith is rock

    A group of Greek Orthodox monks in a monastery north of Athens, defying convention, rock stage performances, release CDs, and star in music videos. Their ‘un- Orthodox’ behaviour attracts young crowds and earns them international fame but enrages the Church and devout followers. The film follows their double life.
  13. The landowner’s son

    An heir’s bid to revive an English historic estate in Greece becomes a flashpoint for conflict over cultural heritage, belonging and survival.
  14. The school

    In a Greek public school in inner city Athens, almost half of the students are Turkish speaking Muslims. In an environment of political and social prejudice, the headmistress is trying to set up a ‘normal’ school for both Muslim and Christian communities.
  15. Home is where the heart is

    Sylvia, a young German woman abandons modern life to marry a shepherd on a remote Greek island. The film is part of ‘Eutopia’ - a BBC & ARTE documentary series exploring ideas about Europe and the ‘European citizen’.

Reviews

''

“A very important, emotional and coherent documentary which must be seen all over the world.''

Longest Run

“A gem of a film.''

When tomatoes met Wagner

“An outstanding documentary with heart wrenching moments that serves as a powerful cry for justice for those who have remained unclaimed.''

Unclaimed

“A portrait full of humor and tenderness.''

Food for love

“Such an exciting and emotional documentary."

The Greek bar jacket

“A very nuanced and mature homage to everyday life.”

Twelve Neighbours