DOC SH GR “The Secret of Angelos” – Grigorios Verriotis, Greece, 7’52”

Synopsis: During my 42 years of experiential journalism, traveling the world on my bicycle, I have seen a lot. In recent years, my experiential documentation has been taking place in Bulgaria. Here, many young people have moved to big cities or other countries. Labor is now scarce, especially in rural areas.

Mr. Angelos is a stone worker, builder, and also works in livestock and agricultural fields. He lives in the Roma neighborhood of Kyustendil and has never left his area. He is a man who has worked hard all his life to feed his family. I don’t think he had a secret that he had never seen the sea, but when I learned this from my friend Borislav and later asked him about it, with a small smile on his lips and in his eyes, slightly shaking his head from side to side, he confirmed it to me. It seemed as if it had been a secret that was suddenly revealed. That’s how I got the title for this short tribute.

The first thing Borislav thought of was to go with him to Thessaloniki and then to Katerini, to our friend the horse charmer Kostas Amberiadis, who has a horse farm on the Variko beach. As I always do, without saying that I am recording the moments I share with my fellow humans, I opened my small camera and began documenting Mr. Angelos without disturbing his emotions. Without a script or arrangements, I simply and spontaneously recorded what I observed. During editing, I focused on his gaze, his movements, and immersed myself in his emotions.

Two very different lives: I, without a home or shelter, 20 years on the roads of the world with thousands of images, and Mr. Angelos, with thousands of images in a limited space. Suddenly, our paths meet in something extraordinary: I was born and grew up by the sea, while Mr. Angelos, at 65, sees the sea for the first time and finally travels about 200 kilometers away from his home.

In this spontaneous video lies the joy of Mr. Angelos and a tear of my own behind my small camera, because I participated in these beautiful moments for my fellow human.

• Director: Grigorios Verriotis