Polish film gets Greek debut in a prison

Greek prisoners were the first to see a new Polish film about a reformed ex-convict after the local distribution manager said on Friday he felt it should be shown to inmates. Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa follows the story of a 20-year-old former convict who accidentally takes over as priest of a parish.

The film was shown on Thursday to a group of around 100 male inmates at the education facility of Korydallos Prison a few hours before its national release, said Michalis Zeis of the Filmcenter Trianon distribution company. "When I saw this film, I said to myself that it had to be shown in prisons," Zeis told AFP.

A second viewing is now planned for the prison's female inmates, he added. Greek jails are notoriously overcrowded, violence-prone and vulnerable to drug smuggling.

There is also a shortage of re-integration programs in Greek society. On Friday, seven people were hurt in a brawl between Afghans, Albanians, and Greeks in a juvenile prison on the outskirts of the capital, state agency ANA said.