The Cry of the Lambs

In Filoti, the pastoral heart of Naxos, nestled at the foot of Mount Zas, the highest peak in the Cyclades (also known as the “Mountain of Zeus”), people are struggling to keep centuries-old traditions alive. Shepherding, the traditional mitata (stone shepherd huts), cheesemaking, farming, and the deep bond between people, nature, and their animals have always been a way of life, tying the community to its land and to each other.

Today, the water crisis on the island has become a crisis of identity. Shepherds are forced to haul water tanks daily to keep their herds alive. Drought and water scarcity deprive them of resources, while inadequate infrastructure makes matters worse. At the same time, the growing needs of tourism increase the pressure on the primary sector.

This first short documentary of the Journalism Initiative records the lives and challenges of Naxos shepherds, highlights the art of cheesemaking, and explains how the shift toward tourism intensifies water shortages for producers. At the same time, it opens up the discussion on regenerative agriculture and the solutions it can offer to a society seeking sustainable ways to move forward. It ultimately portrays a local community’s struggle to keep its traditions and sources of livelihood alive in a rapidly changing world.

Through the example of Naxos, the documentary sheds light on critical issues facing the primary sector in Greece and beyond.

Research & Journalistic editing: Anastasia Karadimitri
Director & Camera: Kostis Papadakis
Editing: Gogo Bebelou
Production Team: Yannis Palaiologos, Tasos Telloglou, Dimitris Xenakis, Natalia Karapanagioti, Margarita Michelakou

Produced by: «Journalism Initiative» nonprofit civil partnership, with the generous support of the Athina I. Martinou Foundation.

The documentary is available under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0” license, as detailed in https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en και στο https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode