The film is inspired by Ornites, Birds, a play written in 414 B.C. by Aristophanes.

According to the story two men, disgusted with the behavior of humans, decide to settle in an ideal city in the clouds where they can live in peace. They seek out Mr. Upupa, the king of birds, in his time Tereus ( king of Thrace, transformed into a bird by the gods) and propose to him to found a city in the sky called Nubicuculia.

The problem will be humans and their habits.

A film between theater, documentary and fiction about human fears, flight, utopias, existence, death, metaphysics and man facing himself.

Divided into 9 steps through which to identify a new human dimension.

In the beginning there was Chaos, night, Erebo and Tartarus...so begins the first passage of Makridis, from Hesiod's Theogony, where a hierarchy of dark places is presented: beginning with Erebo, continuing with Tartarus and ending with Hades.

According to Aristophanes, moreover, Eros mated with Chronos and created the birds, considered the oldest of all living things, even older than the gods.

There are those who recite an endless list of them, those who summon them all at once, shots of cemeteries, palaces, cities, forests; those who make the bird sound; theatrical sets; dream tales; skyscrapers.

Reasons for wanting to be birds; gravity reminds of mortality; going to the moon; living without suffering.

Are there things in common between humans and birds? Better the differences..

Birds have prior knowledge; a small bird already knows how to build a nest; they go from north to south without falling having a close relationship with the wind.

Utopia, the ruin of the universe, death and silence, as an actor screams the end of a bird, from when killed, to when digested and defecated as in the Aristophanes Grill House.

The voice of Trump and the barbed-wire wall, as Pisetero, one of the founders of the city in the clouds who mistreats postulants, asylum seekers in the realm of the bird..

Disco, insults to Zeus

Mankind is idiotic, declares a woman

You thought you could play with the gods

You thought you could go against the gods

We're heading for judgment, neither yours nor mine, the judgment of the law

A judgment that will overthrow you and your generation

Zeus' axe will destroy you and your generation

Fire and intense smoke will strike your head

His thunderbolts and thunderbolts will burn your body

Thou shalt be buried in the flames

You and your palace and your wall and all this crap

They will reduce everything to ashes

Everything will be buried in ashes

The best part is here, inside the ashes

For you will hear the voice of Zeus calling your pretty little name

Idiot humanity

Dickheads

Declares another woman

Do you think you can escape from what is coming?

All the birds are ready

Imagine millions of birds above your heads?

We are about to dig an immense endless pit made of shit

We are about to plant more big tree trunks made of shit

You will live in great endless forests of shit

And the first real word that will come out of your shit children's mouths will be SHIT

If you were a bird under attack what would you do?

Questions, answers, reflections, accusations, judgments, sentences, prayers:

In my whole life I want nothing more than this

Tell us, tell us, show us, show us if you find something soft and cozy like a feather mattress or a baby's lap, for we need to rest, we are tired

Tell us if you find something comfortable and humane

This is why we try to find you

PLEASE

Based on a theatrical performance by NIkos Karathanos and Onassis Stegi, Makridis' work is a framing, from above, with the force of gravity of the wind driving the birds that in fact are the humans themselves; a pitiless framing, where the photography mesmerizes and the words tragically arouse human idiocy.

A poignant cinematic parable, where art and memory reign, where, as in L celebrates ancient Greece, it honors her by mentioning her heroes and magical stories.

Makridis does not hesitate to highlight its origins, its culture, its disenchanted and tragic outlook, the same as the legend of King Midas, who chased the wise Silenus, a follower of Dionysus, through the forest for a long time without catching him. When that fell into his hands, the king asked what was the best and most desirable thing for man. Stiff and motionless the demon kept silent, until compelled by the king, he came out last amid shrill laughter with these words:

miserable and ephemeral race, daughter of chance and punishment, why do you force me to tell you what is best for you not to hear? The best is absolutely unattainable for you: not to be born, to be nothing. But the second-best thing for you is to die soon..."

27-Jun-2023 by Beatrice