The Spanish Civil War and the construction of Neorealist Greek cinema: An introductory study of Nikos Koundouros’ To Potami

The film director Nikos Koundouros is one of the most important representatives of the Neorealist Cinema that bloomed after the end of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). This film movement was highly influenced by another conflict that took place in the previous decade: the Spanish Civil War. This brief research overview will examine, through pictorial and semiotic analyses, the film To Potami/The River by Nikos Koundouros in order to discover the extent to which this film-maker was influenced by the Spanish conflict. Therefore, this project will shed light on the study of the common historical grounds of Greece and Spain and, at the same time, on the emergent field of Southern Europe cultural studies.