Settlers

Following a bus service that delivers food parcels and miscellaneous items to Greeks living in Western Europe, this film looks at how people use material goods to construct relationships with a real and imagined homeland. An almost empty bus carrying a few passengers appears at the edge of a European city. Several Greek people approach the bus, waiting for parcels from friends and relatives in Greece. Some contain personal affairs but most are filled with food supplies: olive oil, charcuterie and meat in camping coolers. During a time when financial hardship and political uncertainty drove many to leave the country, Mr. Pafis, the manager of this peculiar delivery service, crosses the entire European continent distributing parcels to Greeks living abroad. The only people who accompany him on these trips are other drivers and occasional small groups of passengers.