Andi (2017)

• 67%
• 2017
• Documentary
• Andreas Dermanis

Andi Ngjela, who was baptised as Nikos Gelia when he came to Greece, is very different today from the days of his childhood in Albania. He is considered one of the most talented actors of his generation, who starred in the film "Xenia" by Panos Koutras, one of the most important films of modern Greek cinema. Nikos Gelia was born in Albania in the early 1990s in a turbulent period for the neighboring country. At a young age he migrated with his parents to Greece. How was it for a child to look for his "identity" in a country that was not particularly welcoming at that time for immigrants from Albania? The story of Nikos, the boy once called Andi, is identical to the stories of all those people who, due to their circumstances, were forced to grow up without a sense of "national identity." The documentary questions whether our "identity" is something to be attributed to us or whether it is something we build for ourselves. We followed Nikos on a trip back to Albania, where he faces his past and his roots and for a while becomes Andi again.