Women of Saos

(hardcoded subtitles in English / Greek, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Serbian, Armenian, Slovak, Portuguese, Slovenian available if requested)
Long trailer : https://youtu.be/l4sPuSr1dJ4

Quokka, the artistic duo of Alkistis Voulgari and Mina Kouvara, embarked on a research journey in Samothrace, to connect with local women, especially farmers. On the road they met Lemonia, Evaggelia, Eleni, Valentina, Zafeiria, Efthymitsa and shared moments of life, laughter and local food! Each one was a unique experience, but all of them bonded with the island's past and the challenges of everyday life.
On the land of Samothrace, with the wild nature, under the shadows of Saos, still one's soul feels free and hope runs again through the heart.
Enjoy the Women of Samothrace, the Women of Saos!

On inspiration :
The inspiration was the island of Samothrace, its historical background and beautiful nature but mostly the people – especially the women. We were interested to see how people interact with the environment, to learn about their lives because Samothrace is considered to be an «acritic» island of northern Greece. We found out through the stories of the women that most of them were immigrated to Germany – there was a big community of Samothracians in Stuttgart – they worked there and came back. It was so exciting and inspirational to connect and learn from them how they keep the house, the family, the rural work, to hear them narrating their stories. Surely, those women are ordinary heroes – heroes of everyday life. They give lessons of sustainability, independence, freedom, self reliance and inner strength.

On intention :
If we say that earth is our mother, Women of Saos express the Mother archetype through their life stories. The message is to be self reliant and free, to respect the nature, the environment, to enjoy life and to face all the circumstances with a humorous spirit. Our intention was to learn first for ourselves with those interviews, to be moved and then to deliver our experience to the world.
It is always important for those stories to be heard because we are all special – wide known or not. Oral life story narration is one of the most strong and real documents throughout human history.