Angelo Papanasstassiou was the son of a wealthy Greek family who served in the Navy during Greece's 1922 struggle with Turkey, and was a successful businessman and politician during WWII. Circumstances presented Papanasstassiou with a ringside seat for some of the most turbulent events of the 1930s and '40s, as Axis forces made their way through Greece (he helped to smuggle Allied agents out of the country using his yacht). Papanasstassiou was also an amateur cameraman, and he documented with both still photos and home movies the horrors that he witnessed both at home and in Europe, at no small personal risk to himself. His footage of the execution and mass burial of anti-Nazi partisans was shown as evidence during the Nuremberg trials. Angelos' Film offers a look at Papanasstassiou's highly eventful life and times, combined with his own photos and film footage. Produced for Dutch television, Angelos' Film was shown in the U.S. as part of the 2000 San Francisco Film festival.
by Mark Deming
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